She straightened in her chair. "As soon as he told you himself. I mean…it wasn't up tometo spill the beans."
Was that a joke?"Oh, please. You're the best bean-spiller on the island."
"Yeah, but never in abadway." She gave an offended little huff. "I mean…if he were fresh from prison, I would've said so right away."
"But…?"
"But he's not some axe-murderer. He's Montgomery Griffin." She lowered her voice to a dramatic whisper. "Billionaire in hiding."
I froze. "Wait…MontgomeryGriffin?"
"Yeah, Griff's just a nickname."
No. That couldn't be right."According to who?"
"The internet. Before you got here, I looked him up – you know, because I got his name from the paper."
Right. The newspaper.I tried to focus. "But you looked him up, how? You mean like on Google?"
"Oh, please," she scoffed. "Google's so yesterday. I used AI…that Chatty-whatever thing."
My pulse quickened. "And?"
"And let's just say, the limo made a lot more sense." Her eyes were bright as she leaned in. "You know, because he's totally loaded."
And now I didn't know what to say. The thought of him having gobs of money should've made me happy – for his sake, if nothing else.
And it did.Or rather itwouldhave, if not for everything such a deception implied.
Was this…some sort of game?The mere idea made me feel cold all over, like someone had just slipped ice cubes down my shirt.
Across from me, Franny said, "But this is agoodsurprise, right? That's why I didn't want to ruin it. You know how it is with surprise parties and what-not. I don't blab aboutthose, do I?"
She was right.For all her love of gossip, I had never once seen her ruin a surprise. But now, all I could do was silently nod.
Her chin lifted. "AndI don't let anyone else ruin it, either. You know how mad I got when Darleen ruined Hank's party. I never let her forget it."
It was true.At the time, it had been quite the scandal, and Darleen had yet to live it down.
I looked toward the hall, only to see Beverly and Darleen duck back around the corner as if afraid to be seen. I let out a sigh.Was nothing private?
I called out, "You might as well come out. I've already learned everything."
Except this wasn't quite true, because when I got home, I learned a whole lot more. And none of it was good – at least not for me.
67
Forget Knocking Nicely
Maisie
My stomach roiled as I pounded on Griff's door. And yes, Iwaspounding. I wasn't tapping. I wasn't knocking. No, I was whaling on the door like I was trying to knock it off its hinges.
The door was so flimsy that I actually stood a chance.
And hey, if the door held, but he still didn't answer, there was always my foot.
I was on the verge of giving the door an experimental kick when I heard Griff's voice calling from somewhere inside the apartment. "Oh, fuck off, will you?"
