Page 61 of Girl, Sought

‘Dead collectors can't sue for breach of contract. But I can make your life a special kind of hell.’

Thorne's mouth worked like a fish on land. ‘You’re bluffing.’

‘You wouldn’t be the first person I’ve put in Red Onion Supermax, and believe me, the gangbangers in there love a tax fraud.’

More calculations flickered behind Thorne's eyes. The man lived in a world of numbers; inflated appraisals and crooked tax breaks. Everything had a price tag, even morality.

‘There are confidentiality agreements. Paperwork. My clients trust me with everything. I can’t just-’

Luca jumped in, ‘So youdoknow a religious collector.’

Something finally fractured. Ella saw that precise moment when self-preservation trumped professional ethics.

‘Fine.’ The word came out like it hurt. ‘There's one major collector. Has one of the biggest private collections of religious artifacts in the world.’

‘Name and address. Now.’

'Joseph Carpenter. I don't know the street name, but he lives in the mansion opposite St. Michael's Church. His collection's in the basement, from what I remember.'

Ella was moving before the last syllable died. They had a name. They had a location.

‘Call it in,’ she barked at Luca. ‘Get Reeves, get backup, get anyone with a badge and a pulse. I want that house surrounded five minutes ago.’

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

Ella mounted the curb outside what she hoped was the home of Joseph Carpenter, Chesapeake’s resident collector of religious artifacts, according to her former prime suspect. She slammed the brakes on and surveyed the street. Beside her, Luca double-checked his weapon.

St. Michaels Church sat on the opposite side of the road. Twenty or so people were standing outside the locked gates, all wrapped up in their scarves and raincoats and woolly hats. Ella was quick to remember that for the past few years, only murder had brought her to churches. Not worship. Not even Christmas carols.

Luca asked, ‘What are those punters waiting for?’

‘No idea, but the chances of us doing this discreetly are slim to none.’

Two cruisers pulled up behind them and drew every eyeball in the street.Pain shot through Ella's leg as she wrestled herself out of the driver's seat, but pain was just the body's way of keeping score, and right now she had bigger problems than her personal damage report. Four officers extracted themselves from their vehicles, Reeves included.

‘Reeves, can you see what’s going on with those punters? I don’t want them near the scene if it’s what we think.’

‘On it.’ Reeves clicked his fingers and sent his uniforms to the task.

‘Guys, keep an eye out for anyone… suspicious. Our guy might be amongst them,’ Ella added.

The uniforms crossed the street and left Ella, Luca and Reeves alone. Ella surveyed the mansion while Luca did his own threat assessment beside her. The place was a middle finger to architectural restraint - three stories of Victorian excess jabbing at a sky that was fast turning black. Copper gutters caught the first gasps of moonlight, and topiary crosses lined a gravel path that was clearly maintained daily.

Ella said, ‘Come on. Let’s get inside.’

She led the way down the path and found a front door straight out of a supermax prison. Ella pressed a hand to it and felt mahogany veneer wrapped around a steel core.

‘Someone’s compensating for something,’ Luca said.

The door moved slightly in its frame as she pushed, which told her it wasn’t bolted to the nines. Good news.

‘It’s just for show,’ she said. ‘It’s just a single lock holding this thing. Stand back.’

She stepped back and squared up, ready to introduce her boot to the thing. Before she could strike, one of the uniforms rushed over, breathless.

'The people outside that church are waiting for Carpenter. He's the priest. Apparently, he opens up at 5 PM every weekday.'

‘So he’s half an hour late,’ Reeves said.

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