The Spy (King’s Security #3)

Chapter 19

19

FIONA

Revisiting the Windy City Gallery made me feel like a naughty child. I hadn’t broken any laws, and nobody had told me not to be here, but I still felt squirmy as Zeke and I asked the desk clerk to see if Patience was available. Perhaps it was because my old friend had made it clear she wasn’t comfortable with my presence the other day, or maybe it was just the fact that being at the scene of the crime wasn’t a good look. Whatever the case, my nerves were frayed.

Zeke put his hand on the small of my back and moved closer. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

I’d suggested telling Patience that we had a lead because it might give her peace of mind. She may not have been particularly welcoming toward me, but she didn’t deserve to get fired like I had been from my job at the Black Swan Gallery. Especially not when we were so close to tracking down the Monet. Zeke had agreed with my plan, although he’d warned me that if Patience said anything about talking to the police, all bets were off. He was probably only going along with it because it was a good distraction and I’d been going stir-crazy wanting to jump into action, but there were hours left until we’d be able to do that.

This time, Patience’s expression when she entered the room was even warier than before. Her gaze quickly took in how close Zeke stood to me and it shuttered even further. I winced, recalling the fact that she’d slipped him her card. He hadn’t called, and his current position hinted at how intimate we’d become. Probably not the wisest move. If Patience felt slighted, she was less likely to be open to hearing what we had to say. Oh well, we were doing her a favor by giving her a heads-up. If she didn’t want to listen, that was her choice.

“What are you doing here?” she asked coolly.

I exchanged a glance with Zeke, who arched a brow as if asking whether I really wanted to go through with this. I swallowed my hurt and tried not to take it personally. No doubt she was having a difficult time, and wasn’t at her best. If I thought about how I’d felt when I realized that Bergen had been able to steal from my boss because of me, I could sympathize. The situation wasn’t quite the same, but it was close enough. Someone had stolen from the gallery and her neck was on the line because of it.

“Can we speak in private?” I asked.

She headed toward the wall furthest from the ticket desk, where no one else should be able to overhear. “Is this okay? The gallery owner is here, and I’d rather him not see you in my office when the police have already told us they’re looking into you in connection with the theft.”

I winced. “This is fine.” I drew in a breath, buoyed by Zeke’s strong presence beside me. “We think we might know where the painting is. I just wanted to let you know. Hopefully this whole situation will be resolved soon. ”

Interest flared in her eyes. “You do? Where is it? Who has it?”

Zeke pressed softly against my back, silently reminding me of my promise not to share any details.

“I can’t say yet,” I replied apologetically. “We need to confirm the details first, and as soon as we do, we’ll pass the information on to the police.”

She stiffened. “They don’t know?”

“No,” Zeke answered for me. “There’s no point wasting their time if it doesn’t pan out.”

She nodded as if this explanation made sense. I searched her face. I’d expected that she’d be relieved by our news, or maybe even grateful. Instead, her expression hadn’t changed. Perhaps she was skeptical. It made sense that she might not believe us since she still seemed suspicious of me. We’d just have to make her happy to be proven wrong.

“Anyway, that’s all we came to say.” I tried to smile, but it fell flat. “We’ll get going now.”

“Okay.” She didn’t ask any more questions or even seem that intrigued by what we’d told her. I couldn’t help but feel let down by her response.

We said goodbye and left. Zeke didn’t say much during the drive back to the safe house, and nor did I, despite the fact that our driver worked for King’s Security, so we didn’t have to worry about him overhearing our conversation. Zeke had his phone out, presumably to keep an eye on Bergen’s movements. Meanwhile, I was mulling over our conversation with Patience. Something about the encounter had been off, but I couldn’t put my finger on what.

The driver pulled up outside the apartment block and let us out. Before we could make it as far as the door, Detectives Harrison and Goodwin intercepted us. Goodwin’s hand was on his holster, and Harrison looked primed for a fight. My heart leaped .

“How did they find us?” I murmured to Zeke.

“I don’t know.” His mouth hardly moved as he spoke. “But I don’t like it.”

“Miss Ryan.” Detective Goodwin came to a stop in front of us. “Please come with us for questioning.”

“Why?” I demanded, so shocked by their presence that my filter vanished.

“New information has come to light.”

“You can talk here,” Zeke said firmly.

Goodwin ignored him. “You can come easily, and have a nice conversation with us, or you can resist, in which case I’m authorized to cuff you and bring you in. The end result is the same. Which would you prefer?”

My gut bottomed out, and my eyes grew hot. I was so tired of being treated like a criminal. “I’ll come with you, but I won’t speak without my attorney.”

I nodded to Zeke, indicating for him to contact Ariadne. When he returned the nod, I knew he’d understood. I went onto my toes and kissed him.

“You don’t have to go,” he murmured.

“It’s just easier.” I’d fought them before, and it hadn’t worked out well for me. Once I was in their interview room, they had no legal way to make me talk. If I kept my temper in check and my tongue in my mouth, I’d get through it.

“Okay.” He gave my hand a brief squeeze. “Be careful.”

“I will.”

I allowed myself to be bundled into the back of their police car. I remained quiet on the drive to the police department. When I was ushered into an interrogation room, I expected questions, but instead, Harrison dropped a manila folder on the desk in front of me.

