by Folsom, Tina
“He’d only want to join in; just as well that he flew to Napa,” Triton cautioned. “And it doesn’t take three to break into some university office with minimal security.”
“I really don’t know why you need all this get-up!” Sophia smirked. “You guys look like the crew from Ocean’s 11.”
“As far as I’m concerned, this heist is more important,” Eros defended their appearance.
“Exactly,” Triton agreed.
Eros grinned at Sophia. “A lot is riding on this. And this is our best chance. While Hermes is keeping Penny away from her office, we can search it to our heart’s content.”
Sophia pointed to Triton’s hand. “And the balaclavas?”
“Baby, you don’t want me to get arrested because I get caught breaking into the university, do you? I can’t risk my face showing up on the security cameras. People will recognize me.”
Eros nodded. “Same here. Granted, I only visit from time to time, but considering I can’t teleport, I don’t fancy sitting in a jail cell I can’t escape from.”
“Are you guys even sure that the shoes are in her office?” Sophia questioned. It seemed that she wasn’t at all pleased that her husband was doing something illegal.
Eros exchanged a look with his friend. “It’s safer than keeping them at home with her grandmother and father there.”
“Even though her grandmother is bed ridden?” Sophia added.
“From what Hermes said, it appears that even though that woman is confined to a wheelchair, she’s as sharp as a tack. Penny can’t keep anything from her.”
“Come on, let’s do it,” Triton said, walking toward the door.
“Once we get to the university, keep to the trees and out of sight,” Eros advised.
Following Triton, Eros walked downstairs and left the B&B behind him. They walked swiftly, reaching the university’s grounds a half-hour later. Nodding at each other, they slipped their balaclavas over their heads and continued, avoiding the few cameras that were mounted at strategic points, and using a back entrance to the hall in which Penny’s office was located.
Hermes had told them where to find Penny’s office, and his directions were precise. They found the correct corridor, then stopped in front of the outer door to her office. It was locked.
“Do you want to do the honors?” Triton whispered, pointing at the lock.
Eros stared down at it and imagined the tumblers inside shifting. The lock clicked and he eased the door open. “After you!”
They slipped inside, softly closing the door behind them.
Systematically, they went through every drawer, filing cabinet, box, and basket on each shelf—anything and everything that could hide the sandals.
“Nothing!” Eros muttered. “Where the fuck is she hiding them?”
He heard Triton open the door to a closet. “There!”
Eros turned to see what his friend had found.
“A safe,” Triton said, pointing at the heavy iron safe that was hidden on the bottom of the large closet.
“Fuck!” Eros cursed. “Ever opened a safe?”
Triton shook his head. “You know as well as I do that if we can’t imagine exactly what the lock looks like inside, we can’t open it with our powers.” He motioned to the door behind them. “Doors are easy.”
“Let me try anyway,” Eros said, not wanting to give up. For sure, his date in Greece was utterly pissed at him by now, but maybe he could salvage something if he were able to show up now.
He concentrated on the inner workings of the safe, imagined wheels and tumblers, and tried to turn them, but to no avail.
“Crap!” he cursed, and gave Triton an exasperated look. “Now what?”
Triton’s forehead furrowed. “Let me think.” He hummed to himself, until his eyes finally widened. “Of course. I’ve got just the right guy for this job.”
“Who?”
“Michael, Sophia’s cousin.”
“I thought he was some small-time crook—embezzlement and other stuff. What makes you think he can open a safe?”
Triton grinned. “Hermes saw him the other day. Turns out, he’s been looking for other business opportunities since he couldn’t swindle Sophia out of her house. He’s apprenticing with a company that installs safes. I’m sure he knows how to open one.”
Eros smiled, liking the idea. “I hope he’s a fast learner.”
“Trust me, with a little bit of fear at his back, Michael is capable of anything. Let’s go get the creep.”
It took an hour to pick up Michael from his apartment and get back to the university. By the time they did, he was shaking like a leaf.
