“I do. I’m working on it. Auction’s on Thursday.”
“That means we’ll have to have everything in place at least two days before.”
“Correct.”
Gretel put her hand over her churning stomach. “I hope Hazel’s all right. She’ll be scared witless.”
“Next time they call you, and every time they call you, ask to speak with her.”
“I know. I will. Jack, those men are watching my every move. They would’ve seen Andrew and Sturgess enter the building, wouldn’t they? I mean, if they’re keeping an eye on me and all that, they’d probably know where these men are from.”
“And they know, most likely that we’ve been charged with keeping the diamond safe. So it’ll only be expected that we’d have meetings with the auction house security.”
“But still.”
“We’ve taken that into account. Don’t worry. We have an undisclosed location close by, which is connected to this area by a tunnel. Those three men came here through the tunnel. No one would’ve seen them come or go.”
“That’s so interesting. Very cloak and dagger, just like James Bond.”
“Not really.”
“Where is this undisclosed location?”
“Above your security clearance. That’s where it is.”
“Oh. I’m glad I have some kind of security clearance. At least that’s something.”
“It isn’t. It’s a flat line.”
She frowned at him. “Is the doorway to the tunnel inside the bar on the opposite side of the city block from here?”
“I can’t tell you. I told you why.”
“What’s the next step?” Gretel asked.
“I have a meeting to go to. We can meet back here in a couple of hours. You can go shopping. Buy shoes or whatever it is you women do when you have time to kill.”
“Obviously I’m not in the mood for that with Hazel’s life in danger.”
“I’m sorry. That was insensitive of me.”
“You’re forgiven. Can I sit in your office and go over the plans?” She had to get that code entered on his computer.
“Plans of what?”
“The plans of the building where the diamond will be held. If they’re going to believe I’m going to steal it, I have to come up with a plan that would have my stamp on it.”
“You mean the blueprints?”
“Yes.”
He rubbed his jaw. “I guess it’d be okay.” He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. “Here's the key." He made direct eye contact. "Do not touch anything.” His voice was staccato as he emphasized every word.
“I can’t sit on the couch?”
He drew his eyebrows together. “You know what I mean. I know how you like to wander and touch things, lift things up, look under them and generally snoop around.”
Her mouth dropped open. “I do not.”
“Just don’t touch anything—please.”
“Sure, okay. I won’t.” She took the key out of his outstretched palm. She didn’t know if this would work. How was she going to figure out the password to even open his computer?
In her mind when she’d run though this scenario, he had his computer open working on it. Then they would leave his office together, and when they were downstairs she had planned to pretend she’d left her coat in his office. She’d run back and that was when she’d put the code into his hard drive, and his computer wouldn’t have shut off completely and he’d still be logged in.
“I’ll be back in two hours.” He smiled at her. “Long enough for you to work out a plan to steal that diamond from under everyone’s noses. To fool the criminals and the public long enough so we can get Hazel to safety.”
She grimaced. “I hope so.”
“Keep in mind, you’re the master here. If you need anything tweaked to help with the plan, we can see to it.”
“Got it.” He was taking all the fun out of stealing. It was an unfamiliar set of guidelines.
He walked away and she headed back to his office.
Now all she had to do was sit and wait until he came back. Unless … could she figure out what his password was? She didn’t even know his date of birth, didn’t know if he had a family pet growing up, and she didn’t know his mother’s maiden name. Then she remembered his middle name was Nautica. He was named after his father’s beloved boat. Was Nautica his password, or was using his middle name too obvious?
Chapter Seventeen
She got out of the elevator and walked past Monica’s empty office. It was full of flowers. Gretel opened the door and walked inside. She pulled a yellow rose from an arrangement and then walked out and closed the door. As she walked to Jack’s office, she smelled the rose.
She’d once read that smelling roses was a way to reduce stress. It had an anti-depressant effect and calmed the senses. It did make her feel a little better. It did—until she remembered her sister and the terror she’d be feeling right now.
She put the key in Jack’s office door and turned it. Then she popped the rose in the glass of water on his desk, and slumped into the chair facing it.
Her cell phone buzzed. It was her own and not the one the crooks had given her. When she fished it out of her bag, she saw from the caller ID that it was her mother. She dropped the cell phone on the table and watched it buzz. As it vibrated on the surface of the wood, it turned around. The ringing stopped, and then started again. She had to answer it. Her mother wouldn’t call her unless it was important.
Reluctantly she picked up the phone and pressed the answer button. “Hello, Mom.”
“Gretel.”
“It’s me.”
“You sound dreadful.”
Gretel rolled her eyes and was tempted to tell her mother that she thought she was dreadful. “I’m okay. How're things?”
“How're things? I’ll tell you how things are. Your sister is missing. Do you know anything about that? Have you influenced her to hate us again? She hasn’t been home for days.”
“Why’s everything my fault?” Gretel grimaced when she realized it might be her fault since she was the direct cause of Hazel being in her current situation.
“Just answer the question.”
“Was there a question in there?” Gretel asked.
