Immovable Objects

by Marie Ferrarella

  With something that might have passed for a flourish, Hagen placed the file on the massive desk, then turned it around so that Cole could read the name written across the top.

  Cole raised his eyes to meet Hagen’s. “Elizabeth Payne?”

  Hagen nodded, clearly pleased with the results of his efforts. “It was changed to Caldwell, but it was originally Payne.”

  Cole regarded the file, wondering what he would find there. Wondering what effect, if any, last night would have on the way he’d perceive the information. “She changed it?”

  Hagen made himself comfortable in the chair opposite his employer. He shook his head in response. “Some social worker did it. She was trying to protect the kids from their old man.”

  “Kids?”

  Hagen’s smile never seemed to be at home on his face. The features seemed to have been fashioned expressly to house a frown. “Your lady is a triplet.”

  Well, at least that much she’d told him was true, Cole thought. But he didn’t care for the way Hagen had jumped to an assumption. “She’s not my lady, she’s working for me.”

  Hagen raised his hands as if to beg off giving offense. “Sorry.”

  Cole eyed the file. It wasn’t very thick. But then, it didn’t have to be. He hadn’t asked for chapter and verse, only the highlights. “What about the father?”

  Hagen lifted his shoulders, then let them fall. That was still a loose end in his book. “Benedict Payne. Well-to-do family. Genius. Screw-up, always in trouble with the law. He disappeared. Nobody knows where. But all signs point to his offing his old lady before he skipped out.”

  Cole didn’t particularly care for the man’s cavalier references and apparent irreverence. He seemed not to take any note of the fact that these were people he was talking about, not just words on a page. “Any reason behind the killing, or was it just mindless domestic violence that got out of hand?”

  Unable to keep entirely still for more than a few seconds at a time, Hagen began to rock ever so slightly in the chair. “Best guess is that she wouldn’t tell him where she hid the kids.”

  Had Elizabeth’s mother kidnapped her and her siblings to keep their father from getting at them? Or was there something more to this? “You mean the triplets.”

  Hagen inclined his head. It was obvious that he enjoyed doling out information a little at a time. “One of the sets.”

  Cole looked at him sharply. What the hell was he talking about? “One of the sets?”

  The balding man nodded. He’d gone to a lot of trouble, questioned a lot of people to get at the information that was in the report.

  “Rumor had it that there were more kids, another set of triplets, but they disappeared soon after they were born. Maybe the mother killed them, I dunno. Maybe they never existed, but something definitely turned the old man into a loony tune.” As he warmed to his subject, Hagen’s mouth quirked in a grimace of a smile. He went into a terse summary of the rest of the events. “Mother was buried, an APB went out on the old man, but they never found him. Kids went into the system, got passed around, ran away a few times, then ran away for good at thirteen.”

  Elizabeth was thirty-one now. “What about the eighteen years in between?”

  The expression on Hagen’s face gave no inkling of his thoughts. “Nothing yet.”

  Cole thought of the tidbit that Elizabeth had given him. The half smile on his lips had little humor behind it. “No convents, huh?”

  The two small, brown caterpillars that formed Hagen’s eyebrows came together to mate over his nondescript nose. “What?”

  But Cole was already waving away the words. “Never mind. Inside joke.” Well, that certainly cast a different light on the woman who’d invaded and twisted her way into his world. She wasn’t the carefree creature she tried to make herself out to be. “Thanks, you did well.”

  Though on his feet now, Hagen wasn’t ready to go. There was something else, something more important, to tend to. “What about that other matter?”

  Cole knew Hagen didn’t like being kept out of the loop, but right now things were under control. There was no need to bring him in again. Yet. “Venus is being taken care of.”

  Hagen allowed an impatient sound to escape his lips. “Yeah, but I should—”

  Cole was quick to cut him off. “Let me do the worrying about that.”

  He liked Hagen, respected his talents, but he didn’t like anyone making assumptions or trying to assume control when it came to matters that concerned him. He made the decisions, he issued the orders. Suggestions were accepted when asked for, not before.

  With a reluctant nod of his head, Hagen began to take his leave.

  “And, Hagen,” Cole called after him.

  The investigator paused at the door, waiting and clearly not completely content with his subservient role. “Yeah?”

  Cole indicated the folder that was on his desk. “Nice work.”

  “Thanks.” Hagen shut the door behind him. His expression hadn’t been the kind worn by a man who’d just been complimented on his work.

  Alone, Cole continued to sit there, silently contemplating the file on his desk. He hesitated to open it just in case Hagen had held something back. He’d already suspected that the lily-white story Elizabeth had given him was a lie. Nobody learned the skills she had at a convent, unless it was the kind of nunnery to which Hamlet had hotly banished Ophelia.

  Still, he couldn’t help wondering about the state of mind of a woman who had apparently lived through what she had. Was he dealing with one sharp lady, a potential liability? A possible threat?

  And why the hell was there no record of her and her siblings for eighteen years? She didn’t look like someone who had spent almost two decades in a cave of some sort.

