Sleight Mistake (Stone Investigations Book 2)

by Scarlett Finn

  Through the glass doors of Monty’s office, Lacie saw the door to the outer office open. Ryder came in with Gabe and Rocco at his back. They spoke to Monty while Jimmy came around them all to make for Monty’s private office where she was ensconced.

  ‘They’ve opened the doors,’ Jimmy said, hanging through the door. ‘Do you want to come through to the—‘

  ‘I have to speak to Ryder first,’ she said, rubbing her hands together then linking her fingers only to stretch them again to bounce her hands together. Jimmy came in to wait with her. But as he came toward her, the men in the outer office walked in the opposite direction and departed.

  Jimmy glanced back in time to see the outer office door close behind those who had just abandoned her here. ‘There will be time later,’ Jimmy stuttered, perhaps sensing her discomfort.

  On a sigh, she took Jimmy’s arm much to his astonishment. ‘Stick with me,’ she said, resolved to the fact that she had to make an appearance at her own show. ‘I don’t like to be alone at these things.’

  Jimmy led her out and remained at her side while various people came over to congratulate her. Maybe forty minutes had passed when she saw Elijah enter the gallery. Their eyes met but Sorcha appeared in front of her, breaking the moment.

  Having just arrived herself, Sorcha was still absorbing the buzz in the atmosphere. ‘This is nuts,’ Sorcha said, taking her hand. ‘Can we talk?’

  Lacie tried to seek out Bruce who was supposed to attend with his fiancée, while Sorcha looked Jimmy up and down. ‘What about?’ Lacie asked.

  ‘Where’s Ryder?’ Sorcha asked, twisting this way and that, trying to locate him.

  ‘Right here.’ They turned to see Ryder approach from behind her. ‘Sorry for the delay. Everything’s in order now.’

  ‘Was there a problem?’ Lacie asked.

  Ryder dipped down to kiss her cheek. ‘Nothing to worry about.’

  He slid his fingers between hers and immediately her chest relaxed, her lips curled upward and she rested her face on his upper arm. ‘You’re here,’ she whispered. Jimmy was an eager escort, but there was no replacing a trained one who had a vested interest in her safety.

  ‘Scram, kid,’ Ryder said to Jimmy.

  Removing her face from his jacket, she chastised her lover for his abrupt attitude. ‘Jimmy has been my escort,’ Lacie said to Ryder. ‘Leave him alone.’

  Ryder’s dismissal was a tease and in a way it was nice of him to poke at Jimmy. Acting possessive probably gave Jimmy the idea that he might actually be a threat and the kid loved to be part of the gang too, even if he was socially awkward like her.

  ‘I can’t blame him for being crazy in love with you. I know what that’s like,’ Ryder said and lifted his fist toward Jimmy, who bumped it with his own despite his surprise. This had been a night of firsts for the intern.

  ‘Uh, has everyone forgotten I’m here?’ Sorcha asked.

  Focus went back to Sorcha, who was still in front of Lacie. ‘What’s wrong?’ Lacie asked, but they were interrupted again before Sorcha could answer.

  ‘Lacie.’ Elijah joined the group and everyone paused for a few seconds. His focus was on her and he afforded no civility to those around her. ‘Can we talk?’

  ‘Do you know everyone?’ Lacie asked, hoping to draw attention to the people around her who he was ignoring. ‘You know Sorcha, of course. This is Jimmy, he works here at the gallery, and this is Ryder—‘

  ‘He and I live together,’ Lacie said, dropping the not so subtle hint about their association.

  ‘You were at the Reynolds party,’ Elijah said, clarity seized his expression.

  ‘That’s right,’ Ryder said.

  Neither man moved to shake hands, making the mood in their group grow rather frosty. ‘Is that where you met?’ Elijah asked.

  ‘No,’ Ryder said without blinking.

  ‘Lacie!’ Monty rushed up to join them. ‘This is quite a party! Could you come and meet someone?’

  ‘Who?’ Lacie asked.

  ‘He’s a donor, at least he will be. He said he’ll write a huge cheque for the gallery, his only stipulation is to meet you first,’ Monty said and the curator carried his own ball of hype in his aura. Watching him being so enthusiastic was contagious and that usually encouraged people to spend more money.

