Page 28 of A Shade of Myself
She picked up her coral clutch and toyed with the clasp. “I didn’t tell him this because I felt so defeated by his attitude, but there’s something else that might be relevant.” Snapping open the purse, she deposited something in my palm.
It was a gold “G” pendant on a slender gold chain.
I held it up to the light but didn’t see anything unusual about the necklace. “Why do you think this is part of it?”
Emmett held out his hand for it, but I shook my head. Giselle would never get it back.
“I’ve had this necklace forever,” she said. “My parents gave it to me when I turned thirteen and it’s been my good luck charm ever since, but I lost it three years ago.”
“Then you should be pleased you’ve found it again,” Tatiana said.
“Of course, but I tore my place apart when it went missing. And don’t ask me if I’m sure because I am. It was right after my audition with the company, and I wanted to wear it to celebrate the good news that I’d gotten in, but the necklace was gone. I haven’t moved apartments, but around the same time that I was promoted and got my roles in The Sleeping Beauty, there it was, in my underwear drawer. There’s no way I never saw it there.”
“Okay, that’s weird.” I gave her back the necklace. What if something more nefarious was at play, like magic on the jewelry causing this distress?
“Right?” The relief in Giselle’s voice was unmistakeable. “Finally, someone believes me.”
I speared a tomato. “What type of powers do you have?”
“A bit of empathy magic. Pretty low level.” Her magic wasn’t causing the problem.
The Friends theme sounded. Giselle dug her phone out of her purse and answered it. “Hey, hang on. It’s too loud here.” She stood up and got out of the booth. “Sorry. It’s my best friend. I asked her to call with anything important from the company meeting today. Is there somewhere quieter to take this?”
“The foyer where you came in,” Tatiana said.
Giselle nodded her thanks, gracefully weaving around the tables.
When she was out of earshot, I asked Tatiana what she thought.
“I understand why Kadeem passed.” She wiped her mouth with her napkin. “Don’t look at me all crestfallen. I’ve had jewelry I swear I’d lost show up again in a place I’d searched a million times. It means nothing.”
“What about this whole deafening scream?” I countered.
“Stress.”
I tamped down a stab of disappointment. Tatiana was doing the exact same thing to Giselle as Kadeem had and just writing her off. Maybe that’s what fixers did, but I’d expected better from my female boss.
“Giselle has suddenly been promoted, there’s more at stake with her career.” Tatiana waved a hand in dismissal. “She needs a prescription for antianxiety medication. The macher was right.”
“Macher? The big shot? You mean Kadeem?” I used my remaining fries as delivery devices to soak up the last of the butter sauce.
“Macher can mean that, but it also means a fixer. Gender neutral. I’m a macher.”
“I’ve spent two months with you, and you never bothered to tell me this? This is fascinating. What else?”
Emmett picked up his second Whiskey Smash, sloshing the alcohol over the rim. He licked it off his wrist. “Giselle is a tsuris-hound.”
“That’s my suspicion, yes,” Tatiana said.
“What the hell is a tsuris-hound?” I held up my hand when Emmett began explaining the Yiddish definition. “I know what ‘tsuris’ means. Troubles. Aggravations. What is it in this context?” And why did Emmett have the inside track on fixer slang? Sorry, macher slang. Even if he was living with Tatiana now, I was her main minion. Employee. Emmett was just a subcontractor.
“Think of it like a drama queen.” Tatiana held up her empty glass. “Some people don’t know how to be happy. They’re addicted to misery and strife and if there isn’t any, they find some minor incident to blow out of proportion.”
Vikram came over with refills for both Tatiana and me.
“Where’s mine?” Emmett said.
The bear shifter pointed at the glass that was half-full. “You haven’t finished the one you have.”
