Kept in the Dark

by Heather MacAllister

  If he wandered into her dressing area, the little chest could easily conceal an open safe. So what else in the closet could do the same and be conveniently accessible?

  Turning in a slow circle, Kaia’s gaze landed on the fur storage cabinet. It had a lock.

  But not much of a lock, and seconds later, Kaia was looking at a collection of not politically correct furs as cool, dry air puffed over her skin. It was a fur refrigerator.

  She couldn’t resist petting a dark coat and discovered an antique silver cigarette lighter in the pocket. She checked other pockets and found most of them hiding little prizes.

  Tina, Tina, Tina. Ran out of time, did you? Kaia knew she was on the right track. She tapped on the back and the sides of the cabinet, but they sounded solid. However, the bottom was raised instead of flush with the floor. Kaia knelt and pressed and pulled. The wood bottom of the closet slid toward her, revealing a safe exactly like the first one.

  Maybe Tina had stumbled onto a buy one get one free sale. Either way, this safe had the same combination as the other, which was a real time-saver.

  After she opened it, Kaia found it contained far fewer items, but what stood out immediately was a white container with the colorful seal of the Lithuanian embassy on top.

  Kaia opened it, and the sides folded down revealing a snuffbox that looked so much like the chocolate one Casper had shown her that she actually sniffed to see if it was real.

  It was.

  Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Jewel encrusted, exquisite workmanship, truly fine stones, and its provenance as a gift between countries enhanced the value.

  In the palm of her hand, Kaia held an object that could cause an international incident, would surely lead to Casper’s downfall, social scandal, and maybe even result in jail time for Tina. Correction, it should result in jail time, but Tina would never serve a day. The weasel was too good and the Nazarios were too rich.

  Still. All Kaia had to do was put back one, small box and tell Casper she’d never found it. Then she’d buy some popcorn, make an anonymous tip and watch the show.

  She was tempted, sooo tempted. But then she’d never get her diamond or have the fun of witnessing Casper’s weasel tell whoever needed telling that Casper had made an error and Kaia was innocent. Well, not innocent, but at least not guilty of stealing the Cat’s Eye.

  Except if she put the snuffbox back, Blake would never know how much he’d wronged her.

  Not that she cared what he thought any more.

  After this was all over, would Casper fire TransSecure because Kaia had been able to circumvent their system without Blake knowing?

  Not that she cared what happened to Blake anymore.

  Or she could take Royce’s bracelets and the pendant, assuming she found it, put the snuffbox back and watch what happened.

  Kaia sat on the floor of Tina Nazario’s closet and held her future in her hand. Options. She had options.

  What she didn’t have was time.

  She stared at the snuffbox.

  Okay, fine. Casper would get his box because she wanted her name cleared. And she wanted the Cat’s Eye pendant. But really, this was about her name. Go figure.

  Kaia set the box aside while she recorded the contents of the safe in the fur cabinet. She never would have anticipated how important clearing her name had become. She thought she didn’t care. She knew, or thought she knew, that Tyrone believed her. Her boss was iffy because her past guilt or innocence wasn’t important to him, only her future honesty. But Kaia wanted to be able to look him, and Tyrone, and everyone who worked with her at Guardian right in the eye and…

  And what? Know she’d been gullible enough to be taken in by an undercover cop? Respect her because she was innocent? Innocence wouldn’t get her any respect, not with that bunch. Or maybe this wasn’t about guilt or innocence so much as getting caught. If Kaia had been guilty of actually stealing the pendant, she wouldn’t have been caught. That’s why she wanted them to know she hadn’t stolen the pendant. It was a skill thing.

  Whew. For a minute there, she thought she’d gone soft. Thought she actually cared. It wasn’t as though the folks at Guardian were her family or anything. She had a family. She just hadn’t seen them for six years.

  Kaia finished recording the contents of the fur safe, closed it up with the empty white box, and was going through all the pockets when she heard whining.

  Jo Jo?