  Lacie wasn’t very keen on leaving this group alone together, not with Ryder and Elijah ready to face off. But Monty had been a good friend and had put this evening together almost single-handedly, so she wasn’t going to refuse such a simple request. ‘Ok,’ she said.

  ‘Great!’ Monty exclaimed. The man could be an eccentric at the best of times, but that was one of the things that she loved about him. His energy was electric making his enthusiasm contagious. He wasn’t at all like the sedate academics Lacie had met at some other galleries.

  Behind Monty, near the far wall, something caught her eye. ‘Gabe’s gesturing at you,’ Lacie said to Ryder, then popped up to kiss his jaw at the same time she released his hand.

  ‘Do you want me to come and find you when—‘

  ‘Yes,’ Lacie said to Ryder, though she was aware of all the eyes on them. ‘There’s something I have to talk to you about.’

  ‘Sounds final,’ Elijah said with either hope or satisfaction in his voice.

  Proving her loyalty and her commitment to her man, Lacie quelled the speculation. ‘Quite the opposite,’ Lacie said and made sure to brush her lips side to side across Ryder’s stubble to highlight their intimacy. ‘Be quick.’

  Ryder skimmed a hand down her arm and watched every step she took with Monty toward his office. When they rounded the corner and left Ryder’s sight, Monty looped an arm through hers.

  ‘This night has been a big hit,’ Monty said, linking his hands in front of him, so she did the same, though their arms remained twined. ‘The exhibition is amazing. It’s a big hit.’

  ‘I know,’ Lacie said.

  ‘You don’t sound very excited.’

  Being around so many people who all wanted to question and compliment her was exhausting. She appreciated that she was lucky to have status in her field. But returning to normality after her abduction was still a bit of a struggle.

  ‘Honestly,’ Lacie said on a sigh. ‘I’d rather be home curled up in bed with Ryder.’

  Monty laughed and leaned in close. ‘Who wouldn’t,’ Monty whispered and laughed again.

  Welcoming his joke, she let exhaustion ebb in the development of her smile. ‘I don’t do well in big groups,’ she explained. ‘It’s been a long night.’

  ‘No big groups in here,’ Monty said, touching his door with a fingertip. ‘Our prospective donor wants to see you alone.’

  ‘Alone?’

  ‘Take a deep breath and say thank you, then you can get back to being adored… with Ryder at your side.’

  Monty knocked once on his own office door then opened it to urge her inside. A small lamp on the assistant’s desk lighted the room. This outer office was vacant, but the glass door through to Monty’s office was open. The sound of metal on porcelain in that room drew her closer.

  Monty’s office was dark. His bay window, where the bistro table was located, was barely illuminated by the light from the courtyard beyond it. A shadow seated at the table finished stirring liquid in a teacup then put the teaspoon aside.

  ‘Hello, Lacie,’ a deep voice said.

  ‘Hello,’ she said, unwilling to move further into the room. The hairs on her arms and on the back of her neck stood up. It was possible that this guy was just as eccentric as Monty, hence the unusual setup. But being wary was part and parcel of what she’d been through. ‘Monty said you wanted to meet me.’

  ‘I’ve been a fan of your work for a long time. Will you sit with me?’

  ‘I don’t know if that’s a good idea,’ she said, remaining near the door. ‘I’m expected back in the gallery.’ This guy had promised Monty a check, so Lacie couldn’t exactly declare that he was creeping her out with his sinis
ter antics.

  The cup rose from its saucer, but he had seated himself in the angle of shadow caused by the window frame, so she couldn’t pick out any details of his form or his apparel. ‘There’s more money,’ he said, holding the cup near his mouth so it almost muffled his words. ‘Much more money… Monty would appreciate that.’

  Monty could use the money and he’d been so kind to her that she couldn’t waste this chance. The guilt would make it impossible for her to look her good friend in the face again. Moving into the room, she told herself that she was just being paranoid and that she shouldn’t let her history with Jamie Wallace affect professional encounters.

