Page 2 of Diamonds (Aces Underground #2)

But now that we’re here, at this nature preserve next to O’Hare, I can’t help wondering if the Des Plaines River, which we’re being told to follow to find some evidence of Rouge’s wrongdoing, is the river of tears my father wrote about on that sheet of paper I received all those years ago.

I’m keeping my eyes peeled for a raven as Alissa drives her car to the parking lot in the clearing next to Dam Number Four.

At the same time, I’m looking for a cat, too. See if there’s some other clue.

But I haven’t seen either. Not that I can see a whole lot in the black of night.

We park across from the picnic grove. There aren’t any other cars parked here at this hour.

It’s nearing midnight. Alissa pops the trunk and gets out before I can open her door for her—damn it—and she grabs the spades and flashlight out of the back.

I take both of the spades in my left hand and she takes the flashlight.

The picnic grove is unassuming. A few wooden tables underneath a tall shelter.

Some half-deflated heart-shaped balloons are scattered around—someone must have had a birthday party here recently.

There are no lamps, so we have only the glow of Alissa’s flashlight and a sliver of moonlight illuminating the area.

Alissa shines the flashlight around. “You see anything out of the ordinary?”

I rub at the back of my neck with my free hand. “Nothing so far.”

She frowns. “This has to be it. There’s no other way to have read that second riddle.”

I shrug. “What about the first riddle? Maybe there’s something there.” I pull out the sheet of paper that was placed in my jacket pocket back at the club. “ A figure of black, with points to its rank… ”

Alissa hovers over me, pointing at the third-to-last line.

“ Beneath flower and shrub. That’s what we’re looking for.

We were told to bring our spades, so I imagine we’re supposed to dig.

And we should dig in a place marked by flowers and shrubs.

” She shines her flashlight around the grove.

“Flowers and shrubs… Flowers and shrubs…”

“Wait.” I hold up a hand. “Look in that back corner, beyond the last picnic table.”

She shines her light in the direction I’ve indicated. A row of rose bushes, alternating in red and white, line the back of the picnic grove.

Alissa kneels and shines her light on the soil beneath the bushes. “We need to find a place that looks like it’s been freshly dug up.”

I lay the shovels down, get on my hands and knees, and crawl up and down the row of bushes. Finally, right in between a white rosebush and a red one, I spy a spot where the soil is looser and more crumbly. A few earthworms are crawling across the surface, and some roots are exposed.

“Alissa,” I call over. “I think this might be where we want to dig.”

“Sounds good,” she says. “Hand me a spade.”

We place the flashlight on the ground pointing at us so that we have a little light, and then we both sink our spades into the earth. Within a few moments we have a square hole about a foot deep. Nothing so far.

Alissa wipes a bead of sweat from her brow. “Digging is harder work than I thought.”

“Yeah, soil is heavier than you’d think.”

“Do you think we’re in the right spot? How deep do you think they could bury something?”

I frown. “If it’s something they don’t want anyone finding, I think it will be pretty deep.”

“Right.” She returns her attention to our hole and continues digging away.

We keep going until we’ve gotten another few feet down.

“We should widen the hole,” I say. “I’ll work on that while you keep going down.”

I place my shovel on the side of the hole and press my foot into it, taking a new sliver of soil out.

“This is getting us nowhere, Maddox,” Alissa finally says. “I think we’re digging in the wrong spot.”

“We can’t be.” I look down at the soil. “This area was clearly dug up recently.”

She presses her lips together. “The original riddle said the evidence was hidden beneath flower and shrub. Not next to it.”

I widen my eyes. “So you think…?”

“It’s under one of these rosebushes. Not in the soil next to them.”

I bite my lip. “But if we dig up a bush, it’ll be a lot clearer that someone was here looking around.”

“All the more reason for them to place a rosebush over what was buried. But we can replant it once we’re done.

I’ve done that in my friend Dinah’s garden a few times.

” She kneels again, grabbing the flashlight.

“It looks like the soil is fresher near the white rosebush, so I’m thinking that’s the one we need to dig up. ”

“Well, shit.” I place my shovel at the base of the rosebush and press it into the earth.

Alissa gets to her feet. “Ouch!” she cries out.

“Everything okay?”

She places a finger in her mouth. “The thorns. I wasn’t thinking.” She examines her finger. “Just a little cut. I’ll live.”

“You need a bandage or something?”

She chuckles. “No. It’ll stop bleeding on its own in a bit.” She grabs her shovel and digs in, grimacing slightly. A small line of blood trickles down the wood, but she continues.

Within fifteen minutes or so, we’ve dug underneath the rosebush enough to pull it out by its roots.

We each stand on one side, taking care not to get pricked by the thorns of the bush itself, and lift it out of the ground, placing it gently near the picnic tables.

We’ll want to replant it once we’re done.

Now we’re cooking. Just digging up the rosebush created a pretty sizeable hole, and, if the riddle isn’t leading us astray, we should be able to just dig straight down.

