She perched a hip on the arm of his sofa. “I hate to ask, but could it be a female stalker? One of your Bachelor Blog groupies?” She unsuccessfully tried to hide her smirk behind a notepad.
“Wiseass. The women in this city are desperate, that’s for sure.” He told her about the scented notes and panties he’d dumped in the trash earlier. “But if it was one of them, wouldn’t I have found her waiting in my bed, not stealing my laptop?”
“You’ve got a point. We won’t know anything more until we run some tests. The guys seem to be finishing up,” she said, pointing to the forensic team, packing up. “If you realize something else is missing, call me. You know the drill. Sometimes it’s the little information you don’t think is important that can break a case.”
He nodded. “I think I can handle it.” He covered this crap on a daily basis.
“Now who’s the wiseass?” she asked, treating him to a grin.
“I don’t suppose we can keep this quiet? The last thing I need is more publicity.”
She shook her head. “You know better. If your paper doesn’t cover it, another one will. At this point you’re the closest thing to a celebrity this city’s got. Until another big thing comes along, the Bachelor Blog is the news.” She slapped him on the shoulder, commiserating but not helping him in the least.
“What about the robbery you foiled?” Sara asked.
“You know as well as I do, that’s an open-and-shut case. The guy couldn’t make bail, so he’s still sitting in lockup.”
Sara glanced at her partner who was gesturing toward the door. “I’ll check in when I get off duty in the morning. Call if you remember anything else.”
He nodded. “Thanks, neighbor.”
After the cops took off, Coop righted the sofa and table, ignoring the rest of the mess for now. He sat down, kicked his feet up and pulled on a long sip of soda. As he leaned back, something sharp jabbed him in the thigh.
The ring.
Why hadn’t he thought of it sooner?
Coop took the object from his pocket and studied the piece of jewelry, letting the puzzle pieces add up. He’d just discovered that the ring had value. The same ring had been flashed all over the local news, the information regurgitated in the blog. And now both Lexie and Ricky were interested in the ring.
As for motive for breaking in here, Lexie had been with him, he’d shown her the ring and she’d had no reason to think he wouldn’t work a deal with her to give the ring to her grandmother. Not only didn’t she strike him as the thief type, but she’d been with him all night. And he couldn’t envision her hiring someone to toss his place when he’d promised to bring the ring to their rendezvous.
Ricky Burnett, on the other hand, was a big question mark. Coop had already turned down his request to return the ring. But would a hoarder go to all this trouble just to reclaim any old piece? Or was his interest related to the ring’s value? Or to its history?
Or had this been just a random robbery unrelated to anything going on in Coop’s life at the moment?
Coop hadn’t a clue about that, but he did know it was time to find out whether this ring was the real deal. First thing in the morning, he’d call in some favors. There had to be someone who could authenticate the ring without calling attention to the fact that it had once been stolen. Then he’d put the ring in a safe deposit box in the bank.
Just in case.
LEXIE WOKE UP to sun streaming through the window and the crooning sound of Perry Como coming from the CD player in the kitchen. Grandma loved Perry Como.
Somehow Lexie needed to broach the history of the necklace with her grandmother without arousing the older woman’s suspicions that Lexie had an ulterior motive beyond curiosity about the past. Before she even thought about how, she needed caffeine.
Lexie padded to the kitchen in her T-shirt and bare feet, craving coffee before she could start her day. On her way, she passed her grandmother hunched over the computer in the den, Sylvia standing beside her.
“Morning,” Lexie mumbled.
Both women jumped. “Mercy, you startled me!” Charlotte said.
“Good morning, darling,” Sylvia said. “Go get your coffee so you’ll be human, then we can talk to you.”
The two women knew Lexie’s morning routine as well as Lexie herself. In the kitchen, she poured her coffee from the pot her grandmother had waiting and added milk. All the while, she heard arguing in the other room. She couldn’t make out the words, but given the way Charlotte and Sylvia bickered over everything from the brand of hair dye to use on each other, to which colored deck of cards they would break out for gin rummy, Lexie didn’t strain herself to hear.
A few delicious sips of hot coffee later, the caffeine began flowing through her veins. She waited a few more minutes to savor her morning brew and let the jolt of awareness kick in before heading to rejoin her grandmother and her friend.
“Hi!” Lexie said, kissing first her grandmother then Sylvia.
“There she is, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.” Grandma Charlotte pinched her cheek. “I tried to wait up for you last night but I was too pooped.”
Lexie smiled. “Sleep is good for you.”
“Tell me about your date!” her grandmother said.
“I already told you last night it wasn’t a date. It was just a business meeting. Web-design stuff,” Lexie said, more truthfully this morning than when she’d fudged about meeting a client last night.
She would be working on designs for Coop’s Web site. She also happened to have designs on him.
Vivid memories of his knee brushing hers came rushing back to her. His strong fingers wrapped around her hand, his thumb drawing lazy circles on her skin, making her tingle and burn. The man’s effect on her had been so potent it was difficult to remember she also had to keep an eye on whatever information they discovered about the ring and the necklace, protect her grandmother and hopefully end up with the ring in her possession. That was her endgame. Even if the path there held the potential to be an extremely exciting trip.
“Look, Sylvia, she’s blushing!” Grandma Charlotte said, pointing to Lexie’s cheeks. “Just a client, my patootie.”
“Keep eating that farmer cheese and your patootie will keep growing,” Sylvia said to her friend before turning to Lexie. “Your grandmother is right about something else, too.”
Sylvia pressed a finger to Lexie’s cheek. “Yep. You’re beet red.”