Played by Barbara Freethy

Author:Barbara Freethy [Freethy, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Contemporary
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2006-03-29T22:00:00+00:00

J.T. looked at every single face he passed as he strode through the auction house, the old, the young, the men, and even the women. Evan was here. He had somehow, in some sleight of hand, managed to steal that necklace. J.T. still didn’t know how he’d done it. Maybe there was a way to get in between the panels, so that when the turntable rotated, a switch could be made. He returned to the showroom and went over to study the door. He pushed the button and it slowly revolved. As the door moved, he checked the space in between. It seemed impossibly narrow for anyone to get in there.

How could the diamond have disappeared in the minute it took for the panel to turn?

Had someone been standing near the panel inside the showroom? A man, he recalled, wearing the same navy blue suit coat as the auctioneer. Had it been Evan? But wouldn’t someone have seen him grab the necklace and run?

Racking his brain, J.T. tried to remember what he had seen on the monitor. He’d been watching the screen, as had Christina, waiting to see if anyone in the showroom would rush the diamond or if the auctioneer would make a sudden move, if someone would ask to examine the diamond up close. He’d anticipated any number of possible scenarios, but not this one.

Glancing around the room, he tried to place everyone in the spot in which they had been standing when the diamond had gone onto the display. Russell, Luigi, Jeremy, and Stefano had been together by the table, which was now empty. The diamond had been in a glass case. Two other employees, a man and a woman, had been packing up some art on the adjacent table. Christina and he had moved away after she’d checked the diamond. They’d been standing in front of the monitor, which was now off. He knew he was missing something important, but whatever it was, it was just out of reach.

He went over the four men again in his mind. Russell, Luigi, Jeremy, Stefano. A Barclay’s employee had set the necklace display form on the turntable. Stefano had placed the necklace on the display form. Why him? Sure, it was his necklace technically, but why hadn’t the Barclay’s employee done the deed? Had it just been professional courtesy? Jeremy Kensington had been standing right there, overseeing the moment.

J.T. wasn’t sure what he thought of Jeremy Kensington. The hit-and-run accident the night before, the tie-in between Alexis and David, the fact that Jeremy’s wife might have been cheating on him—what did it add up to? Was Jeremy involved in some insurance scam? Was there a policy on the diamond? Was that why he’d taken it upon himself to be right there when the diamond was placed on display?

J.T. would have to ask Christina if it was common for Jeremy to be backstage. It seemed more likely that he would have been out in the showroom, overseeing the bidding.

And what

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.