  Jo Jo who was wearing Kaia’s RFID tag and was now upstairs. With Kaia. This was not good. Knowing Blake, he was probably sitting in front of some monitor watching her tag. Instead of thinking Kaia was back downstairs, he would have watched her dot on the screen separate from the rest of the dots and run up the stairs and into the master bedroom.

  Quickly securing the snuffbox in a pocket, she crept from the closet and listened. Jo Jo saw her and yipped.

  “Shh!” Of course, that only made Jo Jo whine louder, which Kaia would have known if she’d been a dog person, which she wasn’t, and this was why. And yet, dogs and cats loved her.

  “Go back, Jo Jo!” She snarled at the dog, hoping it would run away, but Jo Jo gave the most pitiful whimper Kaia had ever heard. Sighing, she knelt and petted the animal, feeling the little body quiver.

  Kaia had a hard heart, but she wasn’t inhuman. “Aw, you’re scared,” she whispered on a sigh and picked up the dog. “Too many people downstairs?”

  Jo Jo licked the palm of her hand. “You’re not getting any sympathy from me,” Kaia said. “I’m not a dog person.” Or an animal person. Actually, not really a people person, either.

  With Jo Jo cradled on her hip, she finished frisking the coats and closed the cabinet.

  Kaia was glancing around the closet to make sure she hadn’t left traces of her presence when Jo Jo’s body buzzed with a low growl. A second later, Kaia heard her crumpled plastic alarm crackle as someone pushed open the door.

  Dropping to the ground, she shoved Jo Jo beneath some long formal gowns while urging, “Jo Jo, sweetie, please come out.” Kaia hoped the dog would ignore her. Luckily, Jo Jo continued to growl. “What’s got you so scared? Is it the thunder and lightning? Jo Jo doesn’t like the storm?” Kaia wished whoever it was would hurry up and find her in the closet. Jo Jo wasn’t exactly the world’s greatest conversationalist.

  The air shifted and Kaia sensed someone behind her in the closet doorway. Keeping up the pretense, she crawled forward a few inches. “Come on, Jo Jo.” She reached into the dresses. “Let Kaia take you back downstairs to your mommy. You don’t have to be afraid.”

  “Or maybe she does,” said a deep male voice. Blake, as she’d expected.

  “Blake!” Kaia thought her gasp sounded convincing. Not over done, but clearly audible.

  He threw a glance around the closet before settling it on her. “Have you been threatening the dog now?”

  She sat back on her heels. “I don’t threaten anything unless it deserves to be threatened.”

  “Like me?” He gave her a half-smile.

  “Exactly like you.”

  He gazed at her and as far as she could tell, he wasn’t angry. Maybe curious and a little wary. Maybe ready for a truce. A truce would be good. A truce would be great.

  “Now about this dog,” he began.

  Jo Jo yipped and raced out from beneath the gowns straight toward Blake. Growling, she attacked his shoe.

  “Hey!” When he reached for her, she yelped and, bless her furry little heart, ran out of the closet and hid under the bed.

  Way to go, Jo Jo. Kaia couldn’t have planned it better.

  “Oh, wonderful.” She got to her feet. “Do you know how long it took me to get her out from under there this afternoon?” She marched up to Blake, glared, and continued on to the bed. “I do not have time to keep coming up here after this dog!” She got down on all fours. “Jo Jo!”

  Growling sounded from beneath the bed. Excellent.

  Kaia sighed for Blake’s benefit and bent to look under the bed. “Jo
Jo, come here, sweetie,” she crooned.

  “You actually expect me to believe you were in the closet to get the dog?” came Blake’s voice from above her.

  Kaia looked up at him. “I expect you to help me get her out from under the bed,” she spoke with exaggerated sweetness. “Try moving to the other side and maybe you’ll scare her toward me.”

  “I’m sure she’ll be fine where she is.” He held out a hand to help her to her feet. “And if Tina should want to find her, it’ll be easy, since the dog is wearing your tag.”

  And here we go. “That was the idea.” Kaia took his hand and got to her feet. “Jo Jo likes to run off with things and hide while she chews on them. Finding her can be a real time sink. You ought to sell Tina a tag system so she can keep track of Jo Jo.” She couldn’t tell if he was buying this or not. Probably not.

