by Sara Rosett
DEVIOUS
BOOK FIVE IN THE ON THE RUN SERIES
SARA ROSETT
CONTENTS
About Devious
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
The Story Behind The Story
About the Author
Other Books By Sara Rosett
DEVIOUS
Book Five in the On the Run series
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Sara Rosett
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Copyright © 2015 by Sara Rosett
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All rights are reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this work may be used, stored, transmitted, or reproduced in any manner or form whatsoever without express written permission from the author and publisher.
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This is a work of fiction and names, characters, incidents, and places are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, incidents, and places is coincidental.
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ABOUT DEVIOUS
Book Five in the On the Run series
Free-spirited Zoe Andrews has settled into married life and feels she has found her ideal niche working for a company that discreetly recovers lost items for elite clients, but her first assignment, which takes her to Edinburgh to recover a stolen painting, turns out to be more complicated than she expected.
Instead of simply getting in touch with contacts in the art world, Zoe finds herself tangled in a web of contradictions. Why would someone steal a not-so-valuable painting, and why was the thief attacked? Zoe’s search to find answers takes her from the ancient stone walls of Edinburgh Castle to the Baroque grandeur of Salzburg as she delves into a decades old mystery with ties to the present.
1
THE CROWDS SHIFTED, AND ZOE lost sight of the man in the black shirt. She dodged to the left around a mom pushing a stroller and spotted the man again as he stepped onto one of the escalators in the mall. Zoe immediately reduced her pace and slipped into a store blasting pop music near the base of the escalator. She strolled along a table of sweaters near the front of the store, keeping an eye on the escalator through the large windows. She lingered beside a mannequin, but focused her attention out the window.
It was easy to keep him in sight as he rose up the escalator. She pushed down the urge to leave the store and made herself wait. He was hemmed in between two groups, and Zoe could only see a bit of his shirt and his wavy brown hair as the escalator traveled higher. As he neared the top, he turned, his gaze running over the people on the escalator below him, then his head swiveled as he widened his survey to include all of the marble-tiled area of the lower level. Zoe held her position, knowing that the mannequin shielded her. She squinted as she watched him and thought she saw a grin turn up the corners of his mouth. He whipped around, pushed his way through the group in front of him, then ran up the last few steps to the top of the escalator.
Zoe dropped the sweater and quickly strode out of the store. She hit the bottom step of the escalator and took the rest of the steps two at a time, muttering, “excuse me,” as she raced around people standing still. Zoe throttled back on her speed as she neared the top and rode the last few feet up the escalator behind a rather ample woman, using the woman as a screen from the wide-open stretch of space at the exit of the escalator. Her heart hammering, not from the sprint up the stairs, but from the rush of the chase, Zoe scanned the upper level of the mall…but didn’t see him anywhere.
She muttered under her breath as she stepped away from the escalator and moved to a kiosk selling coffee. He had to be here somewhere. He couldn’t have gone far. She made a quick circuit of all the nearest stores, ducking in and out of a luggage store, a shoe store, and a Bath and Body Works. Those were the closest stores and none of them had dressing rooms…where could he have gone? It hadn’t taken her that long to get up the escalator. She should have seen him, if he’d sprinted away or gone into one of the clothing stores that were positioned farther away from the escalator.
Her instinct was to take off, running to the farther stores, but she didn’t do it. When you’re tailing someone, it’s not always about speed. Jack had said that to her last time when she’d lost the person she was following. Zoe turned in a quick circle. Just one more look. That’s when she saw it. A narrow corridor that branched off the main area with a tiny sign above it that read, RESTROOMS.
Now it was Zoe’s turn to smile. She took a seat in a group of chairs near the coffee kiosk, turned toward the hallway. Her heart rate had returned to normal by the time the man emerged from the restroom.
He looked directly at her, a wide smile splitting his face. “Well done.” He dropped into a chair beside her.
“Thanks, Jack.” Zoe couldn’t quite keep the smugness out of her tone. “Clever, going in the restroom.”
“Yes, but you caught it. I didn’t see you at all on the escalator.”
“See, I have been paying attention. You’re a good teacher.”
Jack’s silvery blue eyes twinkled, which punctured Zoe’s exhilaration. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you won this round. You didn’t. I tailed you the whole way, and when you tried to give me the slip, I caught you.”
“Yes, but you’ve got one more thing to learn.”
“Not more car surveillance. We did that all last week. I don’t want to spend another hour in the car.”
“Just be glad it’s January, not July.”
“Yes, that would have been worse,” she said, thinking of sweltering summers in Dallas. “Although, if I’d known exactly how boring your work could be, I might not have been so anxious to learn the ropes.”
