Devious: Book Five in the On The Run series

by Sara Rosett

  Poppy stepped back from his embrace. “Oh, I think there is.”

  “Really, it’s fine. Mum said there was some sort of snag with the solicitors. I’ll get it sorted.”

  “Plans change.”

  A taller man with a heavier build and fair hair joined Robert and Poppy. He’d been texting as he walked. “Sorry. Checking in with the office—” he broke off. “Poppy.”

  “Ivan,” Poppy’s tone was laced with dislike. “I should have known you’d be in on this.”

  “In on what?” Robert said.

  Ivan shook his head at her. “You know, if you weren’t so hostile, it would make it so much easier on your friends. You might even get a guy to stick around longer than a week or two.”

  The knuckles on Poppy’s hand that gripped her suitcase handle went white. “Well, if my friends had better manners it would be much easier to be nice to them.”

  “Cut it out, you two,” Robert said. “What is it with the bickering? You two can’t be together for more than a few seconds, and you’re at it again.”

  Ivan held out a hand palm up. “Sorry. I apologize.”

  Poppy said, “Fine. Apology accepted.” Poppy sounded as if she were gritting her teeth as she spoke. “Ivan and I can be civil, but I’ve had enough of this foolishness.”

  Robert’s forehead wrinkled. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “I mean this.” Poppy reached inside Robert’s overcoat and pulled out the brown-wrapped painting. “You should think twice about giving people hugs when you’re trying to conceal something. Even one-armed hugs.”

  “This is a complicated situation,” he said. “Why don’t we sit down, and I’ll explain everything.”

  “You don’t need to explain. You and your,” Poppy waved the painting toward Ivan while searching for a word, “I was going to say stooge, but I’m being civil so I’ll say accomplice, think this painting is one of the clues to the Foley treasure. You stole it in Salzburg from the person I entrusted it to.” Poppy looked over her shoulder at Zoe and Jack.

  Robert glanced at them and swallowed. “It’s all for a good cause. You’ll see. I mean, it’s not like I took something that wasn’t mine. That painting belongs to our family. I’m a Foley. I took the painting. No worries.” His smile was back, and he was working it hard.

  “You’re lucky that I was able to convince the police of that in Salzburg, otherwise you would have been detained when you tried to leave today.”

  The easy smile slipped off Robert’s face. “You were in Salzburg?”

  “Yes. Cleaning up your mess. Something that I have to do too often. This absurd chase stops now.”

  “But Poppy, you don’t understand. We’re close. So close.”

  “We?”

  “Ivan and I. We’ve worked out where to look. It is very clever.” He tapped the frame inside the brown paper. “This painting is only the first step—”

  “Yes, I know all about it. This painting is part of a set. The other half of the pair was in Salzburg. It has writing on the back, a code. Got all that.”

  “You’ve worked all that out?” Robert asked. “But you think the treasure is rubbish.”

  “I did. I’m sure it will turn out to be something utterly useless, but since you’ve dragged this up, I’m going to find out what is going on. A woman was beaten, severely beaten, when she tried to get this painting. Did you have something to do with that?”

  Robert stepped back, his face hurt. “Of course not. I can’t believe you’d think that.”

  “Well,” Poppy sighed. “You’ve done some fairly outrageous things. I didn’t think you’d actually hurt her, but you might have gotten yourself involved with someone who did. Come on, you know it’s true. Your…schemes have gotten out of hand before.”

  Robert closed his eyes for a second then said, “Okay, I can see your point. But that’s not what happened this time,” he added, his voice adamant.

  “Then who is in it with you? You said ‘we.’”

  “Ivan, of course.”

  Poppy dropped her head back and gazed at the ceiling. “Of course. Of course Ivan is in the thick of it. I should have worked that one out on my own.” She looked toward Ivan. “Silly me, I assumed you were here to pick Robbie up.”

  “Oh no, I’m an integral part of this search.”

  Poppy raised an eyebrow as she looked at Robert.

  “I had to bring him in,” Robert said. “He had the resources, and he’s an expert. History, antiquities, that’s his area. You know, I’m all about tech, but I know nothing about those old things. He’s the one who figured out the first clue about the painting.”

