CHAPTER 1
Chloe Sinclair sat on the edge of the ambulance with a scratchy blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The paramedic insisted she remain there while they stitched her up. A bullet had grazed her upper arm, but it was nothing serious. She was lucky. Luckier than some of the guests in the museum.
Six masked men with guns had invaded the Edinburgh museum during the gala event, the one she had planned for months as a major fundraiser. Her sister, Evie, had traveled from the States to join her and visit for a few days. Then, all hell broke loose. Chloe frantically searched for Evie in the ensuing chaos when the men forced them from their chairs and made them lay face down on the floor.
Someone had managed to call the emergency number to alert the police to their dire situation. The moment that happened, Chloe had started looking for Evie.
She had excused herself to go to the ladies’ room and hadn’t returned. Worry gnawed at her. When she saw Evie sprinting up the staircase to the next level, her heart had rammed in her chest. One of the men had followed her, tried to grab her on the stairs, and capture her. But Evie…she hiccupped a breath, remembering. Evie had kicked him in the face!
She couldn’t believe it when she saw her sister do that. Then Evie ran up the rest of the stairs.
When the sirens sounded, the man upstairs ran back to rejoin the others and then they left as quickly as they had arrived, leaving wreckage in their wake, exited through the front door and into the night before the police arrived. When the officer asked her if there were any more people left in the museum, she told him her sister was still in there.
Now, she waited impatiently for the officers to return and tell her the results of their search. Her leg bobbed up and downin a nervous tick as she waited, chewing on her thumbnail. If Evie were here, she’d tell her to stop it.
When she caught sight of the officer emerging from the museum, alone, her heart sank. She knew instantly something wasn’t right by the look on his stoic face. Chloe jumped to her feet, tossing off the scratchy blanket.
“Where is she?” she demanded, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice.
“I’m sorry but there isna anyone inside the museum,” he said.
His gaze cut to the front of the museum as another officer emerged, carrying two things she recognized. A pair of shoes and a black satin handbag. Hot pinpricks of fear broke out all along her body as she watched the woman approach carrying the personal items.
“We found these,” she said when she arrived next to the other officer.
“Those are Evie’s,” she said, her voice wobbling with emotion.
The officer handed them to her. “I found them in the loo.”
Damn it all. Where the hell was Evie? Why had she taken off her shoes? Maybe because she’d heard the gunfire and thought she might have to make a run for it. She couldn’t do it in four-inch stilettos, so she had left them behind.
Chloe took the shoes and the handbag from the officer. Inside the handbag was her small wallet, her cell phone, and a little drawstring bag in blue velvet. She pulled out the bag, but it was empty. She had no idea what it was. She had never seen it before.
It was unlike Evie to leave her cell phone behind. But then, things had been chaotic.
“Are yousureshe wasn’t in there? I saw her go to the second level. There are cameras in the museum.”
The officers exchanged a look. “The cameras weren’t working,” the woman said.
Chloe blinked as she glanced from one to the other. “What do you mean they weren’t working?”
“We’re already checking for the footage. There isn’t any,” the male officer said.
Her stomach turned over, a sick feeling creeping through her as she stared in disbelief at the two officers. She didn’t understand what was happening. The intruders hadn’t taken anything from the patrons or the museum. What was there to take? Why come to the museum? It didn’t make sense. Still, she was convinced her sister was inside.
“But, Evie—”
“There is no one left inside, miss,” the male officer said, his tone one of patience.
“But—”
“You should go home and get some rest,” the woman said. “There’s nothing more we can do tonight.”
Panic began to set in. “Mysisteris missing. If she’s not in there, then one of the men took her.”
“Did you see them take her?” the man asked.
Chloe sank to the edge of the ambulance, the cold metal biting into her bum. “No.”
