Even as her throat went dry, the cab pulled away. Jase picked up the pace and drew her into a narrow alleyway. “We’re going in the back way to the store.”
“Why are we here so early?”
“I want to make sure no one is lying in wait for you. This is the one place that they can depend on you showing up to today.”
Maddie glanced sideways at him. His mouth was set in a grim line, and she could see that his attention was focused on their surroundings. She forced herself to look where he was looking, but she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The alley appeared to be deserted.
“I also want to tour the place without being interrupted. I can’t rid myself of the idea that I saw something similar to that Golden Spider logo yesterday.”
When they reached the back entrance to the store, Jase positioned her between himself and the wall of the building while he dealt with the security code and opened the door.
“Can you get in any place this easily?” Maddie asked.
“It helps that I installed the system and the codes.” His voice was pitched low. “I’ll go in first. No noise. No conversation. You stay behind me until I make sure that each area is clear.”
“You really think someone is in there waiting for us?” she whispered.
The eyes that met hers were cool. “I’m playing it safe. I didn’t play it safe enough yesterday when I took you to the park. I changed the security codes for Eva the day after the robbery, but Arnold Bartlett has the new code, and I imagine Jordan has it. There’s no way to be sure that Eva didn’t give it out to someone else.”
Maddie swallowed hard and they slipped into a room that appeared to function both as storage and a break room. Jase led the way into the main salon. The faint scents of coffee and lilies lingered in the air. Lit only by the early-morning sun, the room lacked the glitter and fantasy that she’d experienced the day before, but for Maddie, it still had a quiet elegance.
She followed Jase past the elevator to the stairwell and together they climbed to the second floor and exited into the office area. It was empty. Maddie kept half a step behind Jase as he moved silently from office to office, scanning each one. Satisfied that they were deserted, he moved down the short hall to the door of the workroom. Then he stopped and listened. Maddie counted ten beats before she heard it—a faint tapping. Even muffled, she recognized it as the sound of a hammer striking against metal and it was coming from inside the workroom.
Jase motioned her to stay where she was, then took out his gun and stepped forward to open the door.
“Cho?” he said.
Startled, the man whirled in his chair. The small hammer clattered to the floor when his eyes fastened on Jase’s gun.
ITWAS shock and fear that Jase recognized on Cho’s face. Gut instinct told him that Maddie had been right about him. Whatever was going on, Cho wasn’t behind it. The moment he lowered his gun, Maddie rushed past him.
“Cho, what are you doing here?” she asked.
Cho rose from his chair. “I often come in early to catch up on work. I got behind yesterday because of the cameraman.”
Maddie motioned him into his chair and then sat in her mother’s. Perfectly willing to let her play good cop again, Jase left the door behind him open and moved to a far corner between two windows. From his position, he could keep his eye on both Madison Avenue and 51st Street and still be ready for anyone who tried to enter the workroom.
He’d learned a long time ago to trust his instincts and they were still telling him that something was going to go down today.
“You haven’t spoken to the police then?” Maddie asked.
“Police?” Cho’s gaze shifted to Jase, then back to Maddie. “Why would I speak with the police?”
Maddie quickly filled him in on what had happened at her mother’s apartment and later at the police station. While she did, Jase scanned the room, searching for what had been tugging at the corners of his mind ever since he’d come across that ad for the Golden Spider and seen Eva’s doodle in the margin of her calendar. Maddie had been right, it wasn’t among her mother’s sketches.
After glancing down on both streets, he moved to Adam’s desk. He’d done the same thing yesterday, then turned and leaned his hip against the corner so that he could talk to Adam and still keep his eyes on Maddie and Cho. He repeated the movement and was midpoint in turning when he caught it out of the corner of his eye. On the shelf above Adam’s desk was a framed photo of the Golden Spider logo.
A tingle of excitement moved through him as he moved back to the corner between the windows and refocused his attention on Maddie and Cho. Instead of growing agitated about his granddaughter’s troubles, Cho appeared to have become more relaxed as Maddie finished.
“The police know she’s your granddaughter, and it’s the timing that looks so bad,” she explained. “The money went into her account three days after the robbery, and she won’t tell the police where it came from or what she needed it for.”
“I gave her the money,” said Cho. “Michelle is very proud. She was embarrassed to have to ask me for help.”
“Where did you get the money?” Jase asked.
Cho’s chin lifted slightly as he shifted his gaze to Jase. “Eva lent it to me.”
“Eva lent you the money?” Maddie asked.
Cho nodded. “Michelle needed it right away, and it would have taken time for me to get that amount out of my retirement fund. I would have had to sell some stocks at a loss. When Eva died, I told Jordan everything. You’ll get the money back.”
They hadn’t had a chance to tell Jordan about the money in Michelle’s account, Jase thought. But the fact that Cho had told her would give his story more credibility.
“Why did Michelle need the money so quickly?” Maddie asked.
