Cut by Erin O'Riordan

Author:Erin O'Riordan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: crime drama, spirituality, pulp fiction, gritty, heroin, cutting, pyromania, crime thriller, drug culture, spirituality and mythology
Publisher: Erin O'Riordan

* * * *

“Wait a minute,” Tim said, setting his fork down. “You’re telling me that the necklace you’re wearing now was stolen from a Japanese princess by your grandmother’s grandmother in, like, 1900?”

“Eighteen ninety-six, or thereabouts,” Diana answered, looking up from her steak. “I told you, I take this particular family legend with a grain of salt.” Speaking of salt, she reached for her second margarita and took a long sip.

“And they got away with it?”

“No, of course not. They were captured and eventually hanged from a willow tree, like all captured pirates were in those days.”

Tim shook his head. “If your grandmother’s grandmother was hanged from a willow tree before her baby was born, then how are you sitting here today?”

“I didn’t say she was hanged before the baby was born. The naval commander took pity on An because she was pregnant, and delayed the execution until after the child was born. She had a boy, my great-grandfather, who was also named Lian. An was allowed to give the boy to her older brother Chen, who raised him a decent, respectable farmer.”

“What about the necklace?” Tim asked. “Didn’t the princess just take it back when An and the pirates were caught?”

“Supposedly, when she was caught and brought on deck, An pretended to hurl the necklace into the sea. But, through the sleight-of-hand tricks she learned in the brothel for pocketing the customers’ extra cash, she managed to keep the pendant. Then, when nobody was looking, she swallowed it.”

“Ew,” said Tim.

“Somehow she managed to keep it hidden until little Lian was born. When the baby was passed to Chen, the pendant was hidden inside his garments. Lian passed it on to Mei Li, his oldest child. It was all that she ever had of her grandmother.”

“I can see why Lian gave up on his devotion to Kuan Yin,” Tim said. “The goddess failed to protect his mother. She didn’t save An from being forced into prostitution or from being executed as a pirate.”

Diana picked at her salad. “I suppose that’s why the family converted to Catholicism,” she said, spearing a mushroom with her fork.

“But not you. You’re a Wiccan.”

“That’s right,” she said. She glanced at her watch. “Do you think we have time for dessert and coffee before we head out to the bonfire?”

Tim didn’t drink coffee, and had already told Diana so. He didn’t care much for dessert, either, preferring to keep his meals as simple as possible. However, with Diana, sitting across from him, looking so appealing Tim thought he might break his own rules once.

“Plenty of time,” he said. “The bands don’t even start until eleven.”

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