License to Thrill (a romantic mystery)

by Stephanie Bond

  “And Ms. McKray was on the verge of finding them when she started the inventory, so he framed her for the breakin to get her out of the way?”

  “Right.”

  “Hmmm���guess he wasn’t as dense as I thought. How’s he been smuggling in the fakes?”

  “According to Kat, Andy supervised the construction of the restoration center based on her father’s plans. My guess is he had a secret closet built in and that’s where he’s doing the work.”

  “Damn���right inside the gallery. Want me to pick up Wharton?”

  James glanced at his watch. “No. Send someone else to arrest Wharton, and send an officer to stay with Kat. Then meet me at the gallery in forty-five minutes.” He depressed a button to disconnect Tenner, his mind racing. Then he slowly punched in a London number. “Bernard, it’s James Donovan. I’m in the States, and I need your help…. Yes, anything to connect the name Andrew Wharton with the Webster art gallery in London.” He spelled the last name. “Call me the minute you find something.” Then he ended the call.

  “I just can’t believe it.”

  He looked up. Wrapped in a robe and sporting her fuzzy house shoes, Kat stood in the kitchen, shaking her head. “I thought Andy was a friend of my father’s… a friend of mine.”

  “Don’t blame yourself,” James said, pushing to his feet. “Some people only show you the side they want you to see.” He tingled, feeling like a hypocrite, considering that was how he had behaved around Kat, afraid to let her see how deeply he cared about her.

  His heart filled at the sight of the abrasions on her body���she’d nearly been killed for the sake of someone’s greed. The thought flashed through his mind that he’d been given a wake-up call: seize the opportunity to plan a future with Katherine. But the old concerns were still there. Could he move in and out of the daily routine of being a husband for the next forty years with a smile on his face and sincerity in his heart? Did he have the strength to relinquish control over some parts of his life? He’d been completely independent of other people for so long, he simply didn’t think he could incorporate them into his life at this late date.

  “I made some coffee,” she said, pushing a mug toward him.

  “Thanks,” he said, striding forward to take a great, hot gulp, then turned back to her bedroom. “I’m waiting for a phone call, then I’m meeting Tenner at the gallery.”

  “I heard.” She followed him into the bedroom, and when he shrugged into his shirt, he noticed she was disrobing. Even the brevity of the moment could not prevent his body from reacting when she pulled her short gown over her head.

  “Pussy-Kat,” he said with a low laugh, unable to take his gaze from her bare breasts, “although I’d like nothing better than to usher in the dawn pleasuring each other, perhaps now isn’t the time���”

  “I’m going with you,” she said, donning a T-shirt, then a sweatshirt.

  His expression changed abruptly. “No, you are not.”

  She stepped into a pair of jeans and quickly pulled them up over her hips, then fixed him with a hard stare. “Yes, I am. I’m the one who was framed for the breakin, I’m the one who was arrested, and I’m the one who was targeted for that bomb���I’m going with you. I might just be able to help you two find what you’re looking for. Besides,” she added with a wry smile, “do you trust my safety to a police officer standing watch at my door, or would you rather I be with you?”

  He scowled and finished dressing in silence, unable to argue with her logic, but unwilling to acquiesce verbally. As she brushed her hair and pulled it back into a low ponytail, he saw that she moved gingerly and winced a time or two. She was stubborn. A taste of what it would be like to live with her, he noted wryly.

  The phone rang just as he finished washing and toweling his face. “James Donovan here…. Yes, hello, Bernard, do you have something for me?… Just as I suspected…. Yes, let the London police know that the Wharton fellow is probably being arrested as we speak…. I’ll call you later, old man, thanks for your assistance.”

  Kat’s eyes bulged. “Andy is connected to forgeries at a London gallery?”

  He nodded grimly. “His name has come up, along with others. Didn’t you say he studied art in Europe?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, he obviously developed long-lasting friendships with the wrong sort of people.”