  It wasn’t until the second ring that he realized the phone was ringing. With an annoyed sound, he yanked up the receiver. Now what?

  “Williams.”

  “We have liftoff.”

  The sound of Elizabeth’s voice in his ear, bright, pleased, brought all his dark thoughts to a grinding halt. And set off an entire collection of new ones. Bits and pieces of last night flashed through his mind, warming him. It took effort to bank them.

  “And by that you mean…” Cole deliberately allowed his voice to trail off.

  “Operation camera is a success,” she informed him. There was no missing the smugness in her voice. “And you might like to know that I was right.”

  She could only be referring to one thing. But he needed to hear it. “You mean—”

  “Yes.” There was a pregnant pause for effect. She was enjoying this immensely. “In the sub-basement, along with other ‘goodies.”’ Elizabeth knew better than to mention the statue by name. You never knew when someone could be listening in. Nothing was a hundred percent safe.

  Not even a man’s arms, something whispered in her brain. Especially a man’s arms, she told herself. But she lacked conviction. Last night was still far too vivid for her to jadedly discount, even though she knew she should.

  This was almost too good to be true. Cole had learned at a young age to be very, very skeptical. “You’re sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. I’d stake my life on it.”

  The happiness in her voice was seductive. Hell, breathing, when it involved her, was seductive, Cole thought. He needed to get himself under control. There were far more important things going on here than just the state of his suddenly overactive hormones.

  “You won’t have to,” he told her. “I’ll be right over.”

  Not waiting for a response, Cole disconnected the call, then put one in to his secretary. The remainder of his appointments for the afternoon needed to be rescheduled.

  He bent a few speeding rules and availed himself of a shortcut as well. Excitement was his passenger as he took the less-than-scenic route back to his estate.

  Standing over Elizabeth’s shoulder a little more than an hour later, Cole stared at the screen. He couldn’t help wondering how
many times she’d done this before. Was she just a common thief?

  No, he amended. There was nothing common about Elizabeth. At the very least, she was extraordinary.

  But was she a thief?

  For now he tabled the internal debate. As long as he kept his eye on her, things would turn out all right, Cole promised himself. He hadn’t been born yesterday.

  Just maybe reborn.

  He looked back on the scene. The devices she had planted in MacFarland’s mansion last night had been successfully linked up to the billionaire’s main surveillance system, giving them access to every single camera on the premises. Cole was only interested in one of them. The one that was placed deep within the bowels of the mansion, in the sub-basement, in a room where MacFarland liked to keep his private, secret collection, viewed only by an invitation that was subject to the whim of the owner.

  “That son of a—” He bit off a curse. There was no point in giving way to anger. Pulling the switch back was going to be the sweetest revenge he could ask for. Trouble was, this was not going to be easy no matter how gifted the woman at the computer was.

  Cole’s hand was on her shoulder. Elizabeth doubted that he was even aware of it. But she was. Acutely so. It linked her not just to him, but to last night, which had very possibly been the best night of her life, although she sincerely hoped not. She hoped it was just one of a string of such nights, such encounters. That the best was yet to be.

  Maybe because it had been her first time and maybe because she’d waited so long, she could have sworn the earth moved when they made love. She knew she wanted it to move again.

  Shaking off her thoughts, Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder at him. “Is this the part where I get to say, ‘I told you so’?”

  Cole laughed, moving the chair around and tilting it back so he could kiss her soundly. “Yes, this is the part.”

  She blew out her breath. He’d done it again, knocked the pins right out from under her and stolen what there was of her air supply. “I’m going to have to catch my breath first.”

  He smiled into her eyes, the statue momentarily forgotten. “I can wait.”

  She swung her chair completely around to face him. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to be swept away by her emotions. She needed to get down to business, if only to prove to herself that she could.

  “I also think I’m right about how it happened. It’s got to be an inside job.” She saw the doubt creep across his forehead and didn’t give him an opportunity to argue the point. “According to your man, he saw the statue being put into the crate.” She repeated what she’d already told him earlier. “Someone switched it so that the crate was empty when it got there.”

  The probability that she was right was increasing. But it wasn’t anything he wanted to address right now. Time was growing short. They needed a plan and they needed it now. The trouble was, his thinking ran along the lines of corporate business, not theft. “Hagen followed the truck with his car. He said the driver got a flat and he helped him change the tire. He was around the other vehicle at all times.”

  She shrugged. “I suppose someone could have switched it then, while the driver kept him busy. Still…”

  Cole knew what she was thinking. “It had to have happened after the crate arrived.” He frowned. “I’ll deal with that later.”

  No, he needed to deal with it now, at least in part, she thought. “Until then, you’re vulnerable,” she insisted. “Unless you don’t mention this to anyone.”

  He wasn’t sure what she was driving at. “Mention what?”

  She tapped the screen. The bronze goddess, bathed in seductive blue lights, smiled alluringly at them from her perch. “That we’ve located the statue and that we’re going to get it back.”

  This wasn’t a two-person job. Even he could see that. “Then how are we—”

  “Just the two of us,” she said firmly. And then, chewing on her lower lip as she studied the statue, she amended her statement. “Actually, I think we’re going to need a third.”

