“The day the bracelet you found at Teacups was stolen,” Rad said, then added, “along with the rest of the set, from my late aunt’s bedroom.”
Every head turned toward him, and Holt looked at his son warningly. “Rad…”
“No, Dad,” Rad said, shaking his head. “You said it yourself. Secrets are what get people hurt, and if we’re laying all our cards out on the table, it has to beallthe cards, no matter what.”
“What are you talking about?” Margo and Willa asked in unison.
Holt explained then about the necklace, the set, the FBI operation, the fake jewels used as bait, and the suspected cat burglar. When he was finished he turned to look at his son. “Rad?” He raised his eyebrows. “No more secrets, remember?”
Rad nodded and then broke his promise to Sienna as he told them about the break-in, the safe, and how Sienna had sworn him to secrecy because she’d been looking after the safe and its contents for years.
“Wait! The thief took an entire safe?” Margo asked in disbelief.
“It appears that way, yes,” Rad confirmed.
“Sienna’s safe was stolen?” Harvey’s eyes widened. “She never said a word to me.”
“She wouldn’t,” Rad told him. “She’s too scared that her parents would find out. One would be mad that she’d lost their hidden fortune, the other that there was a hidden fortune.”
“Which was which?” Ace asked.
“According to Sienna, she was hiding the safe for her father,” Rad said, then clarified. “For Chief Morrison.”
“Holt.” Mina’s face sharpened with alarm. “You are not accusing Tom of being the thief here, are you?”
“Everything is pointing that way,” Holt said. “Sienna was keeping the safe hidden from her mother, and she was keeping it for her father. At least that’s what she told Rad.”
“You know you can’t trust Sienna,” Mina said at once. “That young lady has been lying since she could talk.”
“Mother,” Holt warned. “She’s had a hard time because of Victoria.”
“Yes,” Harvey spoke up unexpectedly. “Her mother is really hard on her.”
Mina turned to him. “Oh, Harvey, you sweet little smitten fool. Penny is single and far more worthy of a good, honest, hardworking man like you.” She shook her head. “That viper of a Sienna is just using you and you, Ace.” Her eyes turned to Ace before returning to Holt. “I’m telling you, you can’t trust a word out of that young woman's mouth.”
Harvey went red so fast that Holt almost felt sorry for him.
“No, you’re wrong,” Harvey muttered, ignoring the Penny part entirely. “Victoria is a total cow to her daughter.”
Before Mina could respond, Holt cut in. “Can we get back to the situation?” His voice wasn't loud, but the impatience in it was impossible to miss.
“Sorry,” five voices, excluding his mother, Holt noticed, mumbled in various degrees of sincerity.
“So none of you knows exactly which last conversation triggered the incidents?” Holt said. “These things started after you spoke to the people you just listed?”
“Yes,” the four of them said together.
“I can knock most of those people off your suspect list,” Mina insisted. “Including Tom.”
“Please, Mother.” This time Holt’s voice snapped with a strain he had almost never directed at his mother. But Holt was feeling the kind of frustration with this case that he’d only ever felt once before. When he was investigating his father’s case. And Holt was hanging at the end of his tether. “We didn't bring you here to run the case. We’ll get to your part in this in a bit.” Then Holt looked back at Rad. “Which was the first incident?”
Margo raised her hand slightly. “I believe it was the windows of my cottage being broken.”
“Then my tires were slashed,” Willa said.
“Then my plane was tampered with,” Ace added.
Both June and Holt turned toward him.
