“Thank you.”
“Hurry up and open it.” She stepped back.
Blake had wondered when they were going to get around to that. He’d been hoping the power would return before now. “I can’t.”
“What do you mean, you can’t?” Kaia waved her arm at the latches, her phone making a glowing arc. “How are you going to reset it?”
“The office will reset the alarm code remotely when the power is restored.”
“Oh, come on. You can’t tell me that every time there’s a power glitch, the Nazarios are trapped in their house.”
Blake avoided looking directly at the phone in her hand so his eyes would have a chance to adjust to the dark. “If the full system is turned on, then yes, they and anyone else will be trapped inside and anyone outside will not be able to get in.”
“Bummer.” She turned back to the locks, studying them more closely. “But I guess that’s the idea.”
“Right. It also means we’re stuck here together.” He joined her at the gate. Now that she was no longer in his arms, he felt the full impact of their situation. A high-profile job, a house full of people, his best men on duty, and Blake, himself, was AWOL. Helpless. “This is my worst nightmare,” he said under his breath.
She heard. “That kind of enthusiasm could give a girl a complex.”
“So could grabbing a guy by his balls.”
“I thought you were over that.”
“You told me not to forget, not that there’s any chance,” he snapped, increasingly frustrated at being unable to join his team below.
“I didn’t expect you to keep bringing it up.”
“No? How do your victims usually act?”
“They’re very polite. Much politer than you.” She started walking back toward the bedroom wing, taking the light with her.
“Where are you going?”
“In search of better company,” she called over her shoulder.
He was being a jerk. “Kaia—wait. I’m angry and frustrated and I’m taking it out on you. The power failure is not your fault. Is it?” he asked, trying for a little humor.
“I’m flattered you think so highly of my capabilities.” She slowly returned. “But no. And it’s not your fault, either.”
“Doesn’t matter. Not only are the Nazarios my biggest clients, I have other clients in the crowd downstairs. And now they get to see me in action. Or inaction, as it happens.” He laced his fingers through the gate’s diamond patterned grid and stared through it toward the hall’s open area.
Shadows flickered, punctuated by flashlight beams. He could hear Luke directing the men to bring chairs into the room. There was chatter, but not panic. So far.
“Sounds to me as though Luke is doing okay by himself,” Kaia said.
“It’s not Luke’s company.”
Kaia turned around and leaned against the gate while looking down at her phone. “Still no signal.” She turned off the screen and darkness swallowed them. “You don’t have an override code? A panic key?”
“No.” Blake gave the gate an impotent shake. “I don’t recommend them. If all thieves knew there were panic keys, they could force owners to override their own systems.”
He stared toward her, wishing he could read her expression. Was he telling her something she already knew?
“You’re staring at me,” she said.
“How do you know?”
“I can feel you.”
He laughed.
“You’re wondering if we ever forced a mark to use a panic key.”
“Yes,” he admitted after a beat.
“No.” She turned and faced the gate. “There’s no skill involved in that. We were burglars, not robbers.” Her tone said that robbers were the scum of the earth.
He found that oddly reassuring. Why, he had no idea. In the end, it was theft either way.
“So aren’t you going to let your men know we’re up here?” she asked. “The balcony isn’t that far away. If we both yelled, they could hear us easy.”
And how great would it look that Blake had been trapped by his own security system? He shook his head. “No.” Maybe the power outage wouldn’t last long and no one would have to know they’d been trapped. “They’ve got enough to do keeping the guests from panicking.”
A yellowish glint shone in her eyes, a reflection of the wobbling yellow candlelight that had joined the blue cell phone glow from downstairs. She moved away. “Now where are you going?”
“Over here.”
He strained to see and made out her arms and shoulders sliding down the wall. “What are you doing?”
“I’m sitting for my personal safety and the safety of those around me. Come on, Blake. Just chill, okay?”
He remained where he was. “I should be down there.” And he would have been, if he hadn’t been so focused on Kaia.
“So should I. Royce must be freaking.”
“We’ll do an inventory before we allow anyone to leave.”
“That’ll be real popular.”
“Yeah.” Blake exhaled. “I’m not looking forward to implying Tina’s staff and guests can’t be trusted.”
“You’ve tagged everybody, Blake. I think that ship has sailed.”
“Maybe so. But it was for their safety, too. Kidnapping. Hostages. You know.”
“Uh, no. I don’t know. Wow. You’re either paranoid or very thorough.”
“Both.” He stared at the flickering light. It was brighter now, enough to make out the walls and the railing on the landing. “I hope Royce has already started packing the jewelry away.”
“Are you kidding?” Kaia asked. “He’s got a captive audience and the romance of candlelight. He’s in seller’s heaven.”
“Where’s the music?” Tina’s loud voice carried easily from below. “Let’s have some music!”
“No amps,” someone replied. Probably one of the musicians.
“You don’t need amps!” Tina called out. “Just play louder!”
“Can’t see,” another complained.
“Oh, for pity’s sake. Half the time you’ve got your eyes shut anyway because you’re making stuff up as you go along!”
That drew a couple of chuckles. The bass player started plunking and some anemic jazz followed.
