Page 83 of The Diamond Thief

“I figure we should probably get to know each other a little more. It’s been sort of a rushed courtship,” she says.

“Is that what we’re calling it?”

“It’s probably going to be good to see you in a situation where we’re not about to steal something or escaping people who are trying to kill us.”

I run my hand along her arm. “I think I might have to give you that,” I say. “Maybe a vacation will do us good.”

An older woman in jeans and a flowered blouse, but definitely with the air of a nurse, enters the room to check my blood pressure and temperature and sternly remind me to rest.

Jade doesn’t leave my side. She pulls up pictures of vacation homes on her phone, and we make plans for after my recovery. I keep having to touch her to make sure I’m not having some sort of strange near-death vision.

“So what do you want me to call you?” I ask. “Emerald? Jade? Marissa? Crystal?“

She looks up at me, her green eyes shiny, like jewels. “Which one do you like best?”

“Crystal,” I say. “It’s pretty.”

“My mother is Scandinavian,” she says. “Maybe we can spend some time there as well?”

“We can,” I say. “What did you decide to do about the swords? Or did Antony find them?“

Crystal glances up at me with a mischievous grin. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

She lays her head on my shoulder. As a hush falls over whatever building we’re in, I take a long deep breath and exhale.

I have no idea where I am or what I’m doing next. I don’t know if I still own property, or have a cent to my name, or what Antony might have done to unravel my decades of work.

But I find it doesn’t matter. For the first time in a long time, I can relax.

I’ve found the only thing that matters, the girl — the woman — who fills the hole that’s eaten at me for six years.

And I will not let her go.