Familiar Double. Caroline Burnes

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СКАЧАТЬ entered his trailer and took a bottle of cold water from the small refrigerator.

      “Jason?” he called out.

      “What?” His roommate came out of the back, his lean frame in cowboy boots, jeans and a button-down shirt. He was headed out on the town.

      “What’s the story on Nicole Paul?” Jax asked.

      “Not much story on her. She’s worked a few movie sets and done a fine job. She’s just breaking into the business. The story is her old man.”

      “Her husband?”

      “No, her father. He went up for some big jewelry heist back in the eighties. Seems like he was designing jewelry for all of the movie stars for the Academy Awards and some very important diamond disappeared.” Jason scratched his chin. “Yeah, it was some lavender diamond. They called it the Dream of Isis. It was supposed to be cursed or some such. Anyway, Nicole’s dad did some hard time over that jewel. I don’t think he’s been out of prison all that long. I hear he’s in poor health. Bad ticker.”

      “Was the diamond ever found?” Jax asked.

      “Nope. Not a hint of it. And Nicole’s old man— I think his name was Vincent—anyway, he never spoke of it again. At least that’s the gossip that blows over the set and you’d know it if you ever talked to any of the extras. It’s too bad for Nicole, though. Wherever she goes, someone resurrects that story about her dad.”

      “What do you make of what happened today?

      Jason shrugged. “Looks like the kid has a lot of her old man in her. Maybe she just got tired of being accused of things.”

      “Or maybe someone went to a lot of trouble to make it look that way and set her up.” Jax drank the rest of his water as he watched his roommate step out into the gathering dusk.

      NICOLE USED HER one phone call to let her father know she was okay.

      “I’ll get you out as soon as possible,” Vincent promised her. “I’m sorry, Nicole. This is more about me than you.”

      “What do you mean?” Nicole felt a sudden rush of dread. Her father had just been released from prison. His health was not good. Was something else going on?

      “I mean that you’ve been tarred with the brush of thief because of me,” he said slowly. “You’re accused because of me.”

      “That’s not true! This isn’t about anyone except Angela Myers. She planted that earring in my trailer. I just don’t know why. What does she gain by getting me off the set? They’ll have to slow filming until they find a new double.”

      There was a long silence on the other end. “We need to talk as soon as you get out,” Vincent said. “I’ll see if I can get Carlos on the phone. You’re going to need a lawyer and he’s one of the best.”

      “We can’t afford Carlos,” Nicole said tersely. The last thing she needed to do was put her father under financial pressure. “This is a mistake. They’ll straighten it out.”

      She heard the silence on her father’s end. She was echoing the words he’d said twenty years before when he’d been charged—and wrongly convicted—of the theft of the Dream of Isis. Back then, they’d both been certain that the authorities would rectify their tragic mistake. But they hadn’t, and Vincent had gone to prison for a long, long time.

      “We can’t count on that,” Vincent said in a voice low and worried. “Talk to Carlos. He’ll help you say the right things. And don’t talk to the police. That was one of the biggest mistakes I made. Every single thing I said was twisted and turned against me.”

      “I remember,” Nicole said. She’d been twelve, and it had been impossible to forget. Her beloved father, her only parent after her mother’s death when she was nine, had been painted as a thief all over town. The only thing that had saved her was that she’d gone to live with an aunt in Nebraska. She’d been able to leave the crime behind, sort of. Her father had never had that luxury.

      “Promise me, Nicole,” Vincent said.

      “I promise.” She hung up the phone and let the guard take her back to the cell she shared with three other women.

      As soon as the door shut, one of the women nodded toward the top bunk. “My name is Connie, and you’ve got a visitor.”

      Nicole looked up to see the green eyes of the cat staring at her. “What are you doing here?” she asked the cat.

      “We don’t know,” Connie said. “He slipped in here, checked things out and then hopped into that bunk. He’s been watching, like he was expecting you. What kind of cat is he?”

      Nicole couldn’t help but smile. She was in jail and what she’d done wrong wasn’t the question anyone was interested in.

      “If I remember correctly, he was a stray that a veterinarian and his wife saved from animal experimentation. Then it turned out he’s smarter than your average person. He’s solved mysteries all over the world, and right now he’s working as a stunt double for a cat on a movie set.”

      “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Connie said, reaching up to stroke the cat. “What’s he doing here?”

      “He works with me,” Nicole said, and for some reason she couldn’t explain, just having Familiar around made her feel a whole lot better.

      “The guards won’t let you keep him,” Connie said. She leaned closer to Nicole. “Neither will Lizzie.” She nodded in the direction of a tall, muscular girl. “She doesn’t like cats or dogs or people.”

      “I won’t be here that long,” Nicole said. “I’m innocent.”

      The laughter from Lizzie and the as-yet-unidentified woman was loud and raucous. “Yeah, we’re all innocent, sweetheart.”

      Nicole didn’t argue. She knew better. She’d been stupid to shoot her mouth off, as if these women really cared whether she was a thief or not.

      “What are you charged with?” she asked Connie.

      “Grand theft auto.” She looked down at the floor. “The car was mine. My boyfriend gave it to me for my birthday.”

      “She didn’t get the paperwork, just the key. The car was never registered in her name,” Lizzie said, laughing. “Sucker.”

      “I’m sure you’ll be able to explain it.” Nicole had enough on her plate.

      “Kevin says he’s going to let me rot in here because I wanted to break up with him. He has the car and I’m stuck here. He says he has the best of both worlds.”

      Nicole didn’t know what to say. “Did you get a lawyer?”

      “Public defender, but he seems okay.” She finally looked up, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “Awful young to be a lawyer.”

      “How old are you?” Nicole found herself asking, though she didn’t really want to know. She didn’t want to be involved at even the most basic level.

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