by Dale Mayer
She buried her face against his chest.
He sighed, dropping his chin on top of her head. In the meantime, his brain cycled rapidly through it all. “You know this all points to Sammy, right?”
“Maybe,” she said. “But maybe he’s just as shitty with implementing security as I am. And maybe his boyfriend had access.”
Surprised, he tilted her chin up and said, “That’s good thinking.”
A smile broke free, and she said, “I’m really not stupid. Apparently I make foolish mistakes.” She waved her hand around the vault. “But why would they take my design drawings and not my jewelry in progress or the diamonds?”
“How much do you keep here?”
She shrugged. “Not very much. That’s all at the main Liechester store.” And she froze, turned his way. “What about my store?” She grabbed her phone and called the store.
He checked the time. “Will anybody be there? It doesn’t open until nine o’clock.”
She swore and said, “Sammy should be there at eight-thirty.”
“But it’s not that time yet. We were supposed to be at the station at eight, remember?”
“Well, we’re late,” she snapped. “I do have Sammy’s cell number.” She called it, but it rang endlessly.
Dezi listened as the ringing continued on as she tried again and again. “I suggest we go to the store, check to see if we need to worry about anything there, and then we’ll have all the information to take to the cops.” He closed the vault and changed the password while she watched. “I know what it is. You know what it is,” he said. “But, in case you forget it, I’ll give it to Levi, via Vince at the police station. Vince will tell Levi in person once he returns to the compound. No more writing down that security code. No more uploading security codes to the cloud. But you can access it if you run into trouble by calling Levi, okay?”
She nodded. “Obviously I need to do something different.”
He led her out of the house and down to his vehicle. He kept an eye on the neighborhood. Last night had been enough of a nerve-racking event, and he hated that somebody had gotten the drop on him. It had been a close call, and it had taken him forever to get to sleep because of it. He didn’t know how many times he’d woken up, reaching over to make sure she was still there.
He knew Levi would have a thing or two to say about getting caught like that too. The fact that Dezi and Diamond were busy having private time was also not very professional. He could do nothing but castigate himself for his behavior at this point. That she was a nectar he couldn’t resist made it even more dangerous. But recognizing this as a problem when he was working a job was the first step.
He got her into the vehicle and reversed down the driveway, heading toward her store. His mind was still on this newest development. For the first time he had to consider whether she was part of this. He immediately shot down that idea but knew it had to be at least considered. “Is there any insurance on your designs, the sketches themselves?”
“I have no idea,” she said bleakly. “I doubt it.”
He nodded, not knowing either. Intellectual property rights for art pieces were copyrighted upon completion. “Have you ever looked at copyrighting or placing a patent on any of your work?”
She shook her head. “Don’t even know if that’s a thing for jewelry.”
“Not sure either but I suggest we find out,” he said. “It might cost a lot to get everything documented that you’ve already produced, but it might be worth it in the long run.”
“Talk to my attorney. He must be doing something with my sketches because he has me send him copies too. Honestly he handles all that stuff for me.” She gave him a small smile. “I just sign whatever he sends me to sign.
Dezi smiled, then sighed. Another person with access to her designs. He’d get her attorney’s name from her later, when she wasn’t so vulnerable.
He pulled into the rear of her store and got out. At the back door she punched in the security code. He was relieved when it opened. She stepped in, and he followed. She shut down an internal alarm system before it went off.
With a hesitant smile, she turned to him. “Well, that’s all correct.”
They walked through the store, past the big empty glass display cases. She checked her office as he walked through the main store. “Everything appears to be normal,” she said, relief coming through her voice.
He nodded. “Let’s check the vault.”
She gave him a haunted look and approached the big walk-in safe. He stepped back enough that she didn’t feel he was trying to read the security code. When she punched it in, the safe didn’t release. She frowned and did it again. Got the same results.
“When did you last change the code?”
“I didn’t,” she said. “But maybe Sammy did.”
“Who else has access to the security system?”
“Just Sammy and me. He is my manager, after all,” she said.
“You call Sammy again. I’ll call the security company.”
She turned to look at him, her eyes huge. “I don’t want to see what’s on the other side of the door, right?”
“We don’t know that yet,” he said gently. “For all you know, Sammy had an inkling of what his boyfriend was up to and managed to change this code before his boyfriend got in there.”
Her face brightened at that idea. “That would make me very happy.” She dialed Sammy’s number again, holding the phone to her ear.
Dezi contacted Levi. When he brought him up to date on what had happened, Levi said, “You stay there. I’ll contact the security company. We need to get into that vault and see what’s inside.” Dezi hung up and looked into her worried eyes.
“Sammy’s not answering still.”
That was not a good thing, but he didn’t tell her that. “Where does he live?”
“Just a couple blocks from here,” she said. “But I don’t want to leave the vault.”
“Levi’s handling that,” Dezi said. “He instituted a new vault code after your kidnapping last night. At the moment the vault’s locked down, and nobody is getting in or out.”