Cho shook his head. “As I mentioned before, she’s a very proud girl. That was the reason she didn’t want anyone to know that we were related. She was determined to get this job on her own. She was still living in a dorm when she interned here. But as soon as she was hired full time, she decided she needed to find her own place to live. And since she was working here and was being paid well, she decided to buy a place. She needed thirty thousand dollars for a down payment. Instead of coming to me for help or advice, she borrowed the money.”
“Not from a bank,” Jase said.
“She tried and was turned down. Then a friend told her about a place where they were more understanding about young people starting out on good career paths.” Cho raised an eyebrow. “I believe they call them loan sharks in this country. She says she read the paperwork and that she was given an amount to pay monthly. Which she did. Then a month ago, she was told that she wasn’t even covering the interest on the loan and that her current balance was a hundred thousand dollars. Michelle’s a proud girl, but she’s not stupid. She knew that she was in trouble. That’s when she came to me for help.”
Maddie studied him for a moment. “Did Michelle know that you borrowed the money from Eva?”
“No. Eva withdrew the money from her account on the day we talked and she gave me a bank check. There’s no way that Michelle could have known. It would have shamed her even more to know that Eva was involved.”
Maddie glanced over her shoulder at Jase and then back at Cho. “I think that the reason she won’t talk to the police is because she wants to protect you.”
“From what?” Cho asked.
“It’s the timing again. I’ll bet she thinks you robbed the store and that’s how you got the money.”
Cho thought for a minute. “Perhaps.”
“You’ll have to go down to the police station and explain everything,” Jase said. A flash of movement on Madison Avenue caught his attention—two men getting out of a taxi. He recognized his operatives, Tony and Carter. If they were arriving, Adam Ware wouldn’t be far behind.
When he turned back, Cho was clearing his desk. On a hunch, he took the photograph from Adam’s desk and showed it to Cho. “
Do you know anything about this photo?”
“Yes. That’s a design Adam created for a nightclub. It’s also the place where Michelle went to pay back her loan. I insisted on going with her to deliver the hundred thousand.”
THE WINDOW in the hallway outside the workroom led to a fire escape and offered a view of the alleyway. Through it Jase watched Cho exit through the back door and head towards 51st Street. He’d already phoned Stanton to let him know that the man was on his way, and he’d given him a brief summary of Cho’s story.
In return, Stanton had explained what he’d learned about the Golden Spider club and its owner from his friend in Vice. Then Jase had checked with Tony and Carter, who were still hanging out at the front of the store, and confirmed that Adam was due to arrive any minute.
He relayed that information to Maddie and added, “Tony and Carter are here on the pretext of getting some shots of Adam in the workroom before the store officially opens. It’s as good a time as any for us to discover if your cousin has the new security code. Or if he’s going to have to cool his heels until Arnold Bartlett arrives and opens for business.”
The moment Cho disappeared from view, Maddie turned to study Jase. “There’s something in your eyes—a sort of excitement. Have you fitted the puzzle together yet?”
“No. But I’m closer than before.”
“Because Adam designed that logo for the Golden Spider?”
“Yes. It proves he had a connection with the club’s owner, John Kessler, and/or that club. Stanton says that Kessler has been under investigation for some time. The problem is that they can’t get any hard evidence on him. Socially and politically, he’s very well-connected here in the city. The Golden Spider is the place to be seen in New York right now. All the big movers and shakers hang out there. But the man is suspected of using the club as a front for a very sophisticated loan-sharking business. Kessler finds his client base there. So far he’s kept his distance from the shadier side of the business. The two victims who have gone to the police have gone missing. But those two clients seem to have been selected very carefully. They were young, they worked in the city at upwardly mobile jobs and they had access to money.”
“Michelle didn’t.”
“She worked here. We know that it wouldn’t have been hard for her to get her hands on one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of jewels. That’s eventually what she might have been pressured to do. They may even have thought that’s what she’d done when she was able to produce the money. And if encouraging their young clients to steal money from their workplaces is their modus operandi, that may be why the police haven’t been able to get any hard evidence. The victims aren’t going to admit to being thieves.”
“Michelle can give them hard evidence. She didn’t steal anything.”
“True.” Jase watched a cab pull up at the mouth of the alleyway on 50th Street. “Stanton will encourage her to do just that if Cho’s story checks out. In the meantime, Stanton is going to put both Michelle and Cho in protective custody for now.”
“And what about Adam? He has a connection to the Golden Spider club too. The thing is why would he need to steal jewels or borrow money from a loan shark? Jordan told me he has a trust fund, and his father runs a bank.”
“Good question. But he fits the profile of the victims Kessler targets,” Jase pointed out. “Everything we just said about Michelle is true about Adam in spades. He might even be the “friend” who told her about Kessler’s operation. Plus, for the last two years he’s seen Jordan as a threat to his future here at Eva Ware Designs. With Eva gone, he probably assumed he’d step into her shoes. Then he learns that you’re a designer also. Last but not least, with you or Jordan out of the way, Adam stands to inherit a lot more money because of the terms of your mother’s will. He’s under pressure from his mother, he has a temper and a rebellious streak. You can bet that Stanton will question him very closely about his connection to Kessler.”