“What the fuck are you gonna do to me now?” he whimpered.
“Don’t pee in your pants!” Eros warned him. “Can’t stand that smell.”
Triton put a calming hand on Michael’s shoulder. Eros looked at him. It appeared his friend was secretly enjoying Michael’s fear. Well, and why wouldn’t he, after he’d tried to kill Sophia for her money? It was a surprise that the guy was still alive.
“Now, you know how this works,” Triton instructed. “You do as I say, and I’ll let you go. Understood?”
Michael nodded quickly. “Yes, of course!”
“Now, open that damn safe, and make it quick.”
“But—”
“No buts! Get to work!” Triton ordered and tossed him the bag of tools he’d picked up from Michael’s apartment.
Michael turned to the safe door and cowered down. “It’s a rotary combination lock. I can open it one of two ways. Depends on whether you care if anybody finds out that you broke in.” He lifted his eyes to look up at him and Triton.
Eros exchanged a quick look with Triton, then turned back to Michael. “I’d rather nobody knows we opened the safe. Just in case.”
Michael nodded. “Okay. In that case I only need this.” He pulled a stethoscope from his bag and put the rubber earpieces into his ears then pressed the hollow cup against the door of the safe. Sweat was already running down his forehead and neck, and his fingers trembled as he touched the numbered wheel and began to turn it, listening to the inner workings of the lock as he did so. He breathed irregularly, his fingers slipping again and again.
Eros tapped his foot impatiently, and Michael turned his head, annoyed. “That’s not helping.”
Eros stopped moving his foot.
Michael turned back to the safe and concentrated again. A few minutes later, Eros heard a click. Then Michael pulled on the handle and opened the safe.
“Step back,” Triton ordered him and looked inside.
***
Penny hurried straight across campus, shielding her eyes from the morning sun. She couldn’t keep lying to Hermes any longer. She had to return the shoes, explain what she’d done and why, and hope he would forgive her.
She only hoped he was as understanding as she believed him to be. But first things first, she had to get the sandal back that she’d left with Irene. Now.
She rushed into the lab in the university basement and found Irene bent over her desk. “Irene, morning.”
Irene straightened, looking harried and upset. “I’m so sorry, Penny.”
“Well, it couldn’t be helped. You had your family thing. I shouldn’t have imposed on you. I understand—”
Irene interrupted her. “Penny, the sandal is gone.”
At Irene’s words, Penny’s stomach plummeted. “What do you mean, it’s gone?”
“When I got in this morning, the sandal wasn’t where I’d put it yesterday.”
Penny looked around the room, not wanting to comprehend what Irene was trying to say.
“I’ve searched everywhere. It’s gone. Somebody must have taken it.”
Nausea rose up from Penny’s stomach and burned in her throat. “How is that possible? Are you sure? Was anybody else here when you came in this morning?”
“No one. My assistant is on vacation.”
“Oh my god.” Tears pushed into
Penny’s eyes as the implication of her friend’s words slammed into her.
The sandal was gone. Stolen.
“The second one,” she whispered to herself and turned on her heels, running to her office. “Please let it still be there, please.”
She stormed into her office. If she could at least return one sandal to him, maybe Hermes could have a master craftsman make a second one, using the first as a model. And of course, she’d pay for whatever it cost. She’d clear out her savings account, take out a loan, she’d do anything it took to make this right.
Penny rushed to the closet that contained the safe and opened the door. She bent down and turned the lock to enter the combination of numbers. Her heart jumped into her throat as she heard the click, indicating the lock was open. But her heart stopped beating a moment later.
The second sandal was gone too.
19
“One sandal? What am I gonna do with just one?” Hermes stared at his friends Triton and Eros as they stood around the kitchen island in Triton’s Olympus Inn. In front of him sat his winged leather-and-gold sandal, perfect as always, the wings intact and shining brightly in the early morning light.