  A knock on the door interrupted them, and Officer Campbell announced that Tenner had sent him. James admitted him and explained the change in circumstances, glaring at Kat. Officer Campbell offered them a ride, and James accepted, since he had planned on walking to meet Tenner before having Kat’s company forced upon him.

  The detective sat waiting in his new squad car when they arrived. Remnants of yellow police crime scene tape dangled from low cement pillars in the parking lot.

  Tenner climbed out, his gum snapping with intensity. “What’s she doing here?”

  James frowned. “Weren’t you the one spouting advice the other day about women?”

  “Just because I live with four of ‘em don’t make me no expert.”

  Kat stepped between them. “At least the gallery was spared from the blast.”

  “Good thing there was no glass on this side of the building,” remarked the detective.

  She looked around, expecting to feel fear or dread, but the area seemed innocently normal. She noticed two cars parked where her van had been yesterday, one she knew belonged to Ronald Beaman and the other to a female guard she knew as Nisa. She shuddered to think that a few parked cars between her and the van had probably spared her life.

  A hand-lettered sign on the door read “Will reopen Friday.” So Guy had finally conceded defeat, she noticed. The open house must have been canceled. Unfortunately, he had no idea of the scandal that would shake the gallery to its foundation in the days to come. James pounded on the back door and waved to the camera pointed at them. Within a few minutes, Ron Beaman came to the door, his eyes wide. “Is something wrong?”

  “We need to come in and take a look around the restoration center,” Tenner said, flashing his badge unnecessarily.

  The security guard bit his bottom lip, and Kat tried to force her thoughts from the costume in which she’d last seen him. “I’m not sure about this,” Ronald said. “I’m going to have to call Mr. Trent.”

  “Call him,” the detective said casually. “But this is still considered the scene of at least one crime, so I don’t have to have your permission, I was just being nice.” In a burst of power that surprised Kat, he pushed his way in, and she and James followed.

  “Is anyone else in the building?” James asked.

  Ronald’s eyes moved around nervously. “Just me and Nisa, the other guard.”

  They moved down the hall as a unit, then into the new wing with Kat leading the way, her heart pounding in anticipation.

  “Open it,” James ordered Beaman. The man jangled a huge set of metal card readers on a chain, finally finding the right one and swinging open the door to the restoration area.

  “I need to get back to my rounds,” Ronald said, backing away from them.

  “We’ll take it from here,” James assured him.

  Kat walked in first, turning on lights as she went and looking around the sterile room, which resembled a medical lab. Looking for what, she didn’t know.

  “Give us a brief tour,” James said, his gaze sweeping the room, missing nothing, she was sure.

  She showed him each of the four large rooms, including a tiled area with aluminum fixtures and a long, narrow storage room lined with containers of all kinds���cleaners, paints, turpentine.

  “We’ve circled back around, haven’t we?” James asked, almost to himself, his head pivoting as he walked.

  Kat looked around to gain her bearings. “You’re right���on the other side of that wall”���she pointed to the row of supply-laden cabinets���“is the painting vault.”

  James and Tenner headed for
the wall at the same time. The men exchanged glances, then both started pulling supplies from the floor-to-ceiling metal shelves.

  “Well, what do you know,” Tenner said. He swung out an emptied section of shelving, revealing a sliding panel the size of a three-drawer file cabinet that led to a closet-size lab.

  “I’m afraid I’ll have to stop you right there,” a menacing voice called from behind them.

  James froze, then turned around slowly to see Andy Wharton standing beside Kat, holding a pistol at shoulder level, aimed directly at her left ear. His heart jumped to his throat, and he drew blood from his tongue.

  “Wait a minute, Wharton,” Tenner said, raising his arm slowly. “Forgery and burglary will only get you a few months���murder is another matter altogether.”

  “Then I guess I just blew it,” Andy said, his mouth twisting into a grin. “Because Beaman is lying in the hall with a bullet in him.” He laughed. “I insisted on maximum soundproofing when these walls were built.”

  “And the other guard?” James asked.

  “She’s tied up, but she’ll die in the fire.”