  “I get fifteen percent of the find,” Ivan said. “It’s all legal and everything. We signed a contract.”

  It took Poppy a moment to speak then she finally said, “Fifteen percent?” She shook her head in amazement. “Robert, I’m into our family history. Did you ever think of that? That you could have come to me, and we could have worked this out ourselves? And,” she flung her hand toward Zoe and Jack, “I have experts as well, but you know what? I didn’t promise them fifteen percent of the find.”

  “Flat fee would have been better, now that I think about it, but Ivan is a good negotiator. Besides, I didn’t think you’d be interested, Sis. You always sneer at anyone who even mentions the Foley treasure.”

  “I’m not sneering now. Too much has happened.” Poppy sighed and glanced from Robert to Ivan. “A contract, huh?”

  “Yes. Air-tight, my solicitor says.”

  “Well, let’s go find this treasure so we can give Ivan his fifteen percent of some dusty stash of cracked china.”

  “Ah, it’s so good to be around you again, Poppy,” Ivan said. “You’re always such a ray of sunshine.”

  Poppy and Ivan continued to trade insults as they left the airport, only instituting a brief cease-fire when Poppy introduced Zoe and Jack. Robert had apologized for snatching the painting, and despite still being upset about that incident, Zoe had found herself smiling back at Robert as he took her hand and said, “Bad form, taking the painting. Terribly sorry for any trouble I caused you.”

  Zoe had been a bit surprised to hear herself say, “Everything has turned out okay. That’s our main concern.”

  Jack had extended his hand, forcing Robert to release Zoe’s hand. “Jack Andrews,” he’d said. “Shouldn’t we get moving.” He had glanced at the windows, which were black squares. They’d caught the last flight of the day out of Salzburg, and the sun had already set by the time they’d landed in Edinburgh.

  A taxi dropped Zoe and Jack off at the Royal Mile. Ahead, Poppy climbed out of the other taxi first, followed by Ivan and Robert. Poppy’s voice carried back to them. “I told you, we’ve already worked out the code. There’s no need to check it.”

  “Because you’re so knowledgeable about codes,” Robert said.

  Zoe pulled her suitcase out of the taxi then linked her free arm through Jack’s. “You know, I used to want a brother or sister. Not so sure now.”

  “They do make it seem rather unappealing. I think we’ll be out of here soon. Poppy’s original assessment of the ‘treasure’ was probably right. More than likely it’s something that’s totally worthless. Best-case scenario is probably old jewelry.”

  “Or possibly a stash of Annabel’s paintings. Have you thought of that?” Zoe asked.

  “No, but that’s a definite possibility.” As they emerged from the tunnel into the close, Jack glanced up at the point that topped the roof of the turret on Staircase House. “We’ll check out the spire, and then we can head home.”

  Zoe swiveled her head, peering over her shoulder at the tunnel walkway.

  “Someone following us?”

  “I’m not sure.” Zoe said as she stopped and pretended to look in her messenger bag. Footsteps sounded on the stone pavers then a woman with glasses emerged from the tunnel. She carried a heavy shopping bag in one hand and moved quickly across the close to the opening on the other
side of the square. “I guess not,” Zoe said, but she glanced back a few more times as they moved toward Staircase House.

  “Still nothing?” Jack asked, his attention directed toward Poppy as she unlocked the door.

  “No. No one.” Zoe shook her head. “Back when we got out of the cab, I thought for a second that I saw a woman I noticed in the airport.”

  “What did she look like?”

  “She was a backpacker. Had one of those enormous bags that looked like it weighed more than a person. I couldn’t see her face. She had one of the floppy stocking caps that covered most of her head. It was gray and her coat was dark, either black or gray.” Zoe shook her head. “It was probably nothing.”

  Jack didn’t reply, just swept his gaze across the close then shook his head. Poppy, Robert, and Ivan were already inside, but had left the door open for them. Jack made sure the door was locked before they followed everyone up the stairs into Staircase House. They all trouped up to the first floor where they dropped off their suitcases.