“People, this is like one, great, big ole slumber party!” Tina shouted. “Whoo! Keep those drinks a’ comin’!”
“Oh, great.” Blake stalked over and sat next to Kaia. “Alcohol and candles. Wonderful combination.”
He saw her look at the ceiling. “It would be reeeaaallly bad if the sprinklers were set off, wouldn’t it?”
Blake groaned.
“Millions of dollars in artwork ruined.”
“Kaia…”
“Just saying.”
Blake stared at her uneasily, trying to read her expression. Not that he could ever read it, even in bright light, if she didn’t want him to.
“You just can’t trust me, can you?” she asked.
Blake was silent.
“Did I say anything you weren’t thinking?”
“It was the way you said it.”
“Because I wouldn’t be sad for Casper and his wife? I’d be sad for the loss of the art. I’d even be sad for the insurance company. Somebody downstairs would be guaranteed to slip and fall and I’d be sad about that. But Casper and Tina?” She made a derisive sound. “They don’t deserve what they’ve got.”
“Is that how you justified stealing from them?”
The air seemed to freeze as Kaia slowly turned her head and faced him. “I stole nothing.”
She was facing the landing and he could make out her expression, thanks to the candles and her pale skin. But it was the tone in her voice that caught him. “I’m supposed to believe Casper Nazario gave you that diamond necklace.”
“Why do you believe he didn’t?”
“Because—” Blake broke off.
“Because that’s what he said,” Kaia echoed his thoughts. “And
the word of a rich, powerful man with a smart lawyer is worth more than a nineteen-year-old college girl with a public defender.”
“But—”
“You knew me, Blake. You didn’t know him and yet you believed him instead of me.”
She was right. “I was given the case.”
“To investigate? Or had you already made up your mind?”
His mind had been made up for him. And he hadn’t been investigating; he’d been supposed to get close to her so they could get to family.
As he stared at her in the dim light, her expression softened and he was facing the young woman he’d known. “I never lied to you,” she said.
In that moment, everything that had made Blake a talented police detective told him she was telling the truth. He felt it in his gut.
He thought his instincts had let him down with Kaia, but that had been because he’d been told she was lying, that she’d stolen a diamond pendant. She’d worn the thing around her neck and told him it was a gift, which was so unbelievable, she’d almost convinced him it was true. It felt true. So when he caught himself doubting his superiors, he figured she was the most dangerously, clever liar he’d ever come across.
But she hadn’t been lying. His instincts hadn’t let him down. The whole premise of the case had been wrong.
At the realization, something within him settled and calmed. It was as though he’d been trying to see through a snowstorm and it was now the morning after with the sun shining and the air clear and still.
But he was going to have to deal with the snow.
One of the lieutenants he’d worked with on the force had a saying, “When the puzzle pieces don’t fit, try a different puzzle.”
Blake had blamed faulty judgment, beat himself up over getting emotionally involved with a criminal and had quit police work because he’d thought he’d gone soft. The case against Kaia had never felt right to him, the pieces hadn’t fit, and he’d never been able to put it out of his mind. If she was telling the truth, then Casper had lied and Blake was looking at a different puzzle.
Kaia was innocent. He made himself think it, even though it meant he’d made the mistake every officer wants to avoid.
He studied her, mentally working out the new puzzle. “You had the diamond.”
“Casper gave it to me.”
It’s what she’d said all along. “Why?”
“You read my statement,” she said with weary resignation.
“Tell me anyway. I need to hear you say the words.” They’d never discussed the details; he’d only read them.
“Will it make a difference?”
He started to demand, to raise his voice, but what came out of his mouth was a whispered, “Please. For me.”
It surprised both of them.
“Okay.” Looping her arms around her raised knees, she leaned against the wall. “I did some work for Casper.” She stared straight ahead instead of at Blake, but he didn’t need to see her expression. He’d be able to hear the truth in her voice.
“You’re all worried about me being around jewelry when you should be worried about Tina.” Kaia glanced at him. “She’s a kleptomaniac. She’s the one with the problem.” She turned away. “And Casper knows.”
Interesting. Blake mentally filed the info. “How did you get involved with him?”
“Royce. He used to work for my dad.”
“I thought—”
“Designing and repairing jewelry! Jeez! He’s totally legit, or he has been for years, so don’t go there.”
Blake held up a hand. “Not going there.”
“Casper’s weasel of a lawyer was sniffing around because Tina’s souvenir gathering was getting out of control. Their friends were getting suspicious, so Casper got the bright idea of putting the missing things back so they’d be found and there’d be a lot of ‘Oh, how did that get there?’ and ‘I’ve been looking for that!’ and my personal fav ‘the maid must have knocked it off the shelf.’”
“So you’re saying Casper hired you to break into houses and put back the items Tina had stolen.” And she hadn’t seen a problem with that?
“Yes.” She nodded. “Four houses and one office. I put some guy’s grandfather’s service medal into a briefcase.”
“And Casper paid you with the diamond?”
