“Don’t tell me to take it easy. You sold me out. I’m this close and you just told her right where she could find it. Why would you do that, any of this, and think you could tell me to take it easy?”

“You know, Owen, we don’t usually interrogate each other. It seemed like a respect thing, but at the very least it let me tell you to go to hell less often. No, I didn’t tell her where it was. I couldn’t have if I’d wanted to. You don’t have to believe me, but as a matter of fact, she found it first.”

“So, that’s not much better. You knew and you didn’t tell me.”

Samantha scowled. “Funny, I didn’t think you cared about the Anningers’ collection that much.”

“I didn’t.”

“I can’t help but notice the past tense.”

“I don’t care about their hobbies. I have my own. They send me on their errands, but this was mine. Work backward from the Flinck and I find Marcelline. Because I have questions.”

“I know you do. That’s why I didn’t tell you. Obviously.”

“What, are you two in love? Decided you don’t like dick anymore?”

“You know, Owen, the whole heart-on-your-sleeve thing over Marcelline was always kind of creepy.”

“Fuck you.”

“Are you done with your tantrum?”

Samantha heard a muted bang and a clattering crash. Owen really was having a fit.

“Hey! Will you listen? Owen! She’s not screwing you over. She never did. She was going to give it to you. She wanted to buy her life back with it. To prove to you that it wasn’t her.”

“Oh, convenient. That you’re in a position to tell me all this now doesn’t really give it that ring of truth, Samantha. In fact, it sounds a whole lot like bullshit. This was almost finished. I was just about done with it. You took it out from under me.”

“Not as such. It sort of fell into her hands. And up until a few minutes ago, she didn’t even know you were in the picture. I didn’t tell her anything other than to be careful. I’m not screwing you over either.”

Owen didn’t say anything for almost a full minute, but she could hear that he was still there huffing and fuming. “What happened to Jonathan?”

“I think Marcelline can explain this much better than I can. Can you keep it together and hear her out? She’s worried about the girl and her mother. If you look at this a certain way, with the exception of you getting to lose your shit on your own terms, this isn’t that far off from what you wanted in the first place. And not to mention, what you are employed to do. Two birds, one stone.”

She instantly regretted her choice of illustrative image.