“Boston. She just opened a little print-and-frame shop.”
“With the money from the giftsI gaveher. A print-and-frame shop. That’s priceless.”
“You’d be amazed if you saw her. She’s the image of innocence. Dresses just so—stylish but understated, nothing flashy like before. Drives a Saab she must have picked up secondhand. Has this woman working with her who looks nearly as snowy-pure as she does, and a young guy who’s probably eating out of—”
“What about the jewels? Have you located the fence?”
“No. No sign of the jewels at all. She may have started with the furs. They’d be easy to sell and nearly impossible to trace.”
“Have you made contact with her?”
“Got a good man on it. She’s already had a couple of little ‘accidents’—nothing to hurt her actually, just set her to wondering.”
“Is she?”
“Yeah. She’s looking nervously around her front yard each time she leaves the house.”
“The house?”
“An old farmhouse she picked up outside the city.”
“With my money!”
“It’ll all come back to you. Between the shop and the house, she’s made investments that’ll come back with interest.”
“I want you to find the jewels.”
“We’re looking. She doesn’t have them at home. I went through the place myself today.”
“Ransacked it?”
“Nothing that obvious. Just moved little things here and there. She’ll suspect someone’s been snooping, but she won’t be sure enough to call the cops.”
“She wouldn’tdarecall the cops. She knows how long my arm is, and she wouldn’t do anything to risk blowing her cover. So where do we go from here?”
“I’ve got a few more mishaps up my sleeve. You want her to squirm. I want her to squirm. She’s gonna squirm.”
“You’re having fun, aren’t you?”
“You could say that. I feel like I let you down before, and it was her fault. This is my revenge.”
“It’smyrevenge, and don’t you forget it.”
“No way, boss. No way.”
Chapter Four
Beth was lying in wait for Lauren when she arrived at work the next morning. “Well? How did it go? What happened? Your parents woulddieif they knew you were dating him, but I think it’s great! A sunset cruise … I’ve never heard of anything so romantic in my life. He may be rugged, but he’s got style. Was he nice? Did you invite him back to Lincoln after the cruise? I almost called you, but I didn’t dare.Tellme, Lauren. Tell meeverything!”
Closely shadowed by her friend, Lauren continued through to the back room and plunked her purse in the bottom drawer of the file cabinet. “How can I tell you anything if I can’t get a word in edgewise?”
“Okay. I’ll shush. Give.”
Lauren only wished she could. She’d spent a good part of the night thinking about Matthew Kruger, and she still didn’t know what to make of him. “Yes, he was nice. Yes, the cruise was nice. Romantic? Well, I don’t know about that. And no, I did not invite him back to Lincoln.”
“Why not?”
“Because it wasn’t called for. And we weren’t on adate.He was my brother’s friend. That’s all. We talked a little about Brad and a little about other things. Period.”
