“Yes,” Royce said. “I do mind.”
Tough. “You understand there can’t be any claims of theft unless TransSecure certifies a piece was brought to the party.”
Royce held his gaze a moment, and then shrugged and opened the first of the cases. “This will take some time.”
“Perhaps your assistant can help. I was told you brought one with you.” Blake made a show of looking around. “But such a person is not on my list.”
“She is now,” Royce said easily.
“And where is this assistant?”
“Assisting.”
“If you want her to remain this evening, I’ll need a name.”
“Why ever does it matter?”
“Background check.”
Royce chuckled. “That’s hardly necessary.”
He was hiding something. “How well do you know this assistant?”
“All her life. My niece, Samantha Whitefeather. Home from college, needed a summer job. She’s family.” Royce smiled. “You know how that goes.”
Blake made a note. “Actually, I do.”
Royce pointed to the open case. “Case C. Ready?”
At Blake’s nod, he said, “Number forty-three, Tahitian pearl choker—the eighteen inch, not the fifteen inch.”
Blake put a tick by the necklace Royce indicated.
“Aquamarine ring, sixteen carats.”
Aquamarine was a bluish stone. There were four rings with blue stones. Blake studied the case. Sixteen carats was big, right?
Royce pointed to the ring. If Blake had packed the cases, he would have lined up the list and the jewelry in the same order.
“Aquamarine, fourteen carats with ten diamonds.”
Blake ticked it off.
“Aquamarine…”
He was already impatient. Josef was supposed to be in here watching the room—where was he? For that matter, where was Royce’s assistant? She could make the whole tedious process go faster.
“Pavé chocolate and yellow diamond leopard bracelet…” Blake marked it.
“The other,” Royce corrected. “That’s the cheetah.”
For the love of—“Hang on.” Blake pressed his earpiece. “Josef? Where are you?”
Across the room, Josef turned and held up his hand. Blake gestured for him to come there. “My associate will finish up,” he told Royce. “I’ll see what I can do to hurry the decorators along and give you some more time.”
CASPER HAD ACTUALLY caved. Kaia was feeling pretty darn good as she made her way back to Royce and the hired muscle standing with him.
Sure, she totally expected Casper to try to pull something, but Tyrone had faxed him a contract addendum and wouldn’t let Kaia say one word until Casper signed it and faxed it back.
Kaia almost wished Casper would try something. Yeah, bring it on. There was only one, tiny, hardly-any-big-deal thing standing between her and the freedom to do what she wanted—she actually had to find the snuffbox and she had to do it without anyone besides her, Tyrone, and Casper knowing about it. Shouldn’t be a problem. Kaia wasn’t exactly planning to announce her activities to the world.
If she got caught, things would get tricky, but not impossible, at least not for her. Casper wouldn’t dare press charges because the get-out-of-jail-free pass Tyrone had made him sign was proof that he suspected his wife had stolen the box. But if Kaia got caught, she could kiss the Cat’s Eye diamond pendant goodbye.
She didn’t plan to get caught.
Who ever did?
“Glad you could join us,” Royce said after he and the muscle initialed a list and the guy took off.
“I was looking for an outlet and then I steamed the cloths.” Kaia knew Royce wasn’t really griping about her being gone for so long. It was all for show and anyone who might overhear.
“And did you find everything okay?”
“Casper keeps chocolate locked in his desk drawer,” Kaia said.
“Shh!” Royce darted a look around.
“Nobody’s paying any attention to us. And you didn’t think finding the bracelets was going to be that simple, did you?”
“Somebody might be paying attention. The place could be bugged. I get the feeling that nothing much gets past these guys.” He handed her a container with velvet display stands and cubes and cylinders of various heights. “The head guy made me give him my assistant’s name for a background check.”
Kaia went on alert. “And did you?”
“I gave him Sam’s. I hope she’s been a good girl.”
Kaia relaxed marginally. She’d been too smugly complacent after besting Casper. She should never get complacent. Ever. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. Really. Don’t mention it.”
“Sam I am?”
Royce gave a crack of laughter that caused a little hairy dog on the landing above them to start yipping. “I don’t think we need to go that far.”
As Kaia watched, a woman swooped up the dog and carried it off. “That reminds me, I’m going to have to find an excuse to go upstairs and look around.” Two decorators wound floral garland between the slats of the banister. One was on a ladder and the other, who’d returned from wherever she’d stashed the dog, knelt on the landing.
“I’ve learned that we’re all going to be tagged tonight,” Royce said.
“RFID?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Radio Frequency IDs. Little transmitters—stores use them for inventory control, passports have them embedded, the toll road tags use them,” Kaia explained. “They’re everywhere. You should look into getting some for your jewelry. Then when pieces walk off, you’ll know where they are.”
“Oh, hon, that sounds expensive and I don’t have that kind of money.” And how ironic that Royce was hovering over cases filled with thousands of dollars worth of jewelry.
But Kaia believed him. “And you never will if you keep giving out free samples.” She gathered a stack of display stands and headed to another set of tables.