A man emerged from the taxi and started down the alleyway. Gripping Maddie’s shoulders, Jase turned her so that she could see.
“Adam,” she murmured.
Together they watched as he let himself easily into the back door of the store.
“That answers one question. He has the new code. So he could stage another robbery at any time.”
“Or he could just pilfer a few pieces here and there, hoping that no one would notice.”
He turned to her, smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Good theory. Have I told you that I like the way your mind works?”
Then Jase opened the window and climbed out onto the fire escape. There was an ominous creaking sound.
“What are you doing?” Maddie asked.
“Getting out of here.”
“We’re going down the fire escape?”
Jase held out a hand. “C’mon. While two of my best operatives are keeping Adam occupied, we’re going to go on a little field trip to your cousin’s apartment.”
“Why?”
“We may find another puzzle piece there. And I want you out of the store. I took a chance even bringing you here. This is where that hit woman picked you up yesterday.”
As she placed her hand in Jase’s and threw her leg over the sill, Maddie made the mistake of glancing down. Her head spun once, and the moment she shifted her full weight onto the grated flooring, it creaked again.
“Don’t look down.”
“Already did.”
“Think you can make it?”
She met his eyes. “You haven’t lost me yet.”
“No. And I don’t intend to.” Leaning down, he kissed the tip of her nose. “I’ll go first.” He shut the window. “We have to move fast. Do you think you can run in those shoes?”
“Sure.”
Jase turned and led the way down a flight of steps.
Keeping her eyes fastened on Jase’s back, Maddie took a firm grip on the hand railing and followed one tense step at a time. Rattles and groans joined the creaks. She was surprised that no one had run into the alleyway to find out what all the noise was about. When Jase reached the first landing, the whole fire escape swayed.
Maddie’s head spun again. “I don’t think this has been used in a while.”
“Hang in there. It’s almost over.” Dropping to his knees, Jase lowered the ladder. It made a little shrieking sound and particles of rust rose in a fine spray. “I’ll be right beneath you.” He turned and began to climb down.
Maddie braced a hand against the brick wall of the building as the fire escape groaned and swayed. Then she heard the sound of the impact as his feet hit cement followed by a soft grunt.
“C’mon. I’ll catch you.”
For a minute, Maddie closed her eyes. Don’t think about it. Then, drawing in a deep breath, Maddie gripped the railing, ignored the slight sway. Think of something else. Jase. In her mind, she pictured him standing beneath her, ready to catch her if she slipped. With that thought in mind, she turned around, dropped to her knees and found the rung of the ladder with her feet. Slowly, she began her descent.
“Atta girl,” Jase said.
She kept his image in her mind as she located the next rung and the next. She pictured what his face looked like when he was above her, thrusting into her, the crinkles that formed at the corners of his eyes when he was grinning. She recalled the concern she’d glimpsed briefly in his expression when he’d watched D.C. walk with that cane. The cold steel she heard in his voice when he went into security mode.
She’d known him less than forty-eight hours and yet she knew so many sides of him. Her right foot dangled in the air and she gripped the ladder tightly.
“Just drop. I’ll catch you.”
For only a moment, she hesitated. But even then, she didn’t picture the distance to the ground. The image in her mind was Jase below her, his arms outstretched, that long, lean body braced to catch hers.
When she let go and fell, she felt her heart take the same fast tumble.
&n
bsp; Arms as strong as steel clamped around her. “Gotcha.”
For an instant, she felt him sway. Then he set her solidly on her feet.
“Ready?”
She turned to him then. And the fear that snaked up her spine had less to do with the fact that her life was in danger and much more to do with the man. She wasn’t sure she was ready for what she was coming to feel for Jase Campbell. But she was going to get ready. Taking his hand in hers, she said, “Yes.”
Side by side, they raced for the end of the alleyway.
15
TWENTY MINUTES later, Jase and Maddie climbed the stairs in Adam’s apartment building.
“You’ve given me a whole new perspective on the lack of security in New York City dwellings.”
Jase slanted a look at her. She hadn’t commented as he’d gotten them into the basement of the building through an emergency-exit door. The alarm had sounded, but before anyone had appeared in the hallway, he’d urged her into the stairwell. “This one has excellent security at least at the front end. A doorman and another man on duty at the desk.” That was why he’d chosen a different entrance.
“Can you get into any building this easily?”
“Depends. I was in a hurry, and I was lucky.” He knew enough not to depend on luck for everything. He’d been able to hail a cab on Fifth Avenue and he’d switched taxis twice before arriving at Adam’s building. He was as sure as he could be that they hadn’t been followed, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d overlooked something.
On the fourth-floor landing, he pushed through the exit door. “Another time I might have pulled a D.C. and spun a story for the doorman that would have gotten us into Adam’s apartment in a more legitimate way.”
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