Page 97 of Sleigh Bells and Snowstorms
“Far left from the top of the stairs.”
Moving like a shadow, I padded up the stairs and turned right. Julian emerged just as I passed the gaudy statue looking down from the landing.
I slipped into another bedroom unseen and peeked out. He paused at the top of the stairs and looked around as if he’d heard something.
Holding my breath, I waited.
Instead of going downstairs, he went back to the bedroom. A moment later, I heard his voice, and he came out, talking on his phone.
“Sorry, I had a date,” he said. “Not very well, considering she left.”
Damn right, she left. As if you ever had a chance with her.
He started down the stairs. My jealous and irrational side wanted to follow so I could listen in on his conversation. If hesaid a single bad thing about my Natalie, I’d make him regret ever laying eyes on her.
But I wasn’t there to eavesdrop on his post-date musings. I needed to get the necklace and get out, or everything Natalie had accomplished would have been for nothing.
I couldn’t let her down.
His voice faded. The phone call was fortuitous. He was occupied and less likely to hear anything going on upstairs.
I left my cover, moved across the landing, and slipped into his bedroom.
It was dark. No lights left on and the curtains were closed, blocking even the outdoor lighting. I couldn’t make out details, but he had a king-size bed and a large dresser against one wall.
No closet doors in the bedroom itself, so I went to the en suite bathroom. I assumed he was keeping the necklace in a safe, and closets were often where those would be found.
Moving as quietly as I could manage, I searched for a safe. It wasn’t in plain sight, and I began to wonder if it was built into the wall or hidden behind a false panel of some kind.
Finally, I found it, tucked away behind a suitcase. It was built into the wall with an electronic lock.
“Found the safe,” I whispered to Maple. “Electronic.”
“Can you crack it?”
“Of course I can crack it. Who do you think you’re talking to?”
I pulled my code cracker out of an inside pocket and set to work. It was yet another tool I wasn’t technically supposed to have. Obviously, I was a man who took those sorts of legalities as suggestions that applied to others rather than to myself. I fastened it to the lock and began the process of resetting the code.
It only took a moment, and the new code flashed on the screen. I plugged it in, and the lock released.
“I’m in.”
“That took a while,” Maple teased. “You must be getting rusty.”
In the interest of staying quiet, I didn’t fire back, but my mouth turned up in a subtle grin.
Inside the safe, I found a wooden box. Lifting the lid, my smile grew. There it was.
“I have it.”
“Get out of there.”
The box would be cumbersome, so I gently removed the necklace and put it in an inside pocket that zipped shut. Then I closed the safe and detached the device, returning it to another pocket.
I crept out of his bedroom and paused in the doorway to listen. The faint sound of his voice carried from another part of the house. The kitchen, perhaps.
Ideally, I’d leave the way I’d come. But I wasn’t sure if I could get past him to the study.