Royce made a face at her. Laughing, Kaia chose the table closest to the stairs, slipped behind a floral arrangement that cost who knew how much, and set her stands on the lower steps. Glancing around, she glided up the stairs, managing to avoid being seen by the decorators only to hear yipping and growling down at her feet.
Kaia growled back.
There was silence as dark brown eyes peered at Kaia through silky strands of blond hair that looked as though they’d been given expensive highlights. A pink tongue licked out.
“What are you doing up here?” The two decorator women regarded her suspiciously.
Kaia hardly felt it was their place to question her. “I’m supposed to tell you that Mrs. Nazario doesn’t like the floral garland. She’s decided to go with greenery only.”
Their expressions didn’t change. “Really,” said the one on the ladder.
Tough crowd.
“No, not really,” Kaia said sarcastically. “I’m looking for the bathroom.”
“Look downstairs.” They went back to fastening the garland. “I’m the only one who has permission to be upstairs,” the woman who knelt added. The dog barked as if in agreement.
As Kaia glared at it, the dog stole a piece of ribbon and ran off, the spool unwinding behind it.
“Jo Jo!” The kneeling woman struggled to get up, muttering, “Stupid dog.”
“I’ll get her.” Kaia, no fan of dogs—were any cat burglars?—headed down the hallway after Jo Jo.
Jo Jo very obligingly trotted into the master bedroom and Kaia trotted right after her.
“Hey! You shouldn’t go in there!” she said and stomped her foot, scaring the dog into scurrying under the bed.
Thus, she was on hands and knees, talking baby-talk to the dog when the other woman arrived, huffing and puffing. “Jo Jo, come on out, sweetie.”
The dog watched her carefully while chewing the ribbon.
“I don’t know who you are, but—”
The decorator glared at the bed with loathing. “Jo Jo’s supposed to be in the hall bathroom, but she kept scratching and making such a fuss, we let her out.”
Kaia smiled her best trust-me smile. “I’ll get her and put her in there for you.”
There was an insultingly long pause.
Her trust-me smile had never worked very well with other women.
“Just don’t let her swallow any of that ribbon,” the decorator said with ill grace. “She likes to eat stuff she shouldn’t.”
Kaia kept smiling as the sounds of Jo Jo gnawing on ribbon came from under the bed. “I’ll have better luck with little Jo Jo alone.”
The woman glared at her, obviously not trusting Kaia. Okay, so Miss Capri Pants was a good judge of character. They had a little stare down and it wasn’t until a truly disgusting choking sound came from Jo Jo that the decorator reluctantly left the room. Kaia scooted beneath the bed. “All right, you mangy mutt, drop it!”
Startled, the dog did just that. Kaia pulled the ribbon away and then maneuvered completely under the bed with a speed that stunned Jo Jo. Kaia grabbed her and was back on her feet fast enough to allow for a quick look around the bedroom before Capri Pants became suspicious. From the plans the weasel had shown her, Kaia knew there was a wall safe behind a flat-screen TV in the bedroom, but didn’t waste her time checking it out. Taking a chance, she opened the door to a closet full of suits, shut that door, and opened the next one, that was a fantasy closet that could have doubled as a guest room.
Tina’s, obviously. With Jo Jo snuffling at her ear, Kaia searched the floor, finally discovering the tell-tale seam of carpet she was looking for beneath a chest. A floor safe. Had to be. But she was out of time.
She backed out, grabbed the ribbon and avoided Jo Jo’s tongue. The stupid dog seemed to think Kaia was her new best friend.
Kaia was not.
She would have liked to check out the other rooms, but the decorators were already suspicious, so she carried Jo Jo down the hall. “Where’s the bathroom?”
Capri Pants gave her a head nod. “On your left.”
There was something else on Kaia’s left—the metallic edge of a security gate recessed into the wall. A latch was on the opposite wall, a few feet before the landing overlooking the party room. Someone had tried to disguise the edge of the gate with a trellis-type stencil. Someone had not done a very good job. Probably the grumpy decorator.
This was a new wrinkle in an already-serious security system. Kaia knew that when an alarm was tripped, this gate and any other gates that had been installed, would seal off the hallway, either keeping out an intruder or trapping one until the police and security company arrived.
The gate was not on the plans the weasel had shown her. Of course not. But there was nothing to be gained by keeping the information from her, so Kaia’s guess was that Alvin didn’t know about it. Maybe Casper didn’t, either. Kaia could see traces of Sheetrock crumbs on the edge of the carpet next to the baseboard. Either the system had been recently installed, like within the last week, or Mrs. Nazario had lazy cleaning staff.
Kaia was going to bet that the gates were new.
So where were the rest located? And how would she get around them if she tripped the alarm? Speaking of which, where were the alarms? There were certainly new ones, probably laser-powered. What fun.
Kaia took the tail-thumping Jo Jo into the bathroom, and then flushed the toilet for effect as she stood on it and ran her fingers around the window. Jo Jo gave a sharp bark of protest at being set down.
The window was a hexagon shape that looked out onto a steep dormer and a whole lot of pebbled concrete below. The window was small, so small it didn’t have any sensors attached to it. Only a very slim, very athletic person would be to be able to climb out of this window.
Someone like Kaia.