“Open it,” she ordered.

I considered refusing but curiosity got the better of me. Inside were two things: a photograph of me standing beside Claudette Laurent, and two smudgy fingerprints side by side.

“Explain to me,” Harrison said, “why you were seen with a suspected dealer of stolen art, and why your fingerprint was found inside the Windy City Gallery.”

ZEKE

I couldn’t believe the police had come for Fiona again. Was the fact they’d turned up immediately after we visited the gallery a coincidence or had Patience called them?

I shook my head. No, if Patience had called them, they wouldn’t have been fast enough to tail us back, let alone beat us there. How had they known we were here?

Unless, of course, their own cyber team had been searching out the King’s Security safe houses. I’d done a good job of hiding any trails connecting them back to the company, but a seriously skilled specialist would be able to uncover them.

I called Fiona’s attorney first. She’d given me the woman’s number in case anything like this happened.

“Ariadne,” she answered briskly.

“Hi, Ariadne, this is Zeke Watts from King’s Security. There’s been a development with Fiona.” I ran her through what had happened, and she promised she’d head straight to the police station. As soon as she hung up, I called Ronan.

“They’ve taken her in again?” he demanded. “Did you go with her?”

“Yes, and no, but I intend to go down there as soon as I’m off the phone with you. ”

“Good.” He sounded as frustrated as I felt. “Did they give any indication of why they’d come or how they found you?”

“Unfortunately not.”

“Damn.”

“You said it.” I paused. “Anything you want me to do while I’m there?”

“Just get her out of there. She doesn’t deserve this bullshit.”

“I know.” I wished I could hug her. I knew she was scared about what might happen if we didn’t find the Monet, and we were so close to clearing her name. “We’ll sort it out.”

An hour later, I was pacing the police station’s reception area, waiting for any sign of Fiona or Ariadne. The attorney had beaten me here, so I hadn’t had the chance to debrief with her, and I had no idea what was going on in whichever interview room they were holding Fiona in. There was nothing I could do right now to get her out, and I hated feeling useless.

“Hey, Tattoos?”

I glanced at the female officer behind the desk, who’d directed the words at me. “What?”

“You mind sitting?” She pointed toward one of the seats. “You’re making people nervous.”

I grimaced and looked around. Indeed, several others in the room seemed uncomfortable. One guy looked away. Another met my stare head-on, and challenging. A girl in a short dress was wide-eyed and edging away from me. Sighing, I flopped onto a chair.

“Thank you,” the officer said.

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and checked Bergen’s location. He was at the residential address and hadn’t moved all day. I scanned through my messages, hoping there might be an update from Ronan, but I was out of luck.

Finally, there was movement down the corridor and Fiona appeared. I shot to my feet. Even from a distance, I could tell she was upset. Her cheeks were washed out and her shoulders were slumped. Beside her, Ariadne marched like a warrior emerging successfully from battle. Her chin was up, her back straight, and she strode purposefully toward me. Fiona kept pace with her even though Ariadne was moving much more quickly simply by virtue of her long legs.

I hurried to meet them, and pulled Fiona into my arms. She exhaled in a shudder and buried her face in my shoulder.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I will be.” She sounded tired. “I’m just so sick of this. I didn’t do it, but they’ve got a photo that Bergen must have taken on the yacht, and apparently, they found my fingerprints in the gallery.”

I drew back and noticed the two detectives not far behind them. “Let’s talk more elsewhere.” I put an arm around her waist. “Come on, beautiful.”

Ariadne fell into step beside us. “No charges have been pressed. If they hassle you at all, I want to know immediately,” she told us. “If they had enough evidence, they’d have arrested you. They’re just hoping you’ll crack if they press hard enough.”

We exited the building, into the gray light of the afternoon. I blinked as my eyes adjusted, and noticed Fiona doing the same.

“Do you need to speak to Fiona?” I asked Ariadne.

“Not unless Fiona has something specific she’d like to talk about.” She directed the comment to Fiona, who shook her head .

“I’ll review their evidence so far and see if I can poke any holes in it,” Ariadne said. “But until they press charges, I won’t make anything official. Unless you’d like to sue for harassment?”

“No.”

I was surprised by how quickly Fiona replied.

“They have their reasons for suspecting me,” she said. “I don’t like it, and I think they’re being narrow-minded, but I can understand why they’re pursuing me as a suspect.”

Ariadne snorted. “Be petty, woman. It’s far more fun.”

Fiona gave a small smile. “Maybe next time.” She turned to me. “Is there a car here for us?”

I nodded. “I drove.” I took the keys from my pocket. “Come on.”

We farewelled Ariadne, and once we were in the privacy of the car, I leaned over and kissed Fiona.

“I’m sorry this is happening,” I told her.

She sighed. “It is what it is.”

Concern pricked my heart. Where was her usual fiery spirit? I didn’t like seeing her defeated.

“Can you tell me everything that happened after they picked you up?” I asked.

She ran me through the conversation, including the temper Ariadne had been in when she arrived. I smiled at the thought. Even if Fiona hadn’t given them hell, at least someone had. When we reached the office, I parked in the basement and we took the elevator up. Once again, Kade and Ronan were already waiting for us in Ronan’s office.

I tipped my chin to them in acknowledgment. “We have to stop meeting like this.”