“What did Emerson have written in her day planner?” Britt asked.
“Not much. She had arrows over certain hours of each day with a Z beside them.”
“Your first initial. What could that mean? That she’s following you during those hours? Researching you?”
“I don’t know. She also had ‘Cindy’s birthday’ written on Monday. She had ‘Claire’ written next to 12:15 p.m. on Wednesday. ‘Mom’ was written next to seven p.m. on Thursday. And ‘Video call with Tom’ was written next to eight a.m. on Friday.”
“Tom?” She grew instantly alert. “Could that be Tom R? As in Nick Dunlap’s Tom R?”
“She didn’t have Tom R written down. It just said ‘Video call with Tom.’ Tom’s a very common name.”
“Maddeningly common. Still, it’s possible that Emerson’s connected to the same Tom that Nick’s connected to. Emerson. Tom. Nick. Could all three of them be working together?”
“I don’t know.” He was sick of not knowing.
Britt absent-mindedly tapped a finger against her lip. “I don’t think, by the way, that Emerson told us all that she did back there because she cares about Carolyn’s safety,” she said.
“No.”
“She told us for reasons of her own. She hasn’t had any luck finding the painting, and she wants it badly enough to try a new tactic. The new tactic is us.”
“I’m certain that she didn’t tell us everything she knows. I’ll call Detective Shaw as soon as I drop you off.”
“Good, though I’m not sure what the detective can do since we have no idea where the painting is.”
“Plus, the statute of limitations on the Triple Play would keep anyone from charging Emerson with robbery at this point.”
“Even if the detective were to confront Emerson with the information she just gave us, she’d almost certainly deny the whole conversation.”
At an intersection, Zander looked over at Britt.
He wanted to lock her in a tower to protect her.
He wanted her to put her feet on the dashboard of every car he’d ever own for as long as he lived.
Most of all, he wanted to break the uncomfortable tension that had existed between them since their kiss.
“Young Woman at Restwas first stolen from the Pascal family by the Nazis.” Britt toyed absent-mindedly with a lock of her hair. “It was the favorite painting of Annette Pascal’s grandmother, so the family mounted a huge search for it. After years of effort, they finally brought it home.”
“Right.”
“We’re the ones who have the ability to bring it home to the Pascals a second time, Zander. We have to find that painting.”
“Ihave to find that painting.”
“With my assistance.”
He said nothing, though he had no intention of allowing Britt to get any more mixed up in this situation than she already was.
“Emerson Kelly is not going to get anywhere nearYoung Woman at Rest,” Britt continued. “When we find the painting, we’re going to return it to Annette Pascal.”
Without a doubt, Carolyn would settle on the same goal.
Which meant that he had to find a way to unearth the painting. Return it to the Pascal Museum. And do so without risking any of their necks.
“But why?” Carolyn’s oval face communicated her shock.
Zander had dropped Britt at her house, then driven to Carolyn’s. He’d just finished relaying their conversation with Emerson to his aunt.