  Stopping short of the table, she reminded herself of the room full of people not too far behind her. ‘You’ve given generously,’ she said. ‘Monty is a good man who works hard. He’s been very kind to me.’

  He replaced the delicate cup in its seat. ‘I could give you more. Would you consider a permanent collection?’

  ‘I don’t understand what—‘

  ‘Your own gallery,’ he said and although his voice was confident, he kept it low. ‘A place to show all of your work together in one place.’

  This was supposed to be a casual meet and greet, not an opportunity for someone to hire her. ‘No,’ she said. ‘That’s never been an ambition of mine.’

  ‘Why not? You’re an artist. A permanent centre could include an artist’s residence,’ he said and his fingertips edged into the light slicing across the table. ‘Then all of your needs would be taken care of.’

  ‘Why would—‘

  ‘You wouldn’t have to move home as frequently as you have been.’

  Her frown coincided with him rising from the bistro table. That was too intimate a detail for a stranger to know. ‘How did you know that—‘

  ‘I’ve been following your career very closely, very closely indeed,’ he said.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I think that would be obvious,’ he said, moving closer but remaining in the shadow that dominated this space. ‘You’re beautiful and you’re talented.’

  ‘I’m involved,’ she said. ‘Engaged, off the market.’ She wasn’t exactly engaged, but Ryder wouldn’t mind her exaggerating for the sake of a creepy buyer.

  ‘He doesn’t understand you.’

  ‘You don’t know him,’ she said and that was the final straw. No third party got to judge her relationship with Ryder. Deciding her paranoia was justified, Lacie began to inch away. ‘And you don’t know me. I’m going back to the event.’

  ‘Wait,’ he said and lunged forward to snatch her wrist. ‘We have to talk. There’s something you have to know.’

  ‘Let me go,’ she said. If he had been following her career then he had to know about her kidnap. She was going to chastise him for his lack of decency when something stung her wrist. Lacie tried to recoil but his grip increased and he yanked her closer.

  ‘I know what you’re afraid of,’ he whispered into her ear when the fog spilled into her mind and light burst behind her eyes highlighting the shape of a familiar form.

  ‘Ryder,’ she murmured, then her body gave out.

  Lacie told her eyes to open but they didn’t. Her mouth was as dry as cotton wool and moving her lips didn’t help the ache that seemed to be squashing her skull. Processing a mental list of her faculties, she wiggled her toes and accounted for her extremities but something was missing though it lingered on the edge of her consciousness.

  ‘Ryder,’ she croaked.

  ‘He’s here,’ Gabe said. ‘But he’s being an ass.’

  Lacie recognised Sorcha’s perfume and Gabe’s voice, but her hand was conspicuously empty. Forcing her energy to her eyes, she prized them open to see that she was in a hospital room. Gabe and Rocco stood near the door. Monty stood with Sorcha in the corner and Ryder’s silhouette filled the window. His back was to her, and from his posture, she didn’t need to see his face to know how his expression was set.

  ‘Were you going to tell me?’ Ryder asked without turning around.

  Monty inched forward, worrying the Kleenex he had wrapped around his fingers. ‘I thought he knew about…’ Monty trailed off.

  ‘Knew about what?’ Sorcha asked, asserting herself in this space and coming straight to the end of the bed.

  ‘Maybe we should give these guys the room,’ Gabe said, reaching for the door.

  ‘Know what?’ Sorcha asked without showing any intention of leaving. ‘I want to know.’

  Ryder turned and fixed immediately on Lacie. ‘Give us the room,’ he murmured.

  No one objected aloud though Gabe and Rocco had to flank Sorcha to get her out with some gentle encouragement. Monty pulled the curtain partway around her bed to conceal her from the door, so she didn’t see them leave but there was a finality to the sound of the door closing.

  ‘What happened?’ she asked, trying to sit up and failing.

  ‘He knocked you out,’ Ryder said and she didn’t like his discrete manner. ‘You hit the deck the second I walked through the door. He ran… I thought he’d killed you. So you tell me, what the hell happened?’

  Closing her eyes again, she tried to recall the events that led her here. ‘He was talking to me then…’ She curled her fingers around the wrist her assailant had grabbed, which drew her attention to her IV.

