Page 61 of The Twilight Theft

“Liana’s sculpture is under there, isn’t it?” Jayce snatched a date stuffed with some sort of cheese and topped with—she ate it too fast for me to identify everything.

I tapped twice on Jayce’s hand with one of my fingers and finally stopped stroking with my thumb. It was time for both of us to focus on the job—I had to pay more attention to my surroundings than her, and she needed to stop stuffing her face.

“There’s fabric covering it,” she muttered, likely to her team. “The fabric’s twelve feet high.”

I leaned close to her, toward the ear she was communicating from. “Craig saw it yesterday morning. He says it’s ten feet tall.”

“Why’s this the first we’re hearing of it?” asked Jayce.

Because I’d been too busy being angry about her disappearing on me, and then with Emmett’s declaration that Jayce would be with Wyatt.If she distracted you this much yesterday, you should have stuck with Rav for the evening.“I assumed Craig would fill you in.”

“I thought you were point on this job?”

“Which means counting on my team to do their job, including Craig.”

“Did youtell himto tell us? If not, that’s not exactly his job, is it?”

She had no filter.Keep the emotional locker door open—lots will be going in there tonight.

There were only thirty guests in the banquet room, while fifty or so perused white-draped tables with multimedia artwork in the main dining room. It was difficult to make out details from our location, but on the other side of the glass walls, light glinted off pieces of metal and glass combined with more matte materials. More of the women with skirt platforms and a few men with metallic masks carried flutes of champagne through the room.

None of our high-risk individuals stood out yet, but I’d need a closer look to be sure. A man as wealthy as Gideon had too many enemies. Liana’s list was far shorter, but was still too long.

“At least Liana listened,” Jayce muttered. “The items are in the correct position. You’ve got eyes on everything, Brie? Liana’s sculpture to the north, farthest away from the patio, then the mirror, bird, and scarab clockwise.”

The scarab and golden bird glittered under their spotlights, while the space around the mirror was surprisingly dull. As though it absorbed light instead of reflecting it.

Jayce slowed as we neared the golden huma bird.

I gave her two taps with a finger.Move forward. “We need to see Craig.”

“We’re the only ones here so far.” She slipped her hand out of mine—which I certainly didnotmiss. “I’d rather stay and get a feel for the space with everything in it before the masses arrive.”

“Good idea.” Our teams were staggering their arrivals, so it wouldn’t be as obvious we were working the event. “I’ll be right back.”

The farther I got from her, the clearer my brain became.

Maybe I’d made the wrong choice.

Yes. I’d been short-sighted insisting she spend the gala with me.

But no. Itwasthe best decision to have her in the banquet room for more of the evening.

Be honest with yourself, Drew. You were jealous.

Maybe my brain wasn’t getting clearer.

I dodged a server with a giant skirt and ducked out through what Jayce had deemed the bathroom door. Up the stairs from there and I hung a right down the hall to the manager’s office.

Craig sat behind the manager’s desk with two monitors off to the side. “Feed’s good. I’ve got the kitchen, main dining room, banquet room, and the path to the washrooms visible.”

“Good.” I circled the desk. There were a few blind spots, but no way for someone to get through the restaurant without being seen. “The Reynolds team is piggybacking off your feed?”

“Brie Reynolds said it was the easiest job she’d ever had.” Craig slid a small black case closer to me. “Your comms.”

I pulled out a beige earpiece, roughly twice the size of those the Reynolds team used, and inserted it into my ear, twisting until it sat comfortably.

“It’s not an open line.” He pressed a finger to his ear and said through the earpiece and live in the room, “Press the small button by the volume control to transmit.”

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