“At first, I was just stunned. I didn’t understand. I couldn’t understand why our father had all those beautiful things locked away. Why weren’t they on display? And Nate told me they were stolen. That when he found them, he looked up every item, and every one had been stolen, and over the course of decades.”
She shook her head, rubbed her arms, paced again. “I didn’t want to believe it. But he showed me the tablet. It was all there. Now, I was horrified, and I admit my first instinct was to lock it away again. Lock it all away and forget it was there. I thought of our name, our reputation, the business. I thought of all that first. Nate didn’t, and of course, he was right.”
She stared down at her hands, then pressed her fingers to her eyes again. “I did ask—begged—for time. We needed to find a way to return everything discreetly. Even, if possible, anonymously. We needed to research how it could be done. Find the best way, then work through the lawyer. If I hadn’t pushed for that time, that discretion, it might have been done quickly. This would never have happened.”
“You were shocked, upset.”
“I was. God, I was.”
“Did you tell anyone? A trusted friend, a confidant?”
On a half laugh, Joy shook her head. “I don’t trust anyone that much. What my father did was shameful, and that shame could fall on us if we didn’t handle it all perfectly. No, I told no one.”
“Did your brother? Is there anyone he’d have trusted enough?”
“Not for this. We swore, as a family—the girls, too—that we wouldn’t speak of it to anyone until it was time to contact the lawyer, or whatever intermediary we’d chosen.”
“It had to be hard to live with.”
“When something’s that hard, you find ways to put it away, to compartmentalize. Otherwise, you’d go crazy. Nate and Aileen did talk about it, in private.”
“Here, with three live-in staff?”
“In the office, or in here, with the door closed. Or at my condo, just the three of us. Aileen started to research the laws in every country where something was taken. I don’t think it was overreacting to want to be sure we wouldn’t be charged, to want to protect ourselves. We all agreed it was worth the time, that these pieces had been in there, some for decades. What would a few weeks matter?”
She closed her eyes. “In the end, it mattered far too much.”
When Eve stepped out again, Roarke waited.
“Uma’s ready whenever you are. The small sitting room off the entrance would do. There are pocket doors you could close if you needed to.”
“Okay. Would you mind sending her in?”
“Why don’t I send her in with coffee?”
“Even better.”
As she walked down to the sitting room, her ’link signaled. One glance at the readout had the slow beat of a headache pulsing in her temples.
“Nadine, I’m busy.”
“Investigating Nathan Barrister’s murder. I’m aware. I’m at the gates. SWAT and armored vehicles aren’t usually deployed post-homicide. What’s the story?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss the particulars of the investigation at this stage.”
“So you want me to go on air with the report of SWAT and security swarming the Barrister estate, the armored vehicle?”
“No, I don’t.”
“I have to do my job, Dallas.”
Eve turned, started back toward the office. “Why are you at the gates?”
“I have very good sources. I may be the first here, but that won’t last.”
“I’m putting you on hold.”
“Dal—”