Up until a few months ago, Zoe had juggled several part-time jobs, ranging from freelance copy editor to dog walker to virtual assistant, but recently she’d decided to shift away from those jobs after she and Jack had an interesting encounter during a trip to Rome last year. They had met Harrington Throckmorton, an insurance man with the reputable and well-known Millbank and Proust Company. Harrington was planning to take early retirement then open his own insurance investigation firm. He had asked both Zoe and Jack to work for him as consultants. Zoe had jumped at the chance. Hopscotching from one temp job to the next had begun to lose its allure, and working with Harrington sounded interesting. Jack, who already had his own security consulting firm up and running, said working with Harrington would only increase their standing with clients.
Zoe and Jack had returned from Rome, and Zoe had expected a call from Harrington daily, but cutting ties with Millbank and Proust had taken longer than Harrington had anticipated. He got wrapped up in a complex case that took quite a while to finish, but two months ago he’d officially retired and began contacting Zoe with small commissions, mostly things that could be handled via computer.
Zoe figured that while she was waiting for a bigger assignment from Harrington it would be a good time to learn some of Jack’s special skills. He had what he termed a “varied” past, which
included more than security work, and sometimes his consulting firm took on projects that were more than installing security systems or checking for weak points in existing systems. One of those special skills had been how to tail someone without being spotted. It wasn’t a skill she thought she needed, but life had taken some surprising turns recently, and there was more than one time that knowing how to do it would have come in handy. Jack had shown her how to tail someone both on foot and in a car, then he’d brought her along on one of his surveillance gigs.
“Oh, come on,” Jack said. “Sitting on a warehouse for three days couldn’t be any more boring than all those spreadsheets you used to do.”
“True,” Zoe admitted reluctantly. “But I was able to take a bathroom break whenever I wanted, something that I never truly appreciated.”
“Every job has its downsides. And monitoring that location will bring in a good chunk of cash.”
“Yes, the ability not to be overdrawn at the bank is a good thing.” For most of her life, Zoe’s bank balance had skated dangerously close to dipping into the red. “I hate to say this, but I’m beginning to understand why Helen was constantly nagging at me to get a steadier job. Having some cushion in our bank account is a strange and comforting feeling.” They had even been able to sock away some money in a savings account, a joint savings account. Her best friend, Helen, had never understood Zoe’s desire not to be tied down to one job. “But I shouldn’t call it nagging. I’m sure Helen thought of it as watching out for me.”
“How is Helen feeling?”
“Puking her guts out. The first trimester is rough. Her doc says if she can get through another four weeks, she’ll probably feel better.” Zoe checked her phone. “In fact, I should go. I’m taking her some soup today.”
“Before you go, there’s one more lesson for today.”
Zoe pulled her keys out of her pocket. “What? Don’t hit the bathroom when you’re on the run?”
“No. Always check behind you.” Jack looked over Zoe’s shoulder and nodded. “When you’re tailing someone, don’t be so focused on the person you’re following that you forget to check behind you for someone tailing you.”
Zoe swiveled around and groaned. Her friend Carla sat on a bench a couple of feet away, sipping from a coffee cup. She raised her cup, a salute, and grinned then came over to Zoe and Jack, her cowboy boots slapping on the marble floor. She plopped down on the chair on the other side of Zoe with a thunk that made her blond ponytail bounce. “That was fun.” She wrinkled her upturned nose at Zoe. “You didn’t even see me, did you?”
“No. At the very least, I should have heard the thud of those boots. Were you behind me all the time?”
“Every second. Most fun I’ve had since I found the backdoor into the First Bank and Trust system.”
With her swingy mohair sweater and skinny jeans, you’d never suspect Carla was one of the top computer security experts in the southwest.
A few bars of Smoke on the Water filled the air, and Carla pulled her phone out of her back pocket. “I have to go. More websites to hack, but let me know if you need me again, Jack.”
“I don’t think I will. Zoe is a quick study.”
“Yeah. I won’t make that mistake again,” Zoe said as Carla pounded away.
Jack stood. “Hey, you’re a kinesthetic learner—hands on. You’ll remember that now, better than if I just told you.”
“Right. I’ll be so jumpy and skittish I’ll spend the whole time I’m tailing someone looking over my shoulder now. I’ll probably be so focused on what’s going on behind me that I’ll forget to keep an eye on the actual person.”
“I doubt that. Want a coffee?”
“Sure.”
While they were waiting for their coffee, Zoe’s phone chimed. “It’s Harrington,” she said to Jack before answering. She put the phone to her ear. “Harrington, good to hear from you.”
“It is always lovely to hear your voice as well, Zoe,” Harrington said, and Zoe couldn’t help but smile. His perfect manners matched his polished British accent. “Do you have a few moments?”
“Yes, of course.” Jack handed Zoe her coffee, and they moved to the escalator.
“Excellent,” Harrington said. “I have a job for you, if you’re interested. The daughter of a family friend has contacted me with a request to recover a stolen painting. I’d handle it myself, but I’m currently involved in a rather delicate manner that involves Interpol and the Guardia Civil, and I can’t get away. I have a contact in the area where the painting was stolen. She should be able to help you run it down. Would you be interested?”
