Blue Steal Page 4

  Jack raised his eyes to hers, and met an unflinching, unreadable gaze.

  She held it for a moment, then the tips of her mouth lifted. ‘Night, Jack.’

  She padded past, towels clutched high again, and his brain roared back online, internal alarm system flashing and blaring.

  That little peep show had been deliberate.

  His hand shot out and clamped around her wrist. Angling her head back, her eyes, narrow with displeasure, met his. Then she looked pointedly down to where his hand enclosed her wrist. An implicit command to get his hand the hell off her. Which he ignored.

  This was the second time in one evening he’d found her in an unexpected place. Both times she’d been intent on avoiding him. So intent this time that she’d put on a little show to bamboozle him, distract him from asking questions.

  It had almost worked.

  Maybe it wasn’t coincidence that he kept thinking about Selina when he thought about the sapphires. Maybe there was a very good reason his subconscious kept pointing him in her direction. One that went beyond her glorious assets.

  All he knew was he needed to know more about this unlikely academic walking around the hotel practically naked in the middle of the night. ‘Which university did you say you were studying at?’ he asked.

  ‘I didn’t.’ Spoken with perfect sangfroid, but he could feel her pulse racing under his thumb.

  ‘Are you going to answer the question?’

  ‘Are you going to let go of me?’

  They’d angled in to face each other, and it had brought them close. Incredibly close. The proximity wasn’t helping him get his body under control. Neither was her reaction. Not that anyone would know it to look at her, but he could almost feel the pounding of her heart, the adrenaline pumping through her, the energy coursing up and down her body.

  Or maybe that was just him.

  ‘What are you doing here, Selina?’ he asked, almost whispering in her ear.

  ‘None of your business.’

  ‘Selina …’

  He didn’t miss her small quiver.

  ‘Isn’t it obvious? I’m getting towels.’ She held them out a little. ‘Note the towels?’

  Not what he meant and she knew it. He rubbed his thumb across her wrist in chastisement and was rewarded with a slight gasp and a spike in her pulse. ‘Let’s try again. What are you doing at the Empire?’

  Not a second’s hesitation. ‘You were there earlier. I’m attending the inaugural Antipodean Entomology and Climate Change conference.’ She met his eyes with cool, unflinching green-and-gold. Stonewalling, and she did it beautifully. ‘Let go of me, Jack, or I will scream.’

  He smiled and she smiled back, and it was anything but friendly. ‘Enjoy your bath.’

  He released her wrist and she brushed past him immediately. He turned, hands in his pockets, and watched as she opened and entered what must be her room without so much as another glance in his direction.

  So what had he learned tonight?

  Nothing. Except that Selina Migliore was not on the level.

  Things had just got a little more interesting.

  ***

  The lobby was full, buzzing with the chatter of a hundred excited entomologists. Selina scanned the path ahead, looking past the khaki shorts and serviceable sandals. There was only one man she was looking for. When she was confident Jack was not around, she made a beeline for the coffee, sitting with the other afternoon tea provisions set out for conference attendees.

  Pouring herself a cup, she took a sip and grimaced. Terrible, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She’d just sat through two hours on locusts, and she’d never needed caffeine more.

  Jack had given her a hell of a scare last night. Attempting to seduce him out of questioning her had been a mistake, she could see that now. She’d panicked. She could tell he hadn’t bought her story about dropping towels in the bath, and she hadn’t wanted him thinking too much about it. So she’d done what had always come naturally—used her body to get herself out of a jam. It’d been working, she was sure, but somehow he’d cottoned on, and it had only ended in making her look more suspicious.

  She had no idea who Jack was or what he was doing here, but she’d known from the first instant she’d laid eyes on him that he was dangerous. He kept popping up at all the wrong times, asking all the wrong questions. So quick and so watchful.

  So sexy.

  The way he looked at her … She shivered, still feeling his hand on her wrist, his mouth near her ear. He was a good-looking guy, but it wasn’t just that. The quiet, raspy voice, the knowing gleam in his eyes, the dishevelled straight-from-bed appeal … She had to admit, it was a devastating combination.