  “The fire?” he pressed, trying to stall.

  “Oh, yeah,” Andy said with confidence. “This whole place has to go. Does anyone have something to start a fire with?” He glanced at the shelves packed with flammable solvents and laughed.

  Kat’s gaze darted sideways, then back to him, her eyes wide and terrified. James nodded to her, trying to comfort her with his eyes and hide the fact that he was shaking inside. He’d nearly watched her die yesterday���he wasn’t about to watch her be executed today.

  He jerked his head to indicate the panel they’d uncovered. “Soundproof walls���so you could work undetected in your little lab?” he asked, his voice unbelievably casual.

  “Yeah,” Andy said with pride in his voice.

  “I’m guessing there’s another hidden door from your lab to the vault?” he asked to keep the man talking.

  “Uh-huh. I could take things out for hours at a time and no one even suspected. Ingenious, wasn’t it?”

  “You’re right, Mr. Wharton,” James said agreeably. “We quite underestimated you. I have to admit, you fooled many people for a rather long time. Except perhaps Mr. McKray.” He saw Kat’s eyes close and prayed she wouldn’t faint. Wharton looked so wild-eyed, he might shoot at the first movement.

  The man frowned, and his hand dropped an inch. “Frank was starting to get in the way, being a little too nosy for his own good, so I fixed his brakes.”

  Kat looked as if she were going to be ill.

  James nodded to the man sympathetically. “He found out you were behind the embezzling���I suppose you needed start-up funds?”

  Andy pursed his lips. “Someone told me you were smart.”

  Conjuring up his most charming smile, James moved his hands to his waist. His gun was at his back, beneath his jacket, but he wasn’t going to risk any quick movements. “Which brings me to another point,” James said, shaking his head. “How you were able to branch out internationally���I’m dying to meet your London connection.”

  Andy’s grin was slow and sweet. “Are you now?”

  “Tania,” James called, “you might as well show yourself.”

  After a few seconds of silence, he heard the sound of a woman’s heels clicking on the tiled floor in the other room. Tania Mercer appeared, dressed in a black pantsuit and boots, her hair tucked beneath a black beret, holding a box of long matches. “James, darling, I hate to see it come to this.”

  James smiled sadly. “You wanted me out of England because you knew I had been asked to work on the Webster museum case in London.”

  She raised her lovely hands in a shrug. “You’re the best���I knew you would find me out.”

  “So you shipped me here with a fake love letter.”

  Tania sighed. “Very fake. You were supposed to be gone by the time the burglary took place���but you missed your damn plane.” She frowned in Kat’s direction. “I wonder what could have distracted you. Women have always been your weakness, James. I’m afraid this little dalliance will cost you your life.”

  “You beat me to San Francisco, didn’t you?” he asked. “It was you on the videotape, stealing the letter.”

  She nodded, her eyes alight with drama. “Andy knew she was going to stumble across the forgeries when she inventoried the vault, so we came up with a way to get her out from underfoot.” Her lip curled in disgust. “But your libido got in the way and messed up our entire plan.”

  “But a bomb, Tania? I never figured you for a killer.”

  “It’s your fault���you forced our hand.”

  “Surely you can’t imagine you’ll get away with this.”

  “We have enough money now to buy new identities.”

  His eyes flicked to the scrawny Wharton, whose arm was shaking from holding the gun. “And this is the man with whom you’re going to spend your life as a fugitive?” He didn’t attempt to keep the disdain from his voice.

  She smiled. “Let’s just say there’s more to him than meets the eye, James.”

  James smirked, and scratched his rib cage. “Ah, so your well-endowed painter boyfriend knows how you convinced me to make this trip?”

  Her smile faltered, and Wharton’s brow crumpled. “What? You were on your back with him?”

  James shook his head. “Oh, no, Tania’s positions were much more creative than that.”

  “What?” Wharton screamed, swinging his gun forward and away from Kat’s head. James jerked his gun out of his waistband and fired two shots in succession, hitting the man in the shoulder both times. Wharton fell back, firing his gun, and James heard Tenner grunt in pain. He looked back to see the detective lying on his back in a pool of blood, his eyes open and darting side to side.

