THE DRY CLEANER'S MESS

CHAPTER 22

She scrunched her face in confusion. "I don't understand. What was the watch doing in there?"

He laughed but it sounded icy in her ears. "Same question I wanted to ask, seems like you also have the ability to read my thoughts. What was it doing in there? You truly are addicted to stealing, aren't you?"

"What are you even talking about? What are you saying?"

Luke gave her a blank stare. He didn't look like the Luke she travelled with, he looked like the version that made Martina inject her with Lidocaine. That version didn't even stand a chance with the one that sat before her. "The goddess Laverna has nothing on you. You, Arielle Marie LaRue, are the real trickster. You're so adept at schooling your facial expressions to buttress your deceit. If I wasn't so disgusted right now, I'd have been impressed."

"You think I stole the watch?" She pointed a finger to herself. "Me? Who would I have even stolen it from? For Christ sakes, we were still looking for who bought the watch. If I stole the watch, doesn't it mean I know who bought the watch?"

Luke laughed scornfully. "You must think of me as a really stupid human. I don't blame you though, I feel very foolish right now too." He shook his head in hilarity. "Humor me, Arielle. Who bought the watch?"

She scrunched her face in confusion. "How am I supposed to know that? It could be anyone, even Xavier for all I know." She quirked her brow. "Wait, you think I bought it? Don't be ridiculous, Luke. I barely have a $100 to my name, there's no way I could have afforded a $280,000 wristwatch. If you even thought that for a second, then you need to stop using your brain since it's clearly not working."

A vein popped out in the middle of his forehead and he stood to tower over her. For a few seconds, his 6'6" stature seemed like 8 feet and Arielle wanted to shrink away in fear. "Oh, I stopped using my brain a long time away. It's pretty obvious now. If I was, I wouldn't be across the country in this stupid penthouse with you and a gay neighbor. If I was, I wouldn't have let you talk me into doubting every single person who'd stood beside me from the genesis. If I was, I wouldn't be on this wild goose chase. If I was using my brain, I definitely wouldn't have bought a 2 million dollar penthouse in your name." He took a step towards her and she took one back. "So you see, I haven't been using my brain from the moment I started listening to you. Maybe it's time I started using it."

Confusion was all over her face. "What are you talking about? You bought the penthouse in my name?"

A bitter laugh left Luke's lips. "Of course, that's the only thing you'd care about. The penthouse, money. You're disgusting, Arielle."

She didn't even understand what was going on, confusion had never been so paramount in her life. "Because every other thing you said was trash. What wild goose chase? What are you even talking about? What's all this ruckus over some useless jewelry about? I don't even have an idea about you're talking about."

He went back to the sofa to sit and she noticed for the first time since she entered the house a bottle of brandy by the table beside the sofa. He uncapped the brandy and drank straight from the bottle, ignoring the unused tumbler on the table. "Tell me, why did you have to take me to see the jeweler? You could have just taken the watch from him silently. Why did you have to involve me in your melodrama? To make me more confused?"

Arielle's eyes widened. "What are you even saying? Last I checked, I wasn't the one who even initiated the trip to Jeffery's, you did. So if that's one of your ammo, you should discard it because it's a dead one. So you think I took the watch from Jeffery? So who killed him then? Me too?"