Several more minutes pass until my shovel hits something solid. It has a little give, so it’s not made of metal. Maybe hard cardboard.

I look up at Alissa, grinning. “Oh my God, I think we found what we’re looking for.”

She grabs the flashlight and peers down. “Whatever it is, it’s red,” she says.

I poke my spade over it, prodding gently until the soil begins to give again. “Looks like it’s about a foot across.” I feel around the perimeter of the object. “Feels like it’s round.”

We dig around the object until we’ve gone deep enough to pull it out. It’s a box, round in shape like I guessed. I pull it out. It’s heavy. I place it on the nearest picnic table.

It’s an elegant hat box, the kind a sophisticated lady would keep her finest pieces in. Dirt is clinging to it on every side, but it still has an impressive sheen. Hearts line the sides of the box, and a knotted velvet ribbon brings the whole thing together.

“We’ll have to untie the ribbon to see what’s inside,” Alissa says.

“Sounds good. You work on the ribbon, and I’ll work on getting this rosebush replanted,” I say. “I’ll use the big flashlight, and you can use your phone light.”

She nods and starts working at the ribbon.

Meanwhile, I return a few chunks of soil to the hole we’ve made, getting it to about the level it was when we removed the rosebush. I’m about to turn to ask Alissa to help me put the rosebush back in when?—

“Oh my God!”

I look over at Alissa. Her eyes are wide, and under the moonlight she’s pale as a ghost. The lid is still on the box, but the knot is untied and lying in a heap at its side. Her phone, with its tiny flashlight activated, is on the ground next to her.

“Alissa!” I run over to her. “What is it?”

She points to the box, breathing heavily. “It’s… It’s… I opened it, peeked inside… And… And…”

“You need to take a deep breath, Alissa,” I say.

“Inside… Inside…” Her breath comes in rapid puffs until her eyes roll back in her head and she collapses into my arms.

“Alissa!” I lay her down on the ground beside the picnic table, slapping her gently on the cheek. “Alissa, wake up!”

Fuck. She’s fainted. I’ll have to carry her back to the car if she doesn’t come to.

But before that, I have to finish replanting the rosebush. Can’t leave any evidence that someone was here.

I look back at the hatbox. What was so terrible inside that box that it would cause her reaction?

I need to take care of Alissa, but I also need to know what’s inside this box. This could be an important clue as to what happened to May. What kind of trouble Rouge is brewing behind closed doors at the club.

I know—or at least I think I know—of at least one thing she’s done behind closed doors. I’ve always pushed it to the back of my head, but if she was capable of doing what I believe I witnessed all those years ago, she’s certainly capable of doing other awful things.

Alissa is breathing, and I can make out a pulse in her wrist. She’s okay. Just fainted. She’ll regain consciousness in a bit. Thank God. I have to keep her safe.

But I need to know.

I need to know.

I slowly get to my feet and look at the hatbox. I reach my arm across the table to grab the edge of the lid.

Every muscle in my body is stiffening. My gut is telling me to turn around and run as fast as I can away from this place. Never look back and live the rest of my life in peace.

But we’re too far down the rabbit hole at this point.

We’ve got to see it through.

I pry open the case, and immediately a terrible stench hits me.

What the fuck?

I hold my breath and continue, lighting the flashlight on my phone.

My stomach lurches as my mouth falls open, a strangled breath catching in my throat.

A cold, creeping numbness spreads through my limbs, rooting me in place.

My mind scrambles to process what I’m seeing, but it’s too much—too awful.

My pulse pounds in my ears, drowning out everything else as the scene before me sears itself into my brain. It can’t be.

It can’t fucking be.

I swallow and look again, confirming the horrific thing I just saw. I bend over and heave, but nothing comes out.

I fall to my knees, unable to believe it. Unable to believe that such a terrible fate would befall such an innocent young woman. An innocent young woman who had been through so much, who had her whole life ahead of her.

Alissa was wrong. The crown in the riddle wasn’t referring to Rouge’s tiara.

By crown, it meant head . As in a human head.

A severed human head.

The severed head of May.

The Seven of Spades has been discarded.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck .

I knew Rouge was a shady bitch, but I had no idea she was capable of anything like this.

And all because this young woman dared to break the rules.

She spoke to Alissa. Broke the vow of silence that all the Aces Underground employees are sworn to uphold.

Rouge told Alissa that she had been suspended. That she would be back.

Alissa!

I bend over her, make sure her breath is still steady. It is, thank God.

But we’ve got to get out of here.

If Rouge did this to poor May for speaking out of turn, God only knows what she’ll do to us once she learns that we found this out.

I look around. The rosebush is still dug out of the earth, and we’ve made a mess of things here.

We can’t just turn around and run. Alissa isn’t even conscious. But we shouldn’t leave any evidence that we were here.

Because if Rouge has even an inkling of what we’ve discovered?

Our heads are going to be buried right next to May’s.