Unfortunately, the bathroom was on one side of the gate and the bedroom was on the other. That meant there was something to protect in the bedroom. Kaia wasn’t discounting the other rooms in that wing, either. In her experience, the master bedroom was the most common place for a safe, with a study coming second. Frankly, if Kaia were installing a safe, she’d bury it in the back yard, but that was just her. Actually, if she really had something to hide, she’d put it at the bottom of a swimming pool and disguise it as part of the maintenance filtering system.
All righty, then. Jo Jo yipped and whined. Absently, Kaia climbed off the toilet and picked up the dog, patting her before she realized what she was doing. Jo Jo licked her wrist. When she went for Kaia’s ear, Kaia set her on the floor.
“Jo Jo, I should walk away from this one. Far, far away. Unfortunately, my movements are restricted. Now, girl to girl, I’ll admit there was a time when that wouldn’t have meant anything, but you know something? I really, really want to pull this off. You see, there was this guy. Isn’t it always about a guy? Anyway, he did me wrong and I want revenge. So I’m going to stick around. See you tonight.” Kaia headed for the door. “It’s too bad Blake will never know that I beat his system.”
“CAM 1.”
“Check.”
“Cam 2.”
“Check.”
Through his earpiece, Blake listened as Luke did the camera checks with their man in the van parked just inside the front gate at the end of the drive.
He had almost made the mistake of taking over, which would have undermined Luke’s authority not only on this job, but on future jobs. Blake had already seen the looks from the crew, but he couldn’t very well make a general announcement that the Nazarios were his first big client and he was here because he owed them, without implying that he didn’t fully trust Luke.
The irony was that the Nazarios thought they were repaying him. Blake had just been doing his job—the one he used to have.
Actually…Blake leaned against the stone half-wall surrounding the kitchen herb garden and watched as the serving staff arrived and was checked in.
Actually, he’d come very close to not doing his job back then. He’d been distracted by Kaia Bennet. He had nearly let her get away with a diamond pendant.
He was not proud of that. He was not proud that she’d tempted him into violating his integrity. Even now, when he thought about it—more often than he’d like to—Blake felt queasy. He’d come to his senses just in time and yet, he still second-guessed himself. Maybe it was her eyes. Or maybe it was the shock in her expression and the way the blood had left her cheeks leaving them a greenish white before going gray.
But was the shock because she hadn’t fooled him?
Or because she hadn’t been trying?
She was good. Really good, he reminded himself as he had countless times over the years. Trained by her family since birth. He’d made the right call. He knew he had.
It had just taken him too long.
But maybe he hadn’t made the right call. And that’s what had driven him away from the police force. Blake McCauley could no longer trust his instincts.
He’d started TransSecure and shortly after Kaia Bennet’s trial and conviction, Alvin Rathers, the Nazarios’ lawyer, had contacted him about security for a charity art exhibit. The Nazarios had passed Blake’s name around their social set and that was all it took to make him the go-to guy when someone needed valuables transported.
He smiled to himself. It hadn’t taken long for wealthy widows to dust off their diamonds to justify hiring a good-looking bodyguard for the evening. Sometimes Blake felt he was more of an escort service than a security company. But nobody got hurt, which was the point.
Sure he trusted Luke. Absolutely. But he felt better being on site for the Nazarios tonight. Maybe because jewelry was involved—he didn’t know. But h
is instincts—the ones that he still didn’t quite trust—told him to be here.
“THERE JUST ISN’T any place to put your little pin.” Kaia smiled up at TransSecure’s hired muscle. There were two body types in the security biz—those who looked like the hired muscle they were and those who didn’t. Each had their advantages. This type—no neck and overly developed shoulders—was meant to be visible and intimidating.
He’d be a lot more intimidating if he weren’t blushing as he stared down at her neckline. “I, uh…”
“Anyway, I work with Royce. It’ll be okay.” Kaia made as if to move past him.
“Ma’am.”
She sighed inwardly. It had been worth a try to avoid wearing the RFID tag. TransSecure had some poor guy stuck in a van watching a bunch of dots on a monitor as they all moved around. It also meant when Kaia’s little dot went upstairs, he’d see it. And if she took it off and left it somewhere, the lack of movement would be noticed.
Inconvenient, but she’d think of something. She held out her hand. “May I at least put it some place where it doesn’t show?” She smiled her best trust-me smile.
The guard smiled back. “As long as we can receive the signal.”
See? Her smiles always worked better with men than with women. Watching him watch her, Kaia slowly slid her fingers beneath the bandeau neckline of her dress and punched the pin through her bra. “How’s that?”
“Ma’am?” He looked dazed.
She lowered her voice. “Are you getting my signal?”
He stared at her mouth.
“Hmm?” she prompted.
“What? Oh.” Blushing even more, he waved a handheld reader next to her chest and nodded. “Everything looks great. I mean—I’m getting the signal.”
“Loud and strong?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Good to know.” Kaia smiled again, and drifted into the party room. Maybe later she’d drift back and chat with the guy about “all the security” in the house and what Royce could install to “make her feel safer” working in his showroom.
Kept in the Dark Page 5