“Yes, of course. Where did the painting go missing from?”
“Staircase House in Edinburgh. Would you be able to leave fairly soon? Time is of the essence with these things.”
“How about tomorrow?”
“Excellent. I’ll have my assistant make the travel arrangements. I’m afraid I have a meeting in a few moments that I must attend. I can call you back in a few hours with all the details.”
“Sounds great. I’ll go pack and wait for your call back.”
Zoe ended the call and turned to Jack. “I’m going to Edinburgh.”
2
ZOE TOSSED A RAINCOAT INTO her suitcase, then pulled it out again. “No, this should go on top, where I can get to it,” she murmured to herself, moving it to another pile on the bed.
Jack came out of the bathroom, carrying his shaving kit. “So Harrington called you back with the details?”
“Yes, just got off the phone with him a few minutes ago.” Zoe reached for her notepad. “The client is Poppy Foley, oldest daughter of the extremely wealthy Foley family. Harrington knew the father, Lorne, who recently passed away—just a few weeks ago. Harrington sounded pretty upset. He said they went to school together. A Victorian painting has gone missing after a break-in at their Edinburgh home, which tells you how well-off they are. They have a flat in London, the house in Edinburgh, and a country estate in Devon.”
“What’s the painting?”
“A small landscape painted by one of their ancestors.” Zoe consulted the paper. “Annabel Foley. It’s not a masterpiece or anything. It only has a sentimental value to the family. Poppy hired Harrington because she wants to make sure the painting is recovered, but she wants to keep the theft of it quiet. Her mother is still dealing with her father’s death, and Poppy wants to take care of this. Her mother has always been attached to the painting and would apparently take its loss hard.”
“Anything else missing?”
“Not according to Harrington, but he didn’t have much time. He’s sending me an email with all his notes.”
Zoe moved to the dresser. “This is going to work out perfectly. We can drive to the airport together tomorrow, and each take our separate flights.”
“Right.” Jack smoothed the folds of the umbrella down and swirled it in his hand, compressing the folds.
Something in his voice made Zoe look up from her drawer. “You’re okay with this, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, sure.” Jack fastened the little strip of Velcro that kept the umbrella furled.
Zoe crossed her arms, pressing a stack of long-sleeved T-shirts against her chest. “You don’t sound okay.”
Jack tossed the umbrella into one of the open suitcases, which rested on the bed between them. He ran his fingers through his hair. “No. It’s fine. You’ll go to Edinburgh. Harrington will put you in touch with his art dealer contact, and I’m sure you’ll get it taken care of. You’ll probably have the painting back in a few days.”
Zoe put the shirts in the suitcase then folded one leg under herself, sat down on the bed, and reached for a pile of socks. “I get it. You wish you were going.”
Jack had stepped into the closet and for a moment there was only the clatter of hangers then he stepped out, holding several dress shirts. “Of course, I wish I was going with you.” He dropped the shirts by his suitcase. “I just assumed that the first official case f
or Harrington would be a joint thing.”
“Well, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you going, especially if we paid for your airfare, but you have the conference in Houston. You can’t cancel.” Jack had been scheduled to give a presentation on physical and cyber security at a conference for small business owners for over a year.
“No, I can’t.” Jack’s face was tight. “I want to, but I can’t.”
Zoe dropped the socks she’d been matching. “Do you think I can’t do this?”
“No, of course not.” Jack left the shirts and came to sit beside her. “We work best together, that’s all. I’ve seen it these last few months.”
Zoe studied his face for a moment. “There’s a smidgen of worry there. I can see it.”
“I’d be worried about you, if you were staying here. I always worry about you.”
Zoe smiled and kissed him quickly. “I know. It’s a sweet quality you have, that you worry about me.”
“And you don’t worry enough.”
“No, you worry too much. I worry just the right amount. Do you want me to call Harrington back and tell him I can’t take the job?”
“No.”
“Good. Because I wouldn’t want to do that.”
“You’d do the job anyway, even if I didn’t want you to do it?” Jack said, a small smile on his face. “I know there’s no stopping you once you get going.”
“I could ask Harrington if I could delay a day or two, but time is of the essence. We’ll just have to be good together long-distance. We do have these things called phones, you know. Amazing tech. Lets you talk to someone as if they were in the room with you.”
Jack closed the distance between them. “But you can’t do this over the phone,” he said, dropping a few light kisses on her mouth.
“Then we better do as much of this while we can.”
Zoe tightened her seatbelt as the airplane began its descent. For most of the journey, there had only been inky blackness out the window, but now pinpricks of light, miles and miles of light, spread out below the plane, running up to the edge of the estuary with, in Zoe’s opinion, the best ever name for a body of water, the Firth of Forth. She’d spent the early part of the flight scanning the guidebook she’d brought along, going over the landmarks and layout of the city.