She trailed off, but Sam could guess what she was thinking.
“Maggie wouldn’t have touched anything here. I’m sure of it.”
Hester frowned, staring at the empty space while she sipped her coffee. “I—hope not, but you know that she?—”
Before she could finish, the door opened and Mauro came in on a draft of cold air. He immediately swooped over to greet her with a kiss.
“Brrr. Cold.” But she didn’t seem to mind. “I’m glad you’re here. We need to ask you something. Did you move any of the auction items last night?”
“No, I think we were going to leave them in place. Wasn’t that the arrangement?”
“Yes, well ...” Hester gestured. “There are at least three things that were there last night and aren’t there now.”
“Oh.” Mauro took another look. “Oh ... oh no.”
Mauro and Hester had a record of all the auction items. In the hotel office, they pored over the list. Assuming the list was accurate, the missing pieces appeared to be a fruit basket, a set of fancy towels and perfumed soaps, and a basket of snacks and tea.
“Maybe one of the guests got hungry in the night,” Mauro suggested, half-joking.
“You know, a magpie could have easily?—”
“No,” Sam said firmly. “It’s not her. I’m sure of it.”
He wasn’t positivewhyhe was so sure, only that he couldn’t see her breaking the terms of the arrangement she had been so sincere about keeping.
Also, these were an odd set of thefts compared to her earlier ones. Sam’s analytical mind was already arranging and comparing, and it didn’t fit. Maggie’s problem was that her magpie was drawn to shiny, sparkly things. But a fruit basket? He just couldn’t imagine Maggie running off with a basket ofpears and oranges tucked under her arm, no matter how tasty-looking.
“Do you have any security footage?” Sam asked. Or any security on it at all, he thought.
They didn’t. The hotel had no security cameras in its public areas. Mauro explained that this was because of their shifter clientele. They did have a closed circuit camera set up in the lobby in the summer, when they had human guests coming and going all the time. But shifters were so alert to being caught on camera in their shift forms that Hester and Mauro preferred to safeguard their guests’ privacy. Sam would normally support this, but it was highly inconvenient in this particular case.
“It could have been anyone,” Hester said, rubbing her forehead. “It could even have been housekeeping or one of the kitchen staff, removing some food items because of concerns they might spoil.” She turned her head at the sound of clattering and voices beyond the wall. The kitchen was coming to life for the morning. “I can ask. I need to check the breakfast menu anyway. With last night’s snow and another storm scheduled to move in tomorrow, we might have to ration some items until the roads are cleared.”
“Excuse me?” came Maggie’s husky voice from the doorway. “Can I help?”
She was standing there in a plain cream-colored sweater and jeans. Her hair fell in waves over her shoulders, a rich dark mahogany brown with gray streaks. Last night he had been too distracted by the eyeful of creamy nakedness to notice her face at first, but now it was all he could see. She was ravishing.
Unfortunately, what he said was, “Where’s Charlie?” He realized only as he said it that it might have come out accusing.
Maggie’s friendly smile faltered. “She’s in the room, still asleep. I didn’t want to wake her.”
Sam smiled, hoping to coax her warmth back out. “She’ll sleep until noon if you let her, but I figure there’s no harm in it on a vacation.”
“Sorry, I need to interrupt for a minute.” Hester didn’t sound sorry, and she met Maggie’s eyes with an unrelenting stare of her own. “Were you in your room all night?”
Maggie stiffened. “Yes,” she said. “Did—did something happen?”
The slight crack in her voice, a brief glimpse through her emotional armor to the vulnerable woman underneath, gave Sam the sudden, almost overwhelming urge to put his arm around her. Hold her close, tuck her against his shoulder, reassure her that nothing would ever hurt her again.
“Yes,” Hester said. “Some items went missing from the charity auction. I need to know where you were last night.”
Maggie’s hint of vulnerability vanished beneath a rigid, brittle calm. “It wasn’t me. I was in the room all night.” Her gaze skidded back to Sam. “Your daughter can vouch for me.”
Sam doubted if Charlie would have noticed if Maggie had been gone all night. Charlie not only could sleep through an earthquake, but she actually had, during a trip to visit her cousins in California. (A very small one, but still.) However, he was still confident down to his bones that Maggie was innocent. “Yes,” he said. “My daughter’s a witness. But if Maggie says she didn’t do it, I believe her.”
Hester huffed out a breath. “You’re willing to stake your reputation on her innocence?”
“Yes,” Sam said without hesitation.