Eros flipped him a crooked smile. “Fly in circles?”
Triton chuckled. “Might look a little odd, but if anybody can carry it off, you can.”
Hermes threw a slice of toast at Eros, aiming for his face, but his friend caught it midflight before it hit its target.
“I wanted jam on that,” the love god complained with a grin, then bit into the buttered slice.
“I’ll give you jam, if you don’t stop your stupid comments. Ever seen an airplane fly with one wing?” Hermes asked, pausing briefly. When neither Triton nor Eros answered, he continued. “Well, didn’t think so. And neither can I.”
“Look at it this way,” Triton started. “Fifty percent of our work is done.”
Hermes tossed him a glare. “How do you figure that?”
Triton pointed at the sandal. “That’s fifty percent.”
Hermes had to refrain from rolling his eyes. “Maybe you want me to explain it to you in terms you understand: half of a boat doesn’t float either. It’ll sink.”
Both Triton and Eros laughed, then Triton put a hand on Hermes’ forearm. “Just joshing you. You’ve been way too tense the last few days. Lighten up! We’re on the right track. The other sandal can’t be far. She probably just hid them separately to spread the risk.”
“Huh?” Hermes grumbled.
Eros set half of his toast down on the plate. “Yeah, you know, like a don’t-put-all-your-eggs-in-one-basket kind of thing. She’s just being smart. Count yourself lucky.”
“Lucky how?” Hermes shot back.
Eros exchanged a conspiratorial look with Triton. “At least you’re not dating a stupid woman. That would be worse.”
Hermes slammed his hand onto the kitchen island. “I’m not dating her!” How could he be dating a woman who’d stolen his most precious possession from him, a woman who’d lied to him, a woman who’d made a fool of him? Yet at the same time he couldn’t get the sight of Penny at the soup kitchen out of his mind—the sight of a caring, giving Penny.
“Oh, my bad,” Eros conceded quickly, but his face showed no remorse about his comment. “Then I’m assuming you didn’t sleep with her last night to keep her off our backs? Was she not putting out anymore, now that she got what she wanted?” He winked at Triton. “No wonder our friend is a little tense this morning: he didn’t get any last night.”
Hermes narrowed his eyes at the love god. “You’re treading on thin ice, Eros. Very thin ice.” He sucked in a breath, trying to tamp down his anger. “I could have gotten whatever I wanted last night. But I decided that she wouldn’t get any. Do you think I would really waste my energy on a woman who so blatantly used me, only so she could steal from me?”
That he hadn’t even spoken to her the previous night, he didn’t want to confess. But after seeing her at the soup kitchen, caring for other, less fortunate people than herself, he had been unable to confront her and interrogate her about the sandals. He’d seen a different kind of Penny last night. A woman who put all her own wishes aside and cared for others, just like she cared for her grandmother. Was that the true Penny? Or was the thief the true Penny?
The evidence lay in front of him in the form of his sandal: Penny was a thief. Despite that, he wasn’t ready to toss her aside. He knew he should sever all ties to her and come down hard on her, punish her severely and force her to produce the other sandal. So why wasn’t he doing exactly that? Why was he hesitating?
“We have to find the second sandal,” Hermes said despite his reluctance to confront Penny, a reluctance he could only attribute to the fact that she’d touched his heart last night—the way she’d cared enough to notice that the old man she’d served would have spilled his food had she not carried it to his table; the way she’d performed the task with a warm smile.
“Okay, let’s think,” Triton suggested.
“This early in the morning? Really?” Eros complained and made a comical face.
Hermes knocked his fist against Eros’s temple. “It’ll do you good to exercise a different muscle for a change.”
“Is it possible that somebody put her up to this?” Triton mused.
“You mean like she could have had an accomplice?” Hermes asked.
Triton nodded. “It takes guts to pull something like that off by oneself. What had she planned to do with the sandals once she got them? She must have thought she could sell them. Why else steal them?”
