Page 9 of Treasure and Tarot

“I’ll come after you if you aren’t.”

Sebastian scowled now. “You aren’t my responsibility, and I do have those. So back off.”

“I’ll see you tonight.” He tossed back the rest of his coffee and rose.

“Ciao.” Sebastian opened the front door for him and held the door as he stood to leave.

He felt the wind whoosh against his backside as he walked out.

Colton made it back across the yard, catching sight of a tricycle, a little playhouse. Odd.

He shook it off, though he didn’t remember Sebastian having siblings. That had been why he was so desperate to hold onto the house. He was the last Belle.

Colton clumped up the steps—again—then inside the house, which had calmed significantly.

“Sitrep,” he barked.

“When you left, things eased up quite a bit. There was a flood of activity about…five minutes ago? Seven? We got it all on tape, and?—”

He stopped suddenly, his eyes caught by the large portrait hanging above the mantel. The little girl was beautiful, a heart-shaped face framed by a mass of black curls. Most striking was the little one’s eyes.

They were Maxwell gray.

He walked forward, his attention on the portrait. She was young. Maybe two in the portrait. Maybe.

And she couldn’t be a niece or adopted or something. Not with those eyes.

“Mason, I need you to go out to the vehicle and do surveillance. I want you to make sure Sebastian doesn’t make a run for it.”

“What do I do if he does?”

“Call me and stop him.” He motioned toward the picture. “Who is the little one? Family?”

Iago nodded. “Has to be. There’s a little girl’s room upstairs next to the master.”

“Yeah?” He glanced at the stairway, wondering if he should. He needed to be part of the walk-through, but it also felt like an intrusion.

Iago nodded. “All purple and pink and glitter from here to there. So cute. Some wild readings in there, too. I mean, seriously, boss.”

“What kind? Any actual flinging of stuff?”

“No. No, it’s pristine in there.”

“Huh.” Well, that was good, at least.

“But the EMF meter was spiking some huge numbers, before the drama down here.”

Okay, that was odd. “Do I need to take the stairs up?”

“Yeah. I mean, we could put in a counterweight,” Iago teased.

“Ha.” He sighed. He was going to soak his ass in the hot springs again tonight, but he headed up, desperate to see what was what in the little girl’s room.

The hallway had changed. The little spindly legged tables that had held china figurines were gone, and so was the fancy floor runner.

Sebastian’s room was at the end of the hall, and there was a bath and three bedrooms up here.

Only one room had pink light coming out of it, though.

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