“No, in cash—that’s how I got the money for school. Where we met.” She bit off the words. “Giving me the diamond was an impulse. He’d seen me looking at it and he was so relieved that I’d returned everything without anyone knowing, that he gave it to me. ‘A cat’s eye for a cat burglar’ he’d said.”
“It was a generous impulse,” Blake said, deliberately neutral. The thing was worth thousands and the Casper he knew was not impulsive.
“I figured it was like a tip, you know?”
“That’s quite a tip.”
“Not when you consider what was at stake for him. And I knew he’d need me again so I figured that was part of it, too. Kind of like a retainer. In fact—” Blake saw her shift. “…these cuffs?” She held up one of the silver and turquoise bracelets. The silver caught the ambient light and glowed. “Tina walked off with them after that exhibit I told you about. Casper usually pays the invoices when she ‘borrows’ from designers and stores, but these aren’t for sale.” She turned the cuff over in her hands. “Something to do with Royce’s family history, so he wants them back. Whatever. Casper went looking for them and lo and behold, discovered that Tina’s installed new hiding places. He hired me to retrieve these and tell him what else I found.”
“You mean, after he sent you to prison, he had the nerve to contact you? And you agreed? Are you insane?”
Her mouth twisted. “He met my price.”
“And what was that?”
“A lot of money. There aren’t many job opportunities for an ex-con with my skills.” She put the cuff on her wrist and twisted it, admiring the silver in the dim light. “And I wanted to get these back for Royce.”
Blake could accept that, although if it were him, he’d use this opportunity for revenge. “Why didn’t Casper just get the bracelets himself?”
“He doesn’t have the combination to Tina’s safes— I found two, but there might be more. And here’s the kicker—he doesn’t want Tina to know he’s aware of her problem.”
No way. And yet Blake could believe it. “That’s…”
“Sick?” Kaia supplied.
“I was going for unrealistic.”
“But sick works.”
It sure did. “Casper has to know that Tina knows he’s ignoring her kleptomania.”
“Duh. I’m thinking that’s why she got her own safes.”
That Blake hadn’t installed. “You say Tina’s been stealing for years?”
“Apparently.”
Wonderful. His most important client was a compulsive thief. “Eventually she’ll get caught. Why doesn’t Casper deal with it and get her some help?”
Kaia gave a derisive laugh. “You’ve seen Tina and you’ve seen Casper. Why do you think?”
An image of the voluptuous Tina and her much older husband appeared in Blake’s mind. “He’s been covering for her all these years because he’s afraid she’ll leave him if he confronts her?”
“That would be my guess.”
And there was the missing gold-plated puzzle piece: Casper’s motivation. Unreal. How could a powerful and ruthless businessman have such an obvious weakness?
Kaia was watching him, reading his expression. Blake suspected she could see in the dark a lot better than he could.
“What I don’t understand is why he reported the diamond stolen,” he said. “You could have blackmailed Tina.”
“He knew nobody would believe me. You didn’t. The police didn’t. As far as they were concerned, I was confessing to multiple burglaries.”
Casper had been ruthlessly clever. He’d duped the police and he’d duped Blake. He’d set up Kaia—maybe that had been his plan from the start. “After what he
did to you, how could any amount of money be enough to work for the man again?”
“I had no choice.” Kaia blew out a breath. “Terms of my probation. This time, though, the weasel knows, my lawyer knows, Royce knows, Casper knows—and now you know. Tina doesn’t know, but she claims she already returned the cuffs, so if you tell her I’ve got them, what’s she going to say? You ought to see the junk she’s stolen. She’s probably forgotten all about these.”
Blake was reeling. Casper had said nothing to him, yet had authorized what was essentially an attempted theft on Blake’s watch. Or an actual theft, since Kaia had the cuffs. What are you up to, old man?
“Why didn’t you tell me this when we were in the bedroom?” he demanded. “One call, and I could have verified your story.”
“Confidentiality clause. That I’ve just broken.” She shifted and he guessed she was putting the cuffs away. “If you say anything, I’ll claim the blackout as extenuating circumstances.”
Blake was convinced that not only was this story legit; Kaia had been telling the truth all along. Casper had lied and sent her to prison. Casper had lied to Blake. Anger welled within him. He was going to make this right. Somehow. “I won’t say anything to anyone. I swear I won’t.”
He felt her gaze on him, could see the gleam in her unblinking eyes. “You believe me?”
Blake swallowed hard against a knot of anger and regret. “Yes.” His voice was rough.
He reached for her, wrapping his arms around her. He needed to hold Kaia, but her body was stiff. Blake didn’t blame her. Right now, he hated himself, too.
“Part of me believed you before, but I told myself I’d lost my objectivity instead of trusting my instincts. I’m sorry.” He rubbed his hand across her unyielding back. “So very sorry.”
She didn’t move away, but she didn’t relax, either.
His fingers caught the edges of her shoulder blades and skimmed the muscles above them. They weren’t as developed as they’d been, but her upper body still had a gymnast’s shape. She was exercising, but she wasn’t training and he remembered that when they’d met, she’d been trying for a gymnastic scholarship.
She’d lost that opportunity, too.
He wanted to make it up to her. He wanted to make up everything to her.
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