Suspicious (On the Run) by Sara Rosett Read Free Book Online

that Zoe could step outside before Alessi gave a disinterested wave of the hand. He was focused on the award plaque that he’d picked up from the dresser.
    “Do we have something to hide?” he asked in a low voice as she moved by him.
    “Yes,” she breathed. She took a seat and sent a quick, pointed gaze to the bathroom. The shower door clicked as the officer open it, glanced inside, and then closed it. He moved out of their line of sight, and Zoe heard the ceramic toilet tank lid clink as he moved it. Good thing she hadn’t put it in there. More clinking as he replaced the lid. The young officer came into view again, his back to them, as he scanned the counter around the sink. Zoe forced herself to look away, even though she wanted to stare at the lotion bottle.
    She looked at Alessi, who was turning the plaque slowly in his hand, examining each surface. He moved a few steps closer to them and angled it toward the light streaming in through the windows as he ran his thumbnail along the thick edge of the plaque. He glanced at them once, a long measuring glance, then removed a Swiss Army knife from his pocket, extended one of the blades, and inserted it into what looked like a dark thread in the grain of the wood.
    The knife blade twisted, flashing in the sun, and the thin dark line widened into a gap. Alessi worked the knife blade back and forth a few more times, and the gap broadened until he was able to put his thumbs on the edges and pry. The plaque split into two pieces, exposing a foam center with cutouts for a necklace, a bracelet, and two earrings.

Chapter Four

    Gemma pulled into a slot along the curb across the street from Croftly Jewelers. A dark blue awning shaded the shop’s single front window, which held a display of diamond necklaces and earrings. When she’d met with the informant, he had pushed his long hair back off his face and said, “All I know is me mate said that the guy’s name is Terrance Croftly, and that he’s got a medieval cross that he’s pulling stones out of.”
    A ninth-century jewel-encrusted cross had been stolen from Gilbrand House. Of course the informant hadn’t seen the cross himself and couldn’t describe it.
    “And why would this Terrance Croftly flash around something as distinctive as a medieval cross?” Gemma had asked.
    “He weren’t,” the informant had said. “Me mate, the one who told me about it, saw it by accident. He works the counter, doesn’t usually go in the back. Surprised ’em, I guess.”
    Gemma doubted that was exactly the way it had happened, but regardless, they had the tip.
    The shop looked like the other small-to-medium businesses in London’s diamond district. Gemma tapped the wheel, wishing she could go in as a customer for a quick browse, but that would be a mistake, if she had to go in later undercover.
    She was good undercover. It was how she first connected with the Art Squad. They needed someone who didn’t look or sound like a cop and had pulled her from traffic duty to play the part of a dodgy American dealer anxious to buy a stolen painting. When she met the thieves, her accent and her gender, two things that had often been negatives in her career, worked as assets and had put the criminals at ease. The bust had gone like clockwork. Within a year, she was able to transfer to the Art Squad.
    Gemma returned to the office and pulled everything she could find on Terrance Croftly.

    ***

    Zoe leaned over the table, her gaze locked on Alessi’s face. “I don’t know anything about the plaque, except that Melissa Davray gave it to us at the opening of the exhibit.” The plaque, now encased in a transparent plastic bag, rested on the table between her and Alessi. They were in some sort of police station. Zoe wasn’t even sure if it was a police station or an office of the Carabinieri.
    After Alessi discovered the interior compartment in the plaque, he’d called the younger officer out of the bathroom, which had been a relief for