“Remember there is a second security system on the vault.”
He nodded. “But you don’t have access to it from here, do you?”
She shook her head. “No, the security company has it.”
He sent Levi a text, explaining about the security feed to see if they could get a visual on who had changed the lock on the vault. Levi answered immediately. Already on it.
Dezi smiled. “I suggest we go to Sammy’s. We’ll change the security code on the entrances, so nobody else can get back into the store, and we’ll have information from the security company within twenty to thirty minutes. We can go to Sammy’s and get back again in that time.”
She nodded and ran to the rear exit. They changed the security code; he wrote down the new security information and put it in his pocket. He would hand deliver it to Levi. Nothing electronically communicated at this point. Back in the vehicle Diamond gave Dezi directions to Sammy’s condo that overlooked the village area. Dezi pulled up in front and nodded. “That’s a pretty nice space.”
“It is. He’s lived there for as long as I’ve known him.”
“Did he inherit it? That’s a pretty high price tag for a starving artist.”
“Not sure,” she said shortly. “I never questioned it. I trusted him. I didn’t investigate his personal life beforehand.”
He nodded, but he certainly was good at questioning things like that. At this point, he would question everything to do with Sammy.
They walked up to the front door, and she hit the doorbell. But no sound came from inside. She frowned. “He might have left for work already.”
She walked around the block of buildings to the back alley. There she let herself in Sammy’s backyard and walked up to the kitchen doorway.
Dezi looked around the yard. It was completely overrun and held no creative appeal. So unlike Diamond’s backyar
d. She took her creative space and expanded it so nature would nourish her. He could imagine she designed a lot of new pieces out there. Whereas here it looked like Sammy had absolutely no interest in finding more creative spaces to nurture or enrich his soul.
The kitchen door produced no results either. He looked through the window, seeing nothing. He frowned and asked, “Do you think anything’s happened to him?” Surprise flashed in her eyes, and he realized that, although she’d considered it, she’d avoided looking at it.
“I don’t want to even go there,” she said. “Besides we can’t get in.”
He just gave her a flat stare.
She frowned. “You can?”
“Oh, I can get in,” he said, “but we have to have probable cause.”
“I’m terrified something’s happened to my friend,” she said.
He nodded. “Good enough for me.” He pulled his tool kit from his back pocket and, within seconds, had the door open. He stepped back. “Now we’re in.”
She looked at him. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
She brushed past him, muttering, “You guys are scary.”
“Hey, we have to keep up with the bad guys, remember?”
That stopped her. She shot him a grim look.
He didn’t want to remind her of the situation they were in, but it never hurt to keep her on track. He was the good guy; the others weren’t. He passed her, determined to go first. He left the door wide open, and she stepped over the threshold after him.
As he walked forward into the kitchen, he asked, “Have you ever been here before?”
She nodded. “Bedrooms are upstairs, studio downstairs in the basement. This is his living space.”
They went through the main floor; then Dezi ran lightly upstairs. Nowhere was any sign of Sammy.
As Dezi came back downstairs, she said, “He could be in his studio, working.”
They opened the door and headed downstairs.
She froze.
He came around the corner right behind her to see Sammy was, indeed, still in his studio—lying unconscious on the floor.
Chapter 10
Diamond had been brushed out of the way as soon as the ambulance and the EMTs had arrived, and it had been chaos ever since. She now sat at Sammy’s side in the hospital, grateful to have some of the craziness finally calm down.
All thoughts about going to the police station had fled, although Dezi had called them to explain why. She knew Vince and Dezi were in constant communication. The police were already at Sammy’s house and at her store. Instead of this being a simple forgery—was there such a thing?—this had become something so much bigger, so much uglier. But her whole focus had switched to Sammy now.
“Diamond?”
Her father’s voice behind her cut through her heavy thoughts. She spun. He opened his arms, and she ran into them. He held her close and whispered, “I’m so sorry, honey. Sometimes the world is an ugly place. We do what we can to stay in the sunshine, but it doesn’t always work.”
She nodded and clenched her arms tightly around him. Finally she released him and stepped back. “I wish I knew what happened.”
He brushed the hair off her face and smiled down at her. “Trust the police to figure it out.”
Her gaze drifted toward Sammy. “Yes, but will it be in time, or will somebody else get hurt?”
“Hopefully it’ll happen today. They’ve got three men in custody. The police should get some answers from them soon,” he said, then motioned at Sammy. “You said he was really cold and barely breathing when you found him, correct?”
She nodded. “The ambulance was there very quickly. He’s got a head wound, and that’s why he’s in intensive care. They’re worried about swelling on the brain. He’s also dealing with hypothermia. Even though it’s warm outside, his body temperature has cooled enough that he’s in danger of not pulling through.”