  ‘Were you going to tell me about the phone calls?’ he asked.

  Annoyed at herself for not being more forthcoming, she had played down concerns believing herself to be paranoid. ‘There was nothing to tell,’ she said. ‘I told Monty that the attention had been unsettling. You knew I felt that way after the kidnapping when we were getting calls and mail all the time.’

  ‘I thought that had all stopped.’

  ‘I thought it had too,’ she said. ‘It was just a few phone calls… I really didn’t think I was in danger.’

  ‘And you didn’t think to discuss it with me?’

  He might have reason to worry about her, but the likelihood of her repeating her previous experience was minute. ‘Ryder, there was nothing to discuss. I was preoccupied with us. I did my best to ignore all of it.’

  ‘You ignored it?’ he said, spitting out the words like an angry parent.

  She wasn’t going to let him take over, as he liked to do. But she wasn’t going to lie to him either. ‘Yes. The first day I came to you at S.I.S. I’d been with Monty, he said I should discuss it with you. We got distracted and then when I moved in I didn’t think there would be any further communications.’

  ‘But there were?’

  ‘No, there’s been nothing. The media has given up. I thought it was over.’

  ‘Over or not, you could have told me,’ he said, proving he wasn’t yet ready to forgive her for the slight. ‘We sleep in the same bed every night. We talk to each other every day.’

  ‘I like it when we’re happy. I’ve had obsessive fans before. How do you think I got to know Jimmy?’

  ‘You think this guy is obsessed with you?’

  ‘No,’ Lacie said. ‘I said that to demonstrate how I know the difference. People sending messages of goodwill and the media trying to get in on the gossip is a different thing to… being wary about my own personal safety.’

  ‘But you’re going to be wary now.’

  ‘There’s nothing to worry about,’ Lacie said.

  Placating him was as important to her as staying safe. Lacie didn’t want to be apart from Ryder any more than he wanted to be apart from her. If anyone wanted to stay out of a lunatic’s captivity, it was her. She’d been there once and that was enough for her. But Ryder would drive himself crazy worrying about her and she didn’t need to live her life under watch every minute of the day.

  Ryder took one step toward her. ‘We need to know who this guy was, and what he wanted.’ His resentment gave way to his professional planning.

  ‘I don’t know what he wanted,’ she said. ‘He… he told me he’d been paying attention to my career…’

  ‘What else
did he say?’ Ryder commanded.

  ‘I don’t know. I can’t think.’

  Her mind was still fogged by whatever he’d drugged her with and when she tried to concentrate, she got dizzy. Bringing a hand to her head, she rubbed her forehead, but her headache grew to a pulse that made her ears ring.

  ‘You better think,’ he said. ‘I need you, Dusty. I don’t want to be blindsided. I trust you to tell me everything. Do you understand that? I trust you. Without you I have nothing. If I can’t trust you to talk to me, I’ll put a guy on you twenty-four seven. I swear to you I will. I love you. You are my responsibility. Your safety is important to me above everything else.’

  This was exactly what she didn’t want. She would take his professional help of course. But there was a desperation in his voice that she knew came from the guilt that remained under his skin. ‘I know you’re angry with me,’ she said. ‘I didn’t deliberately withhold or deny you anything. It wasn’t my intention to—‘

  ‘I’m not angry at you, Dusty!’

  Both of them registered his raised volume, which worked in contradiction of his words. He didn’t stand down. His chest moved in time with shallow breaths, and his eyes burned with the fire she saw in him on only two occasions, in bed… and when he feared for her life.

  ‘I love you,’ she said, raising her hand toward him, but it took him another five breaths before he came close enough to take her hand. Their linked hands hung in mid-air. He was still so far away from her that she had to lean to maintain the connection. ‘Why are you over there? You don’t want to be near me?’

  His expression loosened before his form did. ‘Don’t talk crazy,’ he mumbled and brought her hand to his lips. Lowering to the side of the bed, he crouched and kissed her hand then rubbed his face across it. ‘I was so… seeing you fall like that… I’ve never been that afraid in my life.’

  He wasn’t angry at her, anger was just the easiest way to let out the maelstrom of panic and fear that he’d been languishing in since the museum.