  Ivan stripped off his overcoat and piled it on top of his suitcase. “Poppy, do you mind if we borrow your copy of A Journey to the East?” Ivan asked as he moved toward the bookshelves. “Not that I don’t trust you…but I think we should double check the code.”

  Poppy crossed her arms. “That’s why you came back from Salzburg so quickly, isn’t it? It’s awfully hard to find a first edition of an obscure women’s travel journal, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it’s a shame it hasn’t been digitized,” Ivan said, and Zoe noticed that his voice had lost its snarky tone.

  Poppy must have picked up on it, too, because she said, “You sound as if you mean that.”

  “Of course I mean it. It’s always worthwhile to make texts available to the widest possible audience. I’m a librarian, remember?”

  “Hmm,” Poppy said, “Well, you’re welcome to look at it.” She glanced over at Zoe, who was removing the stack of books from her suitcase. “Knock yourself out, but you’ll only get gibberish.”

  Ivan quickly crossed the room and took the books from Zoe’s outstretched hand. “What do you mean? The note above the code refers to the Foley sisters’ first journey, which is what this book is about.”

  “Yes, but we tried that book. It doesn’t work. You need Agatha’s original journal. You can check it yourself, if you’d like, but we’re pretty sure.”

  Robert stepped closer to her. “You’ve already decoded it?”

  Poppy nodded. “With the help of my experts,” she said, shooting a small smile toward Zoe and Jack. “So, you can check our work, but it will be a tedious job—the journal pages aren’t numbered—or you can trust me.”

  Robert and Ivan exchanged glances then Robert said, “What did the code say?”

  “‘The spire points the way,’” Poppy quoted then ran through their reasoning for narrowing down the options to the turret.

  “So which way to the attic?” Ivan asked.

  21

  ROBERT MOVED TO THE SET of interior stairs that ran straight up the wall to the minstrel’s gallery. “Not bad, Sis. For someone who doesn’t like this sort of thing. Not half bad.”

  Poppy fell into pace with Ivan while Zoe and Jack brought up the rear. By the time they reached the small sitting area in the loft portion of the upper floor, Robert was yanking on the handle of a door set in the paneling that she hadn’t noticed before. The door was stuck and Poppy said, “Let me have a go.”

  Robert stepped back and waved her forward. She leaned her shoulder on the door and pressed down on the handle while turning it. “This was always tricky…there.” She stepped back, and the door swung open. Robert said, “Well done. After you.”

  “No, you go ahead. I’ll give you that honor. Find the cord for the light. It’s in the middle of the room.”

  Robert laughed and plunged ahead. Poppy followed him with Ivan right behind her.

  “It’s nice that they’re not yelling at each other,” Zoe said quietly to Jack as she prepared to follow Ivan. With the bickering between Poppy and Robert and the tension between Poppy and Ivan, things were getting pretty intense. “Treasure hunting sounds exciting and fun, but in reality…”

  “It’s a high-pressure situation. Do you want to ditch this?” Jack matched her low tones as they climbed a rickety staircase that began just inside the door.

  “No, I told Poppy I’d attempt to find out why everyone was so interested in that painting. I want to see it through to the end, family drama or no family drama.”

  “Oh, I don’t think the drama is over.”

  “Just in a lull, you think?”

  “Definitely.”

  Zoe and Jack stepped off the stairs into a circular room with a rough wooden floor. Zoe had expected the attic to be packed with boxes and discarded furniture, but the room was bare except for a wooden chair with a couple of broken slats. A dim bulb suspended from the apex of the roof lit the area directly under it, but the edges of the room were murky and dark.

  “Can’t say that the Foley’s are pack-rats.” Ivan had his cell phone out and was using the light to trace over the rafter beams and the angle of the ceiling overhead, which rose to a point at the middle under the spire on the exterior of the roof.

  “The roof leaked a few years ago. We had to clear everything out.” Poppy put her hands on her hips and turned in a circle. “Okay, now what?” She looked toward Robert.

  He shrugged. “How should I know?”

  “You’re the treasure hunter. We’re under the spire.” Poppy waved her hands at the roof. “Where is it?”