  “It’s not your job to keep track of Jo Jo,” Blake pointed out.

  “I know, but earlier, she nabbed an earring—she likes ears. Can you imagine if she’d run off with it? That’s when I tagged her. Because, really, Blake, tagging Royce and me was overkill.”

  He was wearing what she called his “stern authority” mask. No matter what he was feeling or thinking, the idea was to appear confident and in control. Kaia knew him well enough to know the mask meant he was reconsidering the situation and that’s what she wanted.

  “Tagging a known thief is not overkill,” he said.

  That was a short truce. “I work for the man! You think I can’t find a better opportunity to steal from him than at a party? And what do you expect him to do? Steal from himself?” Shaking her head, she made as if to leave the room.

  Blake grabbed her arm. Okay, she really hadn’t expected to get away that easily.

  “He could claim something was stolen here to get the insurance money.”

  “And risk losing Tina as a client?” She jerked her arm out of his grasp. “Not likely.”

  “You could be planting something. Revenge on the Nazarios. Or you could just be plain stealing, hoping to get away with it this time.” He ticked off his fingers. “You’ve got motivation and opportunity.”

  “Oh, please! Do you think I’m stupid? Oh, wait.” She flung up her hands. “Of course, you do. After all, I was stupid with you.”

  It would have been nice if he’d jumped in with a denial, but that would have been insulting. Nice, but insulting.

  She kept talking. “It would take someone a lot stupider than I am to try anything tonight with you constantly stalking me.”

  Blake had positioned himself so he was between her and the door. “That is how I know you weren’t up here looking for the dog. She was downstairs. With me.”

  “So you’re the one who scared her. Poor thing.” Kaia knew she was going to have to give him a better reason for being in the bedroom or he’d never leave her alone. The truth, or a version of it was always good. “Yeah, she came up here and found me when I was getting these.” As she spoke, Kaia reached through her pocket to the inner pouch with the cuffs and drew them out. “Royce sent me upstairs to get them. They’re his design and he wanted to show them off. Tina modeled them for an exhibit of Native American jewelry a few weeks ago.”

  Blake looked skeptical.

  “There are pictures. You can search for them on Google.”

  “Good idea.” Taking out his phone, he activated the screen and tapped.

  Kaia hadn’t expected him to actually do it, at least not right then. He’d been upstairs with her an awfully long time. Shouldn’t he be getting back to the party?

  “What are the bracelets doing in your pocket?” he asked as he studied the screen.

  “Fingerprints. I’ll have to buff them now.” She rubbed one cuff on her skirt, conscious of the weight of the snuffbox against her calf. She really, really hoped she wouldn’t have to tell him about her deal with Casper. She might be forced to reveal her relationship with Guardian to get Blake to back off, but not yet. She still had a chance to bluff her way out of this.

  Once upon a time, she’d told Blake about this dress and other clothing like it. Any minute now, he’d remember and—

  “What else have you got in your pockets?” He’d remembered.

  “A lot. I don’t carry a purse.” That he knew already.

  He glanced up. “Show me.”

  She indicated his phone. “Didn’t you see the picture of Tina and Royce?” She held up one of the cuffs. “Notice the match?”

  “Yes.” He turned off the phone’s screen. “Show me, anyway.”

  This was not the situation Kaia wanted to be in.

  What were the chances of convincing Blake that the snuffbox was a really fancy breath mint holder?

  Nil. For now, all she could do was stall and hope somebody called him on his earpiece or, wonder of wonders, he believed her.

  An interruption was more likely. Carefully, she placed the cuffs on the bedspread, near enough to the edge that she might be able to knock one to the floor, if she needed the distraction, but not so close that Blake would think she’d done it on purpose.

  Next, she reached into a side pocket, going for the easy stuff first. “Money clip, lipstick, keys, tissues.” She pulled the pocket inside out to show it was empty. “Keep going.”