“Have you seen her?”
“No. Where was she seen last?”
“If you must know we had an argument with her on the way to Nova Scotia. Of course, you were involved. We know she was on the phone to you and wouldn’t tell us why.”
“Isn’t she allowed to speak with me?”
“She is, but all we did is ask a simple question and she blew up at us like a packet of fireworks.”
“That doesn’t sound like Hazel.”
“We continued on to look at the new house we bought up there and then we felt bad, so we turned around and came home. When we got here, there was no Hazel.”
“Relax. She’s probably with her boyfriend or something.”
“He said he hasn’t seen her or heard from her either.”
“That’s awful.” Gretel had to stop her mother from panicking. “Are you sure her boyfriend is trustworthy? Maybe you should question him again. He might be covering for her. Give her time.”
“He wouldn’t do that. He’s a lovely young man. He’s grown up in our church. We’ve known him since forever. We’ve called the police and filed a missing person report. Expect a call from them.” Then her mother hung up in her ear.
Gretel was upset. She’d not spoken to her mother in ages. The woman hadn’t even bothered to visit her in prison and neither had her father. They’d wiped her from their lives. She’d always been a disappointment to them and they’d never hidden that from her.
She got out her phone and pressed her mother’s number. When her mother answered, she said, “I’m fine thanks.”
“Is this Gretel?”
“Yes, it is I.”
“Why are you talking like this?”
“You haven�
��t talked to me for years and you didn’t even ask me how I am.”
There was a hesitation, and then her mother said, “I don’t need to ask how you are. I can read about it in the paper.”
“That’s all in the past. I have a new life now.”
Her mother scoffed. “You’ll never change, Gretel. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, and a leopard never changes its spots.”
Gretel was speechless. Her parents were supposed to be good Christian people, so where was the love, the compassion, and the forgiveness? “Why do you need to be so awful?”
“I’m not awful and neither is your father. We’re just facing the facts. Whatever you’re like, you were born like it. Your father and I are not responsible for how you turned out. We treated your brothers and sisters just the same.”
Gretel swallowed against the lump in her throat as all the bad memories surfaced. She’d suppressed those memories for so long.
“I have to go and call the police back. They’ll be coming to see you.”
“Why me?”
“They’ll need to ask you about your sister.”
“I don’t know anything.” She hoped the police wouldn’t get in the way of what she and Jack had going on. They’d never find Hazel where she was. She knew that for a fact. The best chance was with the FBI and with Kent.
“I hope that’s true, but somehow I never believe what you say. I’ve learned that the hard way.”
“Goodbye, Mother.” Gretel ended the call. If she was a disappointment to her parents, they were just as much a disappointment to her. She nibbled on the end of her thumbnail. To move things forward, she had to get Kent access to Jack’s computer.
If luck was on her side, Jack’s computer might already be logged in to his profile—if he’d been working on his computer this morning. Then Gretel remembered that he didn’t have to be logged in. Her computer hacker/expert, Kent, had mentioned being able to learn Jack’s password when he logged in to the FBI’s website. All she had to do was open his computer.
She looked around the office. It would create too much suspicion if she was caught in his office on his computer when she had the blinds of his glass-walled office closed. What she had to do was sit at his computer as though she was doing work. No one would even notice. Jack said he’d be gone for two hours so this was the perfect opportunity.
She jiggled the mouse and Jack’s computer came to life. It wasn’t logged in to anything, but she was sure she didn’t have to be. She reached into her bra and fished out that tiny bit of paper she’d written the instructions on. When she had it in her hand, she glanced up. No one was about.
She got into the settings, followed the instructions the best she could and when she came to the right section, she put the code in.
Then she heard Jack’s voice in the corridor. She looked up and saw him through the glass walls.
There was no time to move out of the chair.
Nowhere to go.
Nowhere to hide.
Chapter Eighteen
Jack walked into his office and stopped still.
He stared at Gretel then moved forward and placed two take out coffees on his desk. “Gretel, didn't I tell you not to touch anything?”
“You did. I'm sorry, but I'm bidding on something on eBay and I needed to know how I was doing. Whether I needed to raise my bid or not. Do you ever buy from eBay?”
He didn’t answer her question. Instead he moved behind the desk to look at the computer screen. “Show me what you're bidding on.”
He didn't believe her and she knew it. “There it is. Look. And… oh no. I've been outbid again.” She raised her bid. “There. Wait, I'm outbid again. How can that be?”
“The system allows you to bid up in increments. The other person might’ve put a very high bid on but it won’t show that to you unless you keep bidding up. Then it shows you’re outbid. Don't you know how it works?”
“Not really.” She looked up into his eyes wondering if he was swallowing the whole thing. “I'm sorry, I'll log out.”
“Wait!” He stared at the screen. “You’re sassylady1083?”
“Yes. I know I shouldn't have got distracted, but hey, you're back early.”
“My appointment was canceled. I got us coffees.”
“Thanks.”
“They didn't have any bagels.”
