Page 19 of The Claiming of the Shrew
“Yeah, there is. Quick, let’s escape before anyone sees us and gives us a job to do.”
“Why are we escaping, exactly?”
“Because,” Leah said with a furtive glance around, “everyone is here, on set, and absolutely nobody is in their rooms or trailers. Perfect skulking conditions.”
“Goodness, you’re sneaky,” Fawkes said admiringly.
“Wait’ll you see what I’m going to be sneaky about next.”
The front desk was unstaffed at the moment, with Hester presumably busy somewhere around the lodge. There were a couple of people in the lobby, guests who were not members of the troupe. No one was paying much attention to them. Leah made a beeline for the desk, flipped open the guest ledger, and took a few pictures with her phone. Fawkes stood in front of the desk, leaned on it, and tried to look casual. Then she kept going, around the other end of the desk. The whole thing took a minute or less.
“How’s that?” Leah murmured.
“Amazing,” Fawkes muttered back. His eyes sparkled.
“Can we go up to your room? I don’t really want to use my campsite for a base of operations; it’s too public.”
It was only once they reached Fawkes’s door that she fully realized, her cheeks heating, that they were about to be alone in his room. The honeymoon suite, to be specific. Oh well, they were both adults. Adultmates, if her shrew had anything to say about it.
“Fawkes,” she began, as he unlocked the door, just as Fawkes said, “Do you?—”
There was a brief pause.
“Go on,” he said.
“Not important. After you?”
They went in, and Leah stared around her in surprise as her eyeballs were assaulted with a vast array of pink and white.
“Oh yeah,” Fawkes said, slightly embarrassed. “It’s the honeymoon suite.”
“It sure is.” She had been too distracted by being suspicious last night to actually notice what it looked like. There was an absolutely enormous bed with a heart-shaped headboard and enough pink, white, and red pillows to fill a bathtub. The covers were rucked back, and there was a suitcase open on the floor with assorted items pulled out. Fawkes was not a tidy housekeeper.
“Yeah, it’s expensive, but it was just about the last room they had left. We’re billing the client, anyway.”
“Who exactly is your client?”
“That’s confidential, but all you need to know is that it’s a rich lady who had a few pieces go missing at a benefit gala.”
“Bummer,” Leah said. “What makes you think the thief is here?”
“Because the benefit was for the city’s theater scene.”
“Oh, wait, are you talking about the silent auction last winter?” Her eyes flew wide. A number of people from the theater troupe had been there, including most of the actors.Leah hadn’t been able to go because she had to work. “I didn’t know anything was stolen from that.”
“Yes, two of the pieces that were supposed to go up for auction. She wanted to keep it on the down low and our agency has done some work for her before, insurance investigation and that sort of thing, so she contracted us to look into it. What we found is that this isn’t the first time your theater troupe has been associated with thefts of small, valuable items in their general vicinity.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Leah said, scowling. “And it’s an awful, stupid stereotype anyway, from the days when being in show business was supposed to be less than reputable. Theater people are no more likely to be shady than the general population.”
“I’m not saying they are, but there’s definitely something going on. Maybe someone else suspects the Menagerie, as well. Your sets could have been attacked by a person wanting revenge. Have you had any incidents like the damaged sets before?”
“No!” Leah said. She plunked down on the bed, displacing a couple of pink and white pillows, then picked up a pillow and hugged it. “This is awful.”
“And that’s why we need to find the thief quickly, so we can clear the innocent. The missing pieces are a necklace set with emeralds, and a diamond choker. So keep an eye open for anyone wearing something like that.”
“Good luck with that. Nobody in the Menagerie has anything that’s not made out of rhinestones or glass.” But even as she said it, Leah was thinking that she had seen Gloria wear some pretty nice jewelry now and then. And Gloria was definitely one of the people who had been at the benefit last winter ...
Fawkes sat beside her on the bed. “What were you taking pictures of?”