  She tossed the items onto the bed and reached into another pocket. “Jeweler’s loupe, latex gloves—”

  “I don’t know another woman who would carry latex gloves to a party.”

  “It’s not a party for me. I’m working.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

  Was that a touch of humor? Kaia didn’t want humor. She wanted Blake stern and unreasonable and using that deliberately neutral voice she hated. Hate. That’s what she wanted to feel, if she had to feel anything. And she didn’t—shouldn’t.

  “The gloves keep fingerprints off the jewelry.” For jewelry, they should be cotton, but she was counting on Blake not catching that. Luckily, she actually had a small polishing cloth with her, that she pulled out to show him before dropping it onto the bed with the other stuff.

  He nodded to the pocket. “What else have you got in there?”

  “Keys.” The fob on the ring was a tool set in the shape of a key, but she wasn’t going to point that out. Next, she pulled out a small pen, that was actually a mini blowtorch, one more thing she hoped he wouldn’t notice. And her other pen was a flashlight. She didn’t have a real pen.

  “Let me see that.” He held out his hand and she dropped the light into his palm.

  “Nice,” he said, after examining it. Leaning forward, he carefully placed it onto the bed.

  Jo Jo growled.

  Smothering a smile, Kaia held up her phone. “My cell.”

  “I’ll take that.” Blake reached for it.

  Kaia snatched it away. “Not without a court order.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, I think—”

  “Not without a court order.” She put the phone away. “I have confidential client data on this phone.” Not Royce’s clients, but the principle was the same. “You’re not a cop anymore, Blake. Should you confiscate my phone, it would be a gross overreach of your authority. I guarantee you would be sued and you would lose.” She let that sink in. “Even if you were still a cop, any information you found on my phone would be inadmissible in court.”

  He blinked, finally showing emotion in his carefully blank face. “True. You’ve been studying.”

  “I had time.” She’d never spoken to him like that before and could tell it surprised him. Yeah, Blake, I’m not the same little girl who deferred to everything you said or did. “And I’m only showing you what’s in my pockets so you’ll leave me alone.”

  She pulled out her Vernier ring and tossed it onto the bed. “Yes, I used it when I opened safes, but now it’s a ring sizer.” She gazed at him steadily, hoping he didn’t know anything about sizing rings.

  Blake stared at the items on the bed. In the silence, Jo Jo growled louder, probably reacting to Kai
a’s raised voice.

  “You’ve got an explanation for everything.” He drew his hands to his hips and regarded her through slightly narrowed eyes. “I guess that’s what makes you so good.”

  Kaia maintained eye contact. “Or I could be telling the truth.”

  “Maybe.”

  At least she’d planted doubt in his mind. Reasonable doubt. Wasn’t that what it was called? Something her inexperienced court-appointed attorney hadn’t been able to achieve.

  “But I’m not convinced,” he said.

  “You never were.”

  A couple of beats went by before he slowly shook his head.

  Kaia wanted to scream in frustration. It didn’t help that technically, this time Blake was right.

  “Is that all you’re carrying?” he asked.

  All she intended to show him. “There are a few bits and pieces for emergency repairs in the bottom of the pocket.” She held it open for him to look, but he remained several steps away.

  “And?” He just would not give up.

  “And nothing.”

  In the background, the jazz band amped up the music. She and Blake had been away from the party a long time, but if she pointed it out, he’d get suspicious. Like he wasn’t already suspicious?

  Still, why hadn’t he hustled her downstairs or called for one of his security guards? Or called Royce. Or Tina.

  Did anyone know he was upstairs?

  Interesting. She’d assumed his intense gaze was because he was trying to decide whether or not to believe her, but maybe it was something else. Maybe he was intrigued that she’d stood up to him.

  Maybe she hadn’t obliterated his desire for her.

  Warmth rushed through her. No. She did not feel desire for him. She would not feel desire for him. She was in control of her emotions and she’d decide when and where and with whom she’d feel desire. Now was not the time, the place, and certainly not the person.

  Beneath the music she heard a tiny sound. A pop. Blake was cracking his finger. He wasn’t as detached as he wanted her to believe.