A Priceless Find by Kate James

Author:Kate James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

AS SAM HAD ANTICIPATED, the discussion with Chelsea wasn’t a pleasant one.

He went to see her at the gallery on her first day back.

She’d been so excited to learn that he’d gone to the warehouse, he regretted having to tell her that he hadn’t seen any of the things she’d described.

He wasn’t entirely convinced that she’d been wrong, however. He couldn’t ignore the security alarm issue, nor what he’d noticed in the enclosed space.

“I wasn’t imagining it. I’m certain of that,” Chelsea said emphatically.

“There were no art supplies and the back room was empty. No furniture. No wall coverings.” He didn’t tell her about the scrapes on the floor and the screw holes high up on the walls. Although he had questions about them, he didn’t want to give her false hope. If he ended up finding something, okay, but until then it would be better if Chelsea put her suspicions aside.

“But I saw it. How could it be completely different a little more than a week later?”

“I don’t know,” he responded gently. “Did you tell anyone about what you’d seen? Or having been in the warehouse?”

“No. You’re the only person I said anything to. You’re thinking that if I told someone—the right person—they would’ve moved everything out?”

“Correct. It’s not possible that the space would’ve been emptied out like that in the twenty minutes from when I asked Hadley to take me to the warehouse and when we got there.”

Chelsea threw her arms up. “But it was emptied out. Doesn’t that support the supposition that something illegal or at least inappropriate was going on there? That whoever’s responsible didn’t want to get caught?”

“True. If someone had known that you’d been there.”

“We’re going in circles here,” she observed with a pout.

That had occurred to him, too.

“Oh...wait! It was snowing the evening I was there. The street was deserted when I arrived, but when I came out, there were fresh footprints in the snow in front of the warehouse.”

He looked at her sympathetically. “Chelsea, I’m sorry, but that’s grasping at straws.”

She hissed out a breath and stared through the window.

“I do have a question, though,” he said. “Did you disarm the security system when you got there?”

She turned back, her expression thoughtful. “No. I worried about it at the time, but I forgot. I didn’t hear an audible alarm. At first I was afraid someone—a security guard or a police officer—would show up.” She raised her hands again. Let them fall. “Then, like I said, I forgot about it.”

“And you didn’t set it when you left?”

“No. I didn’t think of it, but even if I had, I don’t know the code.”

“Okay. Thanks. That’s it for now.” He didn’t want to leave her like this.

He didn’t want to leave her at all...

Chelsea walked Sam out of the office area.

He’d noticed that Adam had been with Joel in his office when he first arrived. He was still there, which had Sam questioning how much time he spent at the gallery. Adam called out to Sam as he passed Joel’s office.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.