“That's too bad. The coffee will go down nicely, though.”
“What are you going to do with an antique green vase?”
“It's just not an antique green vase. That's really Chinese porcelain. Qing Dynasty. Qing is the last imperial dynasty of China. It could be as young as 1910, or much older. From memory, it dates back to the mid-1600s. I mean, that’s a piece of history.”
“Where are you going to put it in that fancy apartment of yours that has no shelves and nowhere to place such an item?”
“I was thinking of perhaps buying some more furniture. A display case maybe. I shouldn’t have used your computer. I’m sorry. I just had to take my mind off Hazel for a minute or I would’ve gone mad.” She sat down on the chair. “I want to make my house more of a home.”
“I can see why the antique Chinese vase would make it more homey.” He pushed a coffee toward her and took one for himself and as he took a mouthful he drummed his fingertips on the desk.
She knew she was in trouble.
“Gretel, I hope you weren't trying to get into my…”
“I wasn't trying to get into anything. I'm sorry, it was a stupid thing to do. I should've downloaded the app onto my phone instead of using your computer. I just needed a break from all the worry about Hazel. I just wanted a moment of normality where I didn’t feel my gut-wrenching stress.” She looked up at him. “Now I feel worse if you think I was snooping.”
He took a step towards her and put his hand on her shoulder. “I'm sorry. If the password is entered incorrectly more than twice, it triggers an alarm. No alarm was triggered.”
“So you believe me?”
He smiled. “I do, but that doesn't mean I'm not angry with you. I did ask you, quite clearly, not to touch anything.”
“Yes, you did. And I'll make a big effort in the future. I promise I will.”
He shook his head. “Why do I feel like I’m babysitting a preschooler?”
“I promise I won’t touch anything ever again unless I have permission and I’ll stay away from your computer.” As soon as she said that, she knew she’d have to break that promise. She was certain that at some stage she’d have to delete that piece of code from his computer.
“If you and I are going to be working together, we've got to be able to trust each other—otherwise there's no point.”
“That's right. I agree, and you can trust me.” She lifted up her coffee cup. “Thanks for the coffee.”
A smile hinted around his lips. “I’ve got a lot to figure out. We’re losing a day because of Tosh’s funeral.”
“When’s that?”
“Tomorrow.”
“That’s so quick.”
Jack nodded. “That’s what his wife wanted.”
“I’ll do the work for the both of us tomorrow.”
“No. You’re coming with me.”
“What, to the funeral?”
“That’s right. We’re all going.”
“No. I’m sure it’s fine if I don’t go. I didn’t even know him. I’ve never met him and if your hunch is right, it’s because of me he’s dead.”
His eyebrows furrowed and he took three large steps to his office door and closed it. “Keep your voice down. We don’t want that to get out. We can’t afford to trigger a campaign to get rid of you.”
“I didn’t think of that. I’ll watch what I say. How’s Monica doing?”
“Doug and George saw her this morning. They said she’s slowly getting better.”
“That’s good. Is she going to the funeral?”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid not. She’ll be in the hospital for a couple
more weeks.”
Gretel took a mouthful of coffee feeling sorry for Monica with her good friend having been gunned down next to her, and she couldn’t even go to his funeral. “That’s sad.”
“At least she’s alive.”
“Yeah, well there is that.”
Chapter Nineteen
That night, Gretel fell asleep on her couch. Unable to sleep, she’d stayed up and watched movies well into the night. In the early morning, she was awakened by light streaming in the windows. Aware she’d not shut the curtains, she walked over to the windows still hoping to catch some more sleep.
Then she jumped back.
A drone was hovering outside her window. She stared at it, and when she focused, she saw a tiny screen. On it was her sister’s image, a gag in her mouth and her hands tied behind her back.
She grabbed the curtains and yanked them closed, but then the drone burst through the window sending shards of glass everywhere and knocking her flying.
She sat up with a fright, and looked all around. The curtains were closed and there was no broken glass. It was all a dream. Gretel lay back and covered her head with the throw from the end of the couch. The terrifying image of her sister danced in her head.
Somewhere, wherever Hazel was, she knew her sister was fearful. Gretel had to steal the real diamond for those men, but was it even possible?
Gretel looked out the window and then headed to the shower. From the position of the sun, she knew it was early, around six. Jack wasn’t going to collect her until nine.
As the hot water jets beat down upon her back, she wished all of it had been a bad dream. Her thievery had only ever affected her, but now her sister might die because of it. Now that she had the opportunity to put it behind her, she couldn’t. The past was coming back to haunt her.
It was karma, or God punishing her.
She was paying for her bad deeds and so was her innocent sister.
Lately, life wasn’t fair.
She finished her shower and slowly got ready for the day ahead. Firstly, she needed coffee.
In the kitchen, she flicked the machine on then looked out the window. The white SUV was still there. Surely, Jack could’ve run a trace on the plates. Or had he? Was that how he knew they had something to do with a drug cartel?
Controlled (Gretel Koch Jewel Thief Book 2) Page 9
