“And put a gun to my head and demand the necklace?” she asked sarcastically from behind him.
He immediately tossed out the horrible image her question projected in his mind. It wasn’t a scenario he wanted to consider at the moment, though there would be precautions taken to avoid such a situation.
Turning on the light in the closet, he began sliding the clothes on hangers aside so he could check the wall behind. “Our sources tell us he’s not into violence unless absolutely necessary. Our guess is that he’ll make a few inquiries about the necklace and find out what you know about it. He might even pretend interest in purchasing it.”
She stretched and retrieved a blue-and-gray striped box on the shelf above the hanging garments. “And what do I tell him?”
“You tell him that it was a gift from your husband, and play it like it’s nothing more than costume jewelry.”
“And what if he wants to buy it?” she countered.
“Then you tell him it’s not for sale.”
“Isn’t that defeating the purpose of luring him?”
“No. He’ll pursue his interest in the necklace,” he said, confident of that. Turning, he found himself so close to Paige all he had to do was take half a step, lower his head, and he’d be able to kiss her like he’d been wanting to all day. Except he knew he’d never be able to stop at just one taste, and he knew she wasn’t ready to accept the full brunt of his feelings for her. At least not in the light of day.
With a harsh sigh, he dropped to his knees on the floor, examining the molding around the base and checking the wall for any cutouts. “Our main goal is to get on Carranza’s turf, which shouldn’t be too difficult. He’ll want to confiscate the necklace on his territory, surrounded and protected by his own people. It’s what we want, too, since we have our own plants who can arrest Carranza when everything goes down.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
He glanced up, meeting her gaze, seeing her need for a reassurance he had no right to give. “No, it’s not simple, Paige,” he said honestly. “It’s dangerous and it’s risky, but I’ll guarantee that you’ll be protected in every way possible. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Irritation flashed across her features and stretched her mouth into a grim line. “You can’t make those kind of promises, so don’t.” She turned her back to him and proceeded to search through the drawers built into the closet.
In frustration, he blew out a stream of breath, hating the tension vibrating between them. She was right, he couldn’t make promises of immortality. He didn’t have that kind of direct link to the big man upstairs. In truth, he had no way of predicting which way the chips would fall, and a part of him acknowledged that, with Paige’s life at stake, he was nervous as hell about the outcome of this sting. He could only speculate how Carranza would react to the situation, could only hope his sources knew Carranza as well as they believed. It was like engaging in an intricate chess game with a master player, trying to think ahead and outsmart your opponent before making the slightest move.
And in order to think straight enough to counter any move Carranza or his men made, he had to keep his feelings for Paige, and his worry for her, secondary to his survival instincts.
As he put that important thought foremost in his mind, his fingers brushed over the frayed ends of the carpet. He frowned, then followed the ragged edge along the molding to the corner of the closet. The carpet wasn’t tacked down as it should have been. Too easily, he stripped the piece back and found himself staring at a flat metal lid flush with the concrete foundation.
“I’ll be damned,” he muttered.
Paige knelt beside him. “What is it?” Her voice was as excited and eager as he felt.
Inserting his finger into the thumb-hole, he lifted the metal lid, revealing exactly what he’d anticipated. He looked at Paige and grinned triumphantly. “It’s a built in safe.”
4
AFTER DISCOVERING the hidden safe, Josh immediately contacted his lieutenant, who sent out a pair of detectives to Paige’s house, along with a team of forensic specialists to open the safe and secure the contents.
Two hours later, the extent of Anthony’s corruption lay spread before them on the master-bedroom floor. The contents of the safe included over a hundred thousand dollars in cash, several kilos of cocaine, and other narcotic paraphernalia Josh highly suspected had been pilfered from various drug busts. Stashed in a canvas drawstring bag amongst the other evidence they’d seized, they found the stolen diamond-and-emerald necklace, directly implicating Anthony-and explaining how he’d been able to afford such a luxurious house, and a life-style that stretched beyond a cop’s salary.
The proof of Anthony’s illegal behavior burned in Josh’s gut like acid. Judging by Paige’s pale complexion and the shock etched on her features as she stared at the evidence, Josh knew she was just as appalled that she’d been so blindly deceived by the man she’d married.
She lifted her gaze, meeting his. The depths of her eyes were a dark, turbulent shade of green. “I had no idea, Josh,” she whispered, her voice filled with confusion, and a deeper level of betrayal he fully understood. “How could I have not known?”
She wanted answers he wasn’t comfortable expressing with half a dozen law-enforcement officials privy to their conversation. His view of the situation was pure speculation, and he had no desire to have his opinion thrown into the investigation.
Gently taking her arm, he guided her to the bedroom door and away from the men photographing the area and dusting the contents of the safe for fingerprints. “Why don’t you go wait in the living room while these guys do their job, and I’ll be there in a few minutes, okay?”
She stiffened at his order, but didn’t argue. After one last troubled glance at the evidence, she headed down the hall and disappeared from Josh’s sight. He shoved his fingers through his hair in frustration, torn between the desire to follow her and offer the emotional support she so obviously needed, and the duty his job required. He knew, though, that by aiding in the case work, he was helping Paige in a significant way-helping to save her life.
He came up beside Peterson, who was photographing the scene and each individual item confiscated from the safe. “I need a picture of the Ivanov necklace sent to Lieutenant Reynolds ASAP.”
The older man with short-cropped salt-and-pepper hair nodded at Josh. “He’ll have a complete set on his desk by tomorrow morning.”
“Great.” After escorting Paige to the Wild Rose in the morning, Josh planned to deliver the portrait he’d requested from Paige, along with a photograph of the necklace, so the artist they’d commissioned could get started on the painting.
Leaving the rest of the logging and reporting to the detectives working on the case, Josh went to find Paige. She wasn’t in the living room where he’d asked her to wait, which sparked a bit of annoyance that she’d blatantly ignored his request. Instead, he found her standing out on the beach a good hundred yards from the house, alone and vulnerable, making an excellent target for anyone who might be watching her.
Moving onto the deck, he slipped off his loafers and socks, and put them beside Paige’s leather flats next to the wide set of wooden stairs leading to an endless playground of white sand. He headed toward where she stood just a few feet beyond the reach of the teasing and retreating surf.
She tilted her face toward the breeze. The position afforded him a glimpse of her profile-finely etched features that lent her a classical beauty. That wholesome, natural loveliness, combined with her impossibly sweet and generous nature, drew him like no other woman ever had.