  Of all the times to fall in lust.

  Not that anything was going to happen. Nothing could happen. Even if the circumstances weren’t against them, Jack was exactly the kind of guy she didn’t have the luxury of going for. Hot, unpredictable and dangerous were not her lot in life.

  The quicker she found the necklace and got out of here, the better. She’d even considered trying first thing this morning, but it was too risky. Mornings were busy in hotels. The lobby would be filled with people, to say nothing of the domestic staff going in and out of the linen room to refresh their trolleys. The sapphires would have to wait till tonight, and she’d have to make it through till then too. Which meant avoiding Jack.

  She took another welcome sip of the terrible coffee.

  She hadn’t planned on attending the conference, but Jenny had caught her in the lobby earlier as she’d returned from a shopping trip with the equipment she needed for tonight. Jenny had noticed that Selina hadn’t been at the cocktail party last night, and she’d noticed that she hadn’t been in any of the morning’s sessions. The last thing Selina needed was Jenny and her good intentions starting to question Selina’s background and bona fides. It just wasn’t worth risking. She needed to fly under the radar for a few more hours, and if learning about locusts was part of that? Well, so be it.

  Selina almost choked on her drink as Jack appeared, making his way, tall and sure, through the tea-sipping, biscuit-munching crowd. Heat swept over Selina as she watched him. Her head knew he was danger with a capital D, but her body wasn’t listening.

  And then, he disappeared into the side corridor again.

  Like he had when he’d first arrived.

  Why?

  A little tingle spread over Selina’s lower back.

  He couldn’t be headed for the linen room, could he? Only nonna knew the necklace was there. But the tingle didn’t disappear.

  What did she know about Jack?

  Why was he here at the Empire?

  He was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and he was wandering around the hotel in the middle of the afternoon. Like he had been last night. It didn’t seem probable he was here on corporate business and he was a very unlikely tourist.

  He’d booked his room the same day she had—after the ring had been found—and he knew an awful lot about the Petrovsky sapphires. Coincidence?

  Selina wasn’t the retiring type, but Jack had had her on the back-foot. She’d been so worried about covering her own tail that she’d focused on avoiding him instead of asking questions of her own. Maybe that was a mistake. After all, what risk did he pose exactly? So far she hadn’t done anything that could be considered illegal.

  And right now, Jack was once again visiting a stretch of corridor that shouldn’t be of interest to anyone but her.

  He wasn’t getting to the necklace first!

  Selina set her empty coffee cup down on the nearest table.

  Who was Jack Tierney? She was about to go find out.

  Chapter 4

  Jack could be patient. All things in good time, he believed that. And in giving cases space to breath, allowing the subconscious to do its thing. Charles might dismiss it as new-age nonsense, but as far as Jack was concerned, there was nothing metaphysical about it. Strands of information—clues—were eve
rywhere; yet most people didn’t see them, let alone what linked the strands together. Sometimes he felt that all he did as a private investigator was stand back far enough to see the big picture. Find loose threads and pull them into a story.

  That was his modus operandi, and to date, it had worked for him without fail.

  He wasn’t so sure it was going to happen this time.

  Early days yet, but he had a bad feeling. Something was off. Deep within this hotel, he sensed a foul, slimy presence. It made him uncharacteristically edgy, and the confusion in his head surrounding Selina wasn’t helping. Something was going on with her—that was beyond doubt—but did it have anything to do with the necklace? His gut screamed yes, but he couldn’t get a bead on any kind of connection, and the fact that he found her more than passingly attractive was interfering with all attempts at objective judgement.

  He’d woken resolved to shelve all thoughts of Selina and concentrate on the case. The morning had been dedicated to exploring the top floors of the hotel. Not that he’d expected to find much—everything he’d read in the police reports suggested that all the action was concentrated on the lower floors—but he’d felt the need to walk it himself. Ensure he didn’t miss anything by premature elimination. He’d even broken into the penthouse suite where the Holloways had once resided. Odd little set-up, preserved for eternity at a moment in time fifty years ago. Creepy, but he hadn’t found anything related to the necklace.