  “For all we know, it might have been in some water-logged box or piece of furniture that you had carted off when the roof leaked,” Robert said, all traces of his easy-going manner gone.

  “How was I supposed to know there might be something valuable up here? We had no idea that this is where it might be.”

  Zoe looked at Jack and murmured, “I think the cease-fire just ended.”

  Robert said, “Maybe if you’d opened your mind a little to the possibility that there might be a treasure, you wouldn’t have been so quick to toss everything.”

  Ivan’s deeper voice cut into the argument. “Poppy, didn’t you say something the other day about legal complications about selling this house?”

  “Yes, Annabel Foley created a trust for the maintenance of this house and stipulated that her descendants can’t sell the house or even remodel it.”

  Ivan swooped the light from his cell phone over the rafters and exposed framing of the walls. “Sounds as if Annabel wanted to make sure nothing was changed in the house and that it didn’t go outside the family.”

  Robert’s voice quickened as he dragged the chair to the center of the space. “So why would she go to those lengths if the treasure was in something portable that could be moved? It only makes sense if the treasure is in the house itself.” Robert hopped up on the chair, and Poppy surged to it, bracing the back of it as it shifted under his weight. He levered himself up onto a crossbeam, sending a shower of dust sprinkling down on Poppy. She coughed and stepped back. “See anything?”

  Robert used his cell phone light to examine the wood. He tapped and prodded, shifting along the beam, for several minutes. “Nothing. No compartments, no hidden ledges. Nothing,” he repeated as he dropped back to the floor. “Maybe it’s outside on the roof. There is an actual spire, a weathervane at the peak of the roof.”

  Poppy shook her head. “No, I don’t think it’s outside. Annabel was an older woman by the time she created that trust. I got the dates from the solicitor the other day. She and her sister were extremely ill at the end. I doubt she was clambering around the roof in that condition.”

  “But she could have had someone else do it for her,” Robert said. “I say we check the roof. We can use the fire escape.”

  “Robert,” Poppy said sharply. “Be serious. Not now. Not when it’s dark outside and damp, too. That’s too dangerous.”

  “She’s right,�
�� Ivan said. “It would be stupid to go out there now. Let’s wait until morning.”

  “Or until we have…I don’t know…a crane or something,” Poppy said. “You are infuriating, but I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

  From the dim glow of the light bulb and all the ambient light from the cell phones, Zoe could see Robert’s face had a mulish look to it, but at Poppy’s last words, he rolled his eyes. “Older sisters are such a drag,” he said, but Zoe saw him give Poppy a brief smile.

  “Good,” she said decisively. “Now, just to humor you, Robert, I say we go over every inch of this attic to make sure we didn’t miss anything.”

  “Excellent idea,” Ivan said and returned to scanning the wall and roof with his cell phone.

  It didn’t take long, not with five of them crowded into the small space. Within about ten minutes, Zoe was pretty sure that all they were going to find were dust and cobwebs, but they kept at it until every inch of the attic had been examined.

  As they tapped and poked and prodded their way through the final sections, Jack, who was standing beside Robert, said, “So I assume it was you two,” he glanced from Robert to Ivan, “who took Zoe’s bag in Salzburg.” He made it a statement, not a question.

  Robert shrugged one shoulder. “Not my finest hour, but we knew you were taking the painting to the art dealer. We missed you at your hotel—”

  “So you stole my messenger bag after dinner, thinking it had the painting in it,” Zoe said.

  Robert looked down at the floor. “Yes, it was wrong. I completely apologize. I hope I didn’t hurt you when I bumped into you. I didn’t mean to knock you to the ground, only to throw you off balance. I felt terrible, I really did.”

  “I bet you did, especially when you realized the painting wasn’t in the bag.”

  Robert sighed. “Yes, that was a low point for us.” He glanced at Ivan.

  Ivan ran his hand over his eyes. While Robert merely looked like he was sorry that he’d gotten caught, Ivan looked truly pained. “I’m sorry,” Ivan said. “We got swept up in the hunt. It was wrong. We shouldn’t have done it, even though the painting belonged to Robert’s family. We shouldn’t have swiped it from you.”