Eros lifted his hand. “I think you’re onto something. There must be a dealer in antiques who would be able to sell the sandals. Maybe to a private collector.”
“And maybe that person already has the second sandal to show to his prospective buyer,” Triton added.
Hermes shrugged. “I don’t know. It doesn’t sound like her. She’s not the type to do that.”
Triton raised an eyebrow. “Not the type? May I point out one thing here?” He paused briefly. “She stole your fucking sandals.”
“What I mean is, when she talks about Greek mythology, there’s excitement in her voice. She’s full of awe and admiration for it. She’s all about preserving and studying ancient artifacts. I can’t believe that somebody like that would simply sell the sandals to some rich collector who’s going to hide them in a private safe. Penny would want to share a discovery like that with the world, display it in a museum for others to admire.”
Eros wrinkled his forehead. “But that would be ludicrous! She could never give the sandals to a museum. They would ask too many questions, like where she got them from. And then what?”
The love god had a point. “I just can’t believe she’d do it for money.”
Triton’s hand squeezed Hermes’ shoulder. “I’ll let you in on a secret: people do a lot of things for money. That’s how the mortal world works. For Hades’ sake, it’s not much different up on Olympus. Only there, the currency isn’t money but power.”
“Thanks for reminding me of Zeus,” Hermes said dryly.
“Hey, at least he can’t come down on you right now. He’s stuck on Olympus like all the others,” Eros pointed out. “Guess there’s a silver lining to this situation. Zeus can’t bother us right now. And I for sure won’t answer my cell phone when he calls.”
“Nor will I,” Triton agreed. Then he slapped Hermes on the back. “See, it’s not all bad. Consider this a vacation from Zeus.”
Hermes pulled a grimace. “Yeah, a vacation I’m going to have to pay dearly for once it’s over.”
20
Penny stood outside the beautiful Bed and Breakfast where she’d spent a night making love with Hermes and sucked in a deep breath. The sign outside read Olympus Inn. Odd, she’d never before noticed that.
She had to go in there and confess to Hermes that she had betrayed his trust. That she was as bad as her father, causing nothing but damage and heartache in her wake. As m
uch as she didn’t want to admit it, she was a thief.
She took another step forward. She had to do this. She couldn’t return Hermes’ sandals as she’d planned, because they were both gone. Lost. Stolen. From her. Tears burned her eyes, as much from embarrassment as from shame. She would confess and take responsibility for her actions, and she’d find a way to make it up to him. Whatever it cost.
At the front door, she closed her eyes for a moment, her lungs refusing to fill with air. She felt lightheaded and dropped her forehead against the door, feeling it give way. She pressed against it, opening it wider until she could step into the foyer. The dark mahogany staircase rose before her. She set her foot on the first step and laid her hand on the banister, taking a deep breath.
“You can do this,” she whispered to herself.
As she ascended, she felt as though she were walking up to the gallows. Her heart plummeted into her stomach. Hermes would never believe her fantastic story that she’d only wanted to examine the sandals and had never had any intention of keeping them. He would drag her to the police and expose her for what she was: a thief. Like father, like daughter. The apple really didn’t fall far from the tree.
She’d done exactly what she’d accused her father of all these years: destroyed her family. Because that would surely happen to her: they’d cart her off to prison for grand theft, and her grandmother would be all alone again. Well, maybe not entirely alone for a while, since her father had just moved in, but she knew her father too well: he wouldn’t stay, not once he realized that all responsibility for caring for his mother fell to him alone. No, once he was back on his feet and didn’t need Grams anymore, he’d hightail it out of Charleston and leave her stranded.
And Penny would be sitting in prison, unable to help.
She forced down a rising sob, hesitating as she reached the landing and heard voices coming from the back of the house where the kitchen was located. Penny turned toward it, when a hand on her shoulder suddenly stopped her. She whipped her head around and was surprised to see Sophia.
“Oh hi, Sophia,” she greeted her nervously.