“But you got to him in time,” her father said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. “Keep that thought in mind. You’ve done the best you can. You found him. He’s now in the best of hands. The medical staff will do what they can for him, and hopefully he’ll survive. Until he wakes up, we won’t know how he got into this situation.”
“Meaning, don’t blame him that his boyfriend was one of the three men who attacked me yesterday? Or don’t blame him because he might be a victim himself?”
“He could be either or both. The fact is, he is a friend of yours. Give him the benefit of the doubt. He could have been duped just as easily as you were.”
She shot her father a look. “That’s not helping.”
He shrugged. “There’s only so much anybody can do at this point. Was anything missing from your store vault?”
“I have no clue,” she said in a bitter tone. “The security code had been changed. I couldn’t get in it this morning. We ran to Sammy’s house, thinking we’d check on him, then circle back to the store, but that’s when we found him, and I never did get back there.”
“What about Dezi?”
“He’s with Vince. I think they’re at the store. But I haven’t heard from him. I sent him a text with an update on Sammy’s condition, but I didn’t get any further than that.”
“Do you want me to go to the store and take a look?”
She chewed on her bottom lip as she warred with the idea of leaving Sammy. “I want to go. But I can’t leave Sammy.”
“He won’t know if you’re here or not,” the nurse interrupted from her side. “He’ll probably remain unconscious for several hours. If you want to go, it’s probably a good time to do so.”
“I believe you also need to speak with the police,” her father added.
She nodded. “But I want to go to the station with Dezi.”
Her father smiled at the nurse. “May we get a phone call if Sammy wakes up, please?”
She nodded. “Go to the reception area and leave your phone number and name and relationship to the patient with the nurse on duty there. Then we’ll contact you when he looks to be surfacing.”
With that Diamond decided there was no point in staying. She needed to be doing so many other things too.
After leaving her message with the nurse at the reception area, Diamond walked out the front doors of the hospital with her father and stopped. “I don’t have any wheels,” she said in surprise.
“I do,” he said. “I have a rental car.”
“Since you have a store in town, why don’t you have a company car you can borrow when you’re here?”
He gave a bark of laughter. “Because I’d still have to look after it for the rest of the year, and there’s no point in paying annual insurance premiums on something I need for a total of a couple weeks.”
“Doesn’t the staff need it sometimes?”
“I’ll consider it,” he compromised.
But he answered so fast that she knew he had no intention of following through. Such was life with her father. No one could suggest things when it came down to it. He made decisions very quickly, usually without any input from anyone else. It was hard to sway him once he’d made up his mind.
He led her to the rental car, and, when they were inside, he slowly pulled out of the hospital parking lot and drove back to her store.
“I don’t even know if it opened today,” she said, checking her watch. “I can’t believe it’s almost noon already.”
“It’s been a busy morning for you.” He frowned. “Maybe I should stay another few days.”
She patted his arms. “We’re fine, Dad. You can go home knowing I’m safe.”
“I can go home, I’d planned to do just that, and due to some issues at work I would have done that already,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean I should. My youngest daughter is obviously in danger. If there’s anything I can do to help, then I should stay and help.”
She didn’t have an answer for that. She didn’t know what he could do to help, but, at the same time, it was nice
to have him here. She didn’t get to spend much time with him. They were both so busy with business, and their trips had to be booked well in advance so she could arrange her schedule to meet her clients’ demands. She didn’t travel much for pleasure anymore. And now that she’d put down roots here, it seemed like the roots had gone deep, and she wasn’t interested in pulling them up to move. She knew he’d love it if she’d return to Europe, but it wasn’t where her heart was.
“It’d be nice if you’d spend at least part of the year here,” she said thoughtfully. “But I guess that’s the same for me.”
“Our family is all over the place now, serving our many locations,” her father said sadly. “We started in Holland, and now we’re in France, Switzerland and Germany.”
“I know. I was in Italy for a long time too at that store.” She laughed. “But I came back here. I don’t know why, but it feels like home now.”
“When it feels like home, you put down roots, and you stay.”
She’s smiled. “It’s a good thing. Global travel isn’t what it used to be.”
“No, it isn’t, but, at the same time, we’re all so darn busy. And now with Emerald being pregnant, expecting the first of the next generation, I’m hoping she’ll ease back some.”
“They’re staying in France?”
“For the moment, yes,” he said. “Although her husband has offices in Italy as well. Sapphire is in Italy and Ruby is in Germany.”
“Emerald also has a house in Spain too, right?” She racked her brain to remember the family connections.
He smiled. “You never were big on family.”
“And you know why,” she said shortly.
“I’d hoped you and your sisters had gotten over that nonsense.”
“Every time we talk, it’s between us,” she’d muttered. “It’s not my fault how or who I was born to.”
“No, it’s not,” he said cheerfully. “They will adjust.”
“They haven’t over the last fourteen years. I doubt they’ll change their minds as time goes on. After you’re gone, we’ll probably have nothing to do with each other.”
