Page 57 of Whispers of Redemption

Her head shot up and the mischievous look came back into her eyes. “Riley, tell me the truth. Was that your first kiss, or rather, make-out session?”

To his great frustration, he felt his face flame.

“Unbelievable!” she laughed, and then to soften it, kissed him lightly on the lips once more before settling comfortably next to him. “Well, you must be a very fast learner because you’re awful good at it.”

He grinned, feeling pleased. Then he noticed the dog again. “So, can you tell Angel you liked it, because...uh, she won’t stop staring at me.”

Cassie looked down at the little dog who sat like a frozen white statue, still staring at Wade. Then she looked back at him and slowly grinned. “It’s not that,” she said. “You’re sitting on her toy.”

“What?” He lifted up and felt around, then pulled out a stuffed squirrel that was squished between the loveseat’s cushions. He squeaked it, and Angel barked. He tossed it to her and she settled down immediately to poke at the squeaker with her nose.

“Whew, I thought she was starting not to like me again,” he said.

“Nah, not a chance. She knows a good thing when she sees it,” Cassie said, looking at him in a way that made him feel hot all over again.

He sat back and threw his arm around her shoulder. “So, are we going to watch Alfred or not?”

“Yes!” She popped a handful of popcorn into her mouth from the bowl then offered it to him. While he helped himself, she grabbed the DVD box off the table. “Which one should we watch first? Start at the beginning?”

“Normally, I would say yes,” he replied after swallowing a mouthful of popcorn. “Because that’s the right way to do it.”

“Of course it is,” she said.

“But,” he ignored her sarcasm, “I think, in light of your case, we should watch Ten Minutes From Now.”

“Why?”

He searched through the DVDs and pulled one out from the middle. “Because it’s about an art theft.”

“Oh, you’re hilarious,” she said, and poked him in the ribs, making him jump.

“Oooh, is somebody ticklish?” She turned toward him with a light in her eyes.

“Keep your hands to yourself, missy!” he said, gripping her questing fingers. “And pay attention!”

He popped the DVD into the player on her laptop and they leaned back together to watch it.

The figure of Alfred Hitchcock filled the screen as he stood there clanging a loud bell. “Good evening...”

Wade secretly watched Cassie’s face as she watched the show. Her expressive brows rose and fell, and he loved hearing her laugh at the kitschy parts. His mind wandered to the kiss. Or rather their “make-out session” as Cassie had called it. No way would he admit that it had been the first make-out session of his life. And besides, it wasn’t as if he’d never kissed a girl. There was Ellie, the girl “friend” he’d taken to senior prom. Of course, that had been a chaste kiss on the lips at the end of the night. But there was also that woman who he’d gone to the academy with. A bunch of them had gone out after a particularly grueling day, and she’d gotten drunk. He’d felt obligated to get her safely home. At her door, she’d caught him off guard and thrown herself at him. But after the first alcohol-infused lip lock, he’d successfully evaded her advances. And...well, that had actually been the extent of his experience. Until today. He looked at Cassie again and a feeling of protectiveness, along with something deeper, welled up inside him. He had an overwhelming urge to wrap her in his arms, keep her safe. And more than anything in that moment...he wanted desperately to kiss her again.

Suddenly, Cassie gasped.

“What is it?” He looked at the screen.

“That painting!” she said, pointing.

Wade leaned forward to pause the movie and study the painting. “What about it?”

“It’s so bizarre, but I saw a photograph of that painting the other day on Zack’s desk when I stopped by for a pick-up.”

He frowned and sat back. “That is bizarre.”

He pulled out his cell phone and searched for details on the film. “It says here the painting is The Concert by Johannes Vermeer.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what it said on the photograph!” Cassie exclaimed.

He clicked on another link a few spots down from the Alfred Hitchcock trivia site and read quickly. “Cassie, it says here that this painting was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and it’s never been found. Apparently, on March 18, 1990, two thieves disguised as police officers stole thirteen works out of the museum, including The Concert. It’s considered to be one of the most valuable paintings ever stolen, with an estimated worth of more than $250 million.”

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