  “Tenner!” Kat gasped and lunged for him.

  Tania grabbed the gun and yanked Wharton to his feet. She aimed at James and shot wildly. Two rounds ricocheted off the tiled floor. James dove for her legs and knocked her off her feet, the impact sending both weapons skittering across the floor. Tania fought like a wildcat, kicking, biting, and clawing. James knocked her out cold with a right jab. “Sorry, old gal,” he whispered, then let her fall back to the floor.

  “James, look out!” Kat screamed.

  He rolled over and saw Wharton towering over him with the gun aimed at his chest. The man’s face glistened with sweat, his shoulder oozing blood. His eyes were slightly glazed, and his lip curled back in a sneer. His finger started to squeeze the trigger. “Ugghh!” His eyes bulged in outraged pain as he froze for two seconds, then fell sideways, discharging the gun as he dropped.

  James ducked, feeling a zinging vibration between his legs as the bullet struck too close for comfort. When he lifted his head, Kat stood, still holding the glass canister she’d bashed into Wharton’s head.

  “Varnish,” she said with a shaky smile.

  “I’ll add it to my arsenal. How’s Tenner?”

  “He’s conscious���I’ll call nine one one.”

  Chapter 15

  James knocked on the open door and stuck his head into the hospital room. “Are you up to the task of talking?”

  “Well, if it isn’t Agent Donovan.” Tenner gave him a face-splitting grin from the hospital bed. “Sure, come on in. What did you bring me?”

  James handed him a greasy sack with a wry smile. “Italian sausage with mustard and onions, and cheese fries with chili on the side.”

  Tenner beamed. “Thank you, Donovan, you really know how to make a man happy.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Well, I must say, that’s the first time anyone has ever told me that. How are you feeling?”

  Tenner tore into the sack and stuffed a fry into his mouth. Then he patted his stomach, bulging under the thin hospital gown. “Just a flesh wound, and thank goodness I have plenty of that. I should be out in plenty of time for the trial. How’s Beaman?”

 
; James frowned. “Not as cheerful as you, old chap, but he’ll pull through. I’ve come to say goodbye.”

  The detective’s brow furrowed. “You’re leaving?”

  He nodded.

  “Taking Ms. McKray with you, I hope.”

  James lowered his gaze. He hadn’t been able to shake the chest-tightening blahs since he rolled off Kat’s couch this morning. Between her healing injuries and mutual wariness, they had silently agreed on separate sleeping arrangements for the last two nights.

  “Er, no,” he said. “I’m due in New York tonight and Kat is leaving for L.A. next week to start a business with an unexpected windfall from Guy Trent.”

  “Oh?”

  “When he discovered that Wharton had been behind the embezzling, he gave back the money she’d paid for her father’s debt���with interest.”

  Tenner’s mouth pulled upward. “That’s great for the missy. Wharton’s been charged?”

  James nodded. “Tania turned on Wharton. Now he’ll be tried for murdering Kat’s father in addition to all the other charges.”

  “What’ll happen to the Mercer woman?”

  “She agreed to a plea bargain here, but she’ll still have to stand trial in London. She might see the light of day in a few years, but she’ll be broke and shamed���not quite the exotic adventure she’d planned for herself.”

  “No, life doesn’t always turn out the way we plan, does it, Agent Donovan?”

  James knew what the man was hinting at, but didn’t rise to the bait. “No, it doesn’t, but it always seems to turn out for the best, doesn’t it?”

  Tenner gave him a crooked smile. “I’m going to be a father again.”

  Surprise shot through him. “Really? So she did it with you again?”

  “What?”

  James shook his head. “I mean, she did it to you again.” He laughed weakly. “My, my.”

  “Yeah, a baby at my age���don’t that beat all?” Tenner belly-laughed, winced and clutched his stomach, then smiled. “Hope it’s another girl.”