Pay attention.
I turned away. “So, you went to get the necklace from Eden’s apartment?”
“I was managing the Candy Shop, so I came about four days later, but it was early in the morning. I grabbed it. Her roommate wasn’t even home yet… I didn’t think that it would be that important. It was a necklace for Eden, from her aunt.” She hugged her naked body as she sat in the bed, looking more innocent and scared than I’d ever seen her. “I took the necklace to my place. My mom and sister had begun living with me… Mom still hadn’t recovered from her… ex-husband’s suicide with a chainsaw.”
Louis had aided in her step-father’s suicide, but that was none of my concern. The man had molested Shalimar. Everyone was lucky I hadn’t dealt with him personally.
“What happened next?”
“I worked at the brothel, got home, made dinner, and watched the news with my mother and sister.” She swallowed. “That’s when I heard about Eden’s roommate being killed that morning. He’d come home to these people in his place. Celina called that night and she was pissed; screaming and yelling.”
Tears fell from Shalimar’s eye. “C-Celina hadn’t wanted him to die. She wanted to know why Eden didn’t have it on. Where were her Russians in Belladonna? Where was Eden?”
“And you had to tell her everything?”
“She knew that her Russians were watching Eden, but she also knew that Jean-Pierre would be watching her too. The… necklace would’ve been more guarded than Fort Knox.”
“But Louis and I had killed all of her Russian guards, while she was gone. And Eden was now in Paris. No one was guarding Eden’s place. And the necklace led the Devil there?”
“Yes. So…the next thing she told me to do was. . .”
“What?”
Another tear left her eye. “She told me to run.”
“You left Belladonna city the next day with the necklace?”
She nodded. “I was heading to someone she knew in Montreal. I made it there that night and called my apartment. My cousin answered and told me that my mother and sister had been killed.”
“Damn it. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because nothing else mattered after that.” She looked off in the distance. “I decided to take control of the matter. I didn’t meet Celina’s friend in Montreal. I went back to the airport, thinking it would be safe enough.”
“That was a good plan.”
“And then I decided to go to Paris and…”
“Give the necklace to Eden.” I walked over, sat down on the bed, and held her. “Why didn’t you call me? Jean-Pierre? Why didn’t you tell Eden the truth?”
“Because Celina had enough of my lying to her. And Celina was the only one who I knew I could trust.”
“But you didn’t even listen to Celina about going to Montreal.”
Something wasn’t adding up. She wasn’t giving me all of the truth. There’d been another reason why she come to Paris.
Shalimar looked at the walls. “I’ve been reading about this house. There’s been nothing else to do. I’ve been googling this address all day.”
“What?”
“It’s because of all the people that keep knocking on the door and asking for onion soup.”
“Shalimar, you’re making no sense. What the fuck are you talking about?”
“An old woman owned this house.” Shalimar pointed in the direction of the living room. “On Sundays, she made that part into a small restaurant. It seated six people. She made this really good onion soup. It must’ve been delicious, because people still knock on the door, when Sunday comes. Every damn Sunday that I’ve been here.”
“Goddamn it! Tell me what’s going on.”
“That woman roams these halls. Her ghost.” Shalimar hugged herself. “Some Sundays, I even smell the soup.”
“This situation is making you crazy.”
“No. That woman was crazy. She sat in this tiny house and made soup for others. That’s what she’ll be known for. No one even knew she’d died. Never checked in on her. They didn’t know she’d died until they came for the soup.”
“What does this have to do with soup?”
“I won’t be that old woman. I won’t only be remembered for onion soup.”
“I want to help you.”
“Why?” She glared at me. “Because you’re the knight in the fairytale? This isn’t one.”
“How do you know this isn’t a fairytale?” I lowered my voice. “There’s definitely a princess.”
“But she’s not a damsel in distress.”
“She will be, when the dragon or lion comes for her.”
Shalimar blinked.
“Am I getting warm?”
“Fuck you, Rafael. Even if this was a fairytale, you would be the villain.”
“Some villains are good.”
Silence came.
“Tell me everything, Shalimar. That’s the only way I’ll be able to save you. What’s the tracker attached to?” I sighed. “It’s not the necklace that they want. What’s inside of the necklace, and who are you running from?”
And then she did something I thought she wouldn’t do anymore this evening.
She lied.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know what it is?”