  He immediately thought of Hagen. The investigator was still his most trusted man, despite her aspersions. “Oh?”

  “Yes.” She swung around to look at him again, feeling that same rush coming into her veins, the one that accompanied a new venture, one that had her walking on the edge of a tightrope. “I think I’ve figured out how we’re going to get Venus back onto her pedestal at your gallery where she belongs.”

  He felt something tightening inside his gut. Damn, but she looked as vibrant as she had last night when he’d made love with her. Everything within him yearned to take her now.

  What the hell was going on with him?

  He was behaving like some kid who’d just discovered sex, not a thirty-two-year-old man who had gotten to the stage where sex had become merely a pleasant diversion.

  “Go ahead,” he coaxed patiently. “I’m listening.”

  She summed it all up in one neat little word. “Catering.”

  That was a bit too terse for extrapolation. “Excuse me?”

  Taking a breath, she launched into her idea. It felt a little like a plunge down an eighty-foot roller coaster. She loved this part. “MacFarland’s having the party catered. There’ll be servers all over the place. There’ll be carts coming and going. Some will be standing still, out of the way.” She looked up at him innocently. “One of the carts, with an appropriate cloth over it, might even be parked in front of an unused door that leads down to the sub-basement.”

  And so the impossible becomes a little less so, he thought. He caught her up in a hug. “I do like the way your mind works.”

  Pleased with herself, Elizabeth executed a little curtsy. “Thank you.”

  They had a lot of work ahead of them. Granted, they had the layout of the house, thanks to the drawings the architect had filed with the city, and she already knew the security system because of her own brand of ingenuity, which he was beginning to realize he couldn’t question, but this last detail had to be factored in.

  Cole began to leave. “I’ll find out who the caterer is—”

  Elizabeth held up a hand, stopping him. “Already done. He’s using Royce of Philadelphia. They’re very pricey, but he likes the food.”

  Cole crossed his arms before him, admiration in his voice. “You have been busy this morning.”

  She pretended to look humble. “I felt particularly energized.”

  Cole crossed back to her. “Funny, I would have thought you’d be exhausted.”

  She grinned. A warmth slipped over her, making its umpteenth reappearance today. “Maybe next time.”

  Taking her hands in his, he drew her up to her feet. “About last night—”

  Leeriness elbowed aside the warmth. She raised her chin slightly. Defensively. She couldn’t help it; it was in her nature to brace for disappointments. Maybe a little of Anthony existed within her.

  “Is this going to be followed with a speech? Because I think I’ve already made it clear that you don’t have to worry about me.”

  Her resistance should have made things easier for him. It was, after all, the ideal male situation. A beautiful woman who wanted nothing in return except a good time. But it seemed to have the reverse effect. Her resistance just succeeded in reeling him in.

  He slipped his arms around her, holding her to him. “I’m not worried about you. I’m worried about me.”

  “Oh?”

  He felt her relaxing against him. And the leeriness had left her eyes. “I’m having trouble getting you out of my head.”

  She knew she shouldn’t allow herself to be drawn in this way, shouldn’t allow his words to matter. This was just an interlude. For God’s sake, you couldn’t fall for the first man you made love with. Any sucker knew that.

  Right?

  So then why…

  “I’m small,” she murmured, turning her eyes up to his beguilingly. “There’s room.”

  “Seriously—”

  She fluttered her lashes at him,
negating her words. “Seriously.”

  He laughed and brushed his lips against hers. Damn, but he could take her right here and not even blink. Except to enjoy it far more than he’d ever thought humanly possible.

  “Who are you, Elizabeth?” He had a file, he had data. He hadn’t a clue. Not really. Because the woman in his arms wasn’t really the woman in that file.

  If you knew me, you’d reject me, Elizabeth thought. She was the entertainment portion of his life, nothing more. He was too far removed from her world for her to have any serious hopes that they could ever get together.

  “Think of me as opportunity,” she said glibly. “An opportunity to get back at MacFarland.”

  She was far more than that and they both knew it. The problem was, only one of them knew what that entailed. “And what’s in it for you?” he asked.

  She cocked her head as if to study him. “Is that your clever way of reneging on the fee?”

  “Is that all that’s behind this? A fee?” He sincerely doubted it. There had to be more. But what? In the end, was he going to regret throwing his lot in with her?

  She slipped out of his arms, uneasy at the scrutiny. “I have nothing against MacFarland, if that’s what you mean. After Saturday, once we pull this off, I think I’d probably like a restraining order. This is just a job for me.”

  This hardly fell under anyone’s definition of a “job.” “Someday you’re going to have to fill me in on your job description.”

  Elizabeth laughed. The sound was as compelling as a siren’s song. As long as he remembered what ultimately happened to the sailors who’d been lured by those sirens, he’d be all right.

  Unable to resist, Cole took her into his arms again.

  “Wanted—Female, brilliant, witty,” Elizabeth recited. And then mischief entered her eyes. “Can say ‘look, Ma, no hands,’ and mean it.”