  Now he was back in the corridor where Andrew Holloway had been shot. He’d been here twice already, once just after he checked in and then when following Selina, but it kept calling to him. Something wasn’t sitting right. If he could visualise what had happened that night, maybe things would become a little clearer.

  The corridor seemed peaceful enough. Long and wide and light-filled, dust motes swirling in the air like random yet happy dancers. It was relatively quiet, some miracle of acoustic physics prevented the noise and bustle of the lobby from making it this far.

  Yes, it seemed like a peaceful spot, but fifty years ago something very violent had happened here.

  He reviewed what he knew. The Holloway twins, Andrew and Lewis, had been studying late in one of the offices leading off the corridor. Alerted by strange noises they’d rushed out with the cricket bats they’d had on hand from an earlier practice session, and found themselves interrupting a burglary. Two of the burglars managed to get out the back entrance, while the third, a security guard who worked for the hotel, had been trapped by the boys and ended up shooting Andrew. Fatally. Lewis had defended himself, ending the guard’s life with a blow to the head before the same could happen to him.

  Two dead bodies, no further trace of the jewellery. Until last week.

  Crouching, Jack placed his hand where he judged Andrew Holloway’s body had lain. Christ, he’d been eighteen—nothing more than a kid, studying for his final high school exams.

  In a strange twist of fate, the Holloway boys had attended the same high school that Jack had: Wentworth Grammar, one of Melbourne’s—and therefore Australia’s—most prestigious. To say those years had been formative was an understatement—they’d led straight to the clusterfuck his life had become three years ago. He sometimes wondered how his life might have played out if he hadn’t won that scholarship. He’d been a sweet, naïve country kid before Wentworth, maybe he would have stayed like that. Of course, he wouldn’t have met Charles, a fellow Wentworth alumni. He wouldn’t be here right now. He wouldn’t have met Selina.

  How had Wentworth treated the Holloways? Had they found it a gladiator’s arena, like he had? Maybe not. After all, unlike him, they’d been born to it.

  He couldn’t know. He should stop dwelling on his own past and concentrate instead on the case.

  He stood, rested a hand against the wall. First question. Jack had just come from the penthouse, from the room the twins had shared. He’d seen the desks, side-by-side against a wall in their shared bedroom, so why had they been studying downstairs so late in the night?

  What were you doing, Andrew, still awake at two in the morning? You and your brother Lewis?

  Hairs on the back of his neck prickled. Slowly, he turned.

  Selina Migliore, glossy locks flowing like silk over her shoulders, dressed in fitted tan pants and a deep green sleeveless silk top. Business attire with a flamboyant sexy edge, like J.Lo had gone back to school and got a law degree.

  Should he be surprised to see her? He wasn’t. It was time to stop fighting what he knew to be true. He wasn’t sure how Selina fit, but fit she did.

  Pretty, sexy Selina. She hadn’t given him much yet, but she would.

  ‘Sick of bugs already? Aren’t you about to start a three-year graduate degree?’

  Ignoring his question and his smile, she came to stand beside him, looking down where he’d crouched only seconds before. ‘What’s so fascinating about that particular patch of carpet?’

  She knew. She knew, perhaps without even knowing she knew, but he could see it in the line of her jaw, the set of her shoulders.

  ‘You tell me.’

  He waited, and she moved over the spot, twirling slowly, looking for whatever it was that he’d been staring at. ‘I can’t see anything,’ she said.

  ‘The robbery we were talking about yesterday? The young man, the boy, was shot right where you’re standing.’

  She started, then went still. The sass left her face completely and she looked down at the carpet. ‘Right where I’m standing?’

  He shrugged. ‘That would be my best guess.’

  Like he had done, she crouched, hand to the ground for a long moment, then made a rapid movement with her hands. He wasn’t religious, so it took him a moment to realise it was the sign of the cross.

