Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
“Eli loves to watch the crowds from here.” Clarissa nodded to the throng of young women in tight dresses and guys in shorts and short-sleeve shirts. “You can just feel the vibe, can’t you?” she asked, inhaling, as if she were drawing in that very energy.
“Absolutely.”
“That’s the manager, Nigel—he’s just in the middle of something now, but I’ll introduce you next time you’re in,” Clarissa said, pointing to a strapping man walking through the crowd. “And,” Clarissa continued, pointing a French-manicured nail toward the ceiling, “we have a dozen disco balls. They just light the whole place up, don’t they?”
The silvery disco balls swirled above the floor, casting slivers of rich purple, royal blue, and lush red rays of light. They were retro and seventies, but somehow not cheesy.
“Gorgeous,” I said honestly.
“Come. Let me show you our VIP rooms.” My guide gestured to a hallway lined with three paintings—a square, a rectangle, and an oval in black tubular frames that continued the geometric theme of the art.
“The art is lovely,” I remarked. As with the bar and the dance floor, Clarissa didn’t need much prompting to tell me the details.
“They’re from the gallery around the corner. Willow’s gallery.”
“Ah, but of course.” Naturally, Eli would shower his fiancée’s business with greenbacks.
I peered at the artist’s signature in the corner of the rectangle: Lynx. So Lynx liked to make shapes, and Eli liked to buy them. Jake told me Andrew originally thought the fund’s missing money had been channeled into art, but now they were thinking it had gone into gems.
What if the art was still involved?
As we continued down the hallway to the VIP rooms with their blue velvet couches and bottle service, a shadow shifted down the corridor and Clarissa whirled around.
I tried to act casual, but my heart raced. Had Jake been sprung?
“Isn’t Amelia the greatest?” I asked, easy, breezy, trying to distract Clarissa as I continued walking forward.
“She is. I’m really looking forward to seeing her tonight.” Clarissa gave one last look behind her then continued walking.
Phew. Crisis averted.
All I could do was hope Jake had some more intel after this cloak-and-dagger routine.
17
IMPROPER KISSING
Jake
I slowed as Ruby and her tour guide traversed the hall, passing three paintings that matched the style I’d seen in Willow’s gallery yesterday. It was difficult, though, to concentrate when Ruby’s dress was clinging to her body in all the right places, stirring up not-so-distant memories of how she’d felt in my hands.
The way she’d rubbed against me last night. The way her breath had caught when I’d roamed my hands over her.
Occupational hazard of having an off-limits partner, but I’d have to handle this desire. Namely, by boxing it up and ignoring the fuck out of it.
I focused on the art until Ruby rounded the bend in the hallway, out of sight. The paintings didn’t seem very good, but I knew more about recovering art than critiquing it. What could they be hiding?
Most people were creatures of habit. Con men could devise tricky schemes and clever cover-ups, but the subconscious could trip up even the best of them. A thief’s likes and dislikes were often guideposts on the path to cracking a case. Passwords, combinations, and locations were rarely truly cryptic. They usually meant something to the con man. Did the art mean something too? Eli liked art, so I needed to study the paintings and see what story they might tell.
Strolling down the hall, I ran my hand lightly along the first frame, looking for any clues. I didn’t expect Eli to have hidden a safe right there in plain sight, but something about this piece caught my attention. The heavy frame seemed to overbalance such an airy, contemporary piece. Didn’t modern art have lighter, simpler frames, or none at all? But this was a sturdy bastard.
Before I could investigate further, a crowd came by, and I had to tuck my hands in the pockets of my jeans and look nonchalant. Just a guy wandering down the hall. No big deal. Seconds later, Ruby and Clarissa emerged from a VIP room, heading away from me but close enough for me to hear.
“And there’s Eli’s office,” Clarissa said, pointing to a door at the end of the hall. “Now, let’s get you out to the dance floor. Amelia Stone is about to start.”
Once they were out of sight, I wandered past Eli’s office. I considered going in and sniffing around, but then someone opened the door from the inside. I glimpsed more artwork on the office wall before a large man filled the doorway, crunching on some kind of snack. Behind him, I spotted another of those distinctive Lynx artworks on the wall.
I adopted my best how did I wind up down this hallway look.
The big man swallowed his snack and raised an eyebrow. “Can I help you with something?”