  Standing again, she faced him, arms across her chest, eyes narrowed in assessment. The quiet, solemn reverence had passed, and they were back to their game of show and tell, hide and seek, thrust and parry. She’d sought him out today, as keen to know his story as he was to know hers. He leaned sideways against the wall, curious to see where she was going to take the conversation.

  ‘You got a thing for murder sites?’ she asked.

  ‘What can I say? I’m a history buff.’

  She laid a hand against the wood panelling of the corridor. ‘If walls could talk.’

  ‘Indeed.’ Who the hell is she? What does she know?

  ‘Funny to think, isn’t it? Only one more week and the Empire will be gone. The whole place …’ She moved her hands in a boom motion. ‘Rubble. Its secrets and treasures lost forever.’

  She was playing with fire. ‘Unless someone finds the treasure first,’ he drawled.

  ‘Yes,’ she agreed slyly. ‘Unless someone finds it first.’ She recrossed her arms and regarded him in challenge. ‘How are you enjoying your stay at the Empire, Jack?’

  He smiled at the change of subject. ‘How kind of you to enquire, Ms Migliore.’

  The parts involving Selina? Those, he was enjoying. The rest? Not so much. Bad vibes and too many unknowns.

  She shrugged lightly. ‘You turned down a room in the nicer hotel with spa and a free breakfast buffet. I hope the Empire is living up to your expectations.’

  ‘I have to admit to being disappointed so far.’

  ‘Really?’ One eyebrow arched. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

  ‘No one likes a whinger, but they don’t provide enough towels.’

  She stifled a chuckle. ‘I’m curious. What brings you to the Empire?’

  ‘Business.’

  ‘Business.’ Her head tilted to the side. ‘Between the ripped jeans and the three-day growth, I never would have guessed.’

  ‘Not that kind of business.’

  ‘What kind then?’

  ‘I think you already know the answer to that question.’ He smirked in satisfaction when she didn’t answer. ‘And you?’ he pressed. ‘How are you enjoying the Empire? You were also very keen to stay, if I remember correctly.’

 
; Another sly little half-smile. ‘Very satisfactory. I believe I’ll walk away with much more than I arrived with.’

  Cheeky, cheeky Selina. ‘The conference is going well then?’

  ‘Fascinating. Did you know that increased summer precipitation and higher minimum temperatures are likely to lead to more frequent locust plagues?’

  ‘That sounds appalling.’

  ‘It does, doesn’t it?’

  Time to switch gears. ‘Fancy a little role play, Selina?’

  Her eyes narrowed but she was listening.

  ‘Let’s pretend it’s the night the Petrovsky sapphires went missing.’

  ‘Why?’

  Because he just couldn’t see that night, couldn’t make it work in his head, and he didn’t know why. Maybe, if he tried to re-enact it, it’d come to him. ‘Just for kicks. What do you say? Be a sport?’

  Another pause, and then she shrugged. ‘Why not?’

  ‘You can be Andrew Holloway. Stay right where you are.’

  She gave him a droll look but didn’t comment.

  ‘I’ll be the security guard. I’m part of the gang of thieves, their inside man.’

  There was someone missing from the scene. Andrew’s twin Lewis. Where had he been? How close to his brother? Jack couldn’t quite place him.

  Casting the thought to the side for the moment—in any case, there was only the two of them available to act out the scenario—he headed back up the corridor towards the lobby, coming to a stop when he reached the spot he judged the security guard’s body had fallen.

  Turning suddenly, he made a gun with his hand and aimed it at Selina. Her arms went up in involuntary compliance. They stood staring at each other. Her eyes looked incredibly green. Something sad in them, like she knew what was coming.

  Had Andrew known? Is that how he’d looked?

  He pulled the trigger. ‘Bang.’

  Her mouth dropped open.

  Like a storm brewing in hell, the hall grew incredibly loud, incredibly quickly. A group, walking and talking fast, entered the corridor from the lobby. Selina’s gaze shifted from him to the crowd behind him. She found someone, and her eyes grew wider.

  His stomach dropped. He couldn’t look away from Selina, and he would have sworn that, for a beat or two, her heart stopped beating.