Chapter Ten
As tired as she was, Jenna’s brain would not stop as she thought about her past life, her life with Brock, and specifically, her life with Dan years before. She wondered why humans seemed cursed to have their brain preview one’s entire life right at bedtime. But preview it, she did.
She slipped on her nightgown, washed her face, and climbed into the other queen bed in their suite. Later, as she flipped her pillow for the fourth time, trying to make herself think of anything but Brock and Dan, Brock was first on the highlight reel of her brain. She lay back and let herself examine things, as painful as it was.
Brock seemed to be a good leveler for her, a balancing out of her energies. He was more moderate, and overall, a happier person than she, the champion of the world worrier. She was someone who could barely get through an hour without conjuring all kinds of things to ponder and stress over. She seemed to need the Brock-like calmness in her life when she met him. He came along at the right time, when she was longing for something easy, steady, and without chaos or drama.
Exhausted, as she tossed and turned and wished for sleep, it was the thought of Dan that kept her awake. Dan ruined things as far as her having a love life or a real relationship with anyone else. Sure, she dated, and even had a few long-lasting relationships that lasted for months, but they always ended the same way. She was to blame, and they all told her in some way. Hearing it hurt her feelings at the time, and now going back over the complaints, it still stung, but it rang true. She didn’t know what she wanted, and she was too hard to please. She traveled too much and was too independent. The list went on, but the theme was the same. Something was wrong with her . Something was missing in her that didn’t allow her to accept a man into her world for the long haul. She knew this about herself but didn’t know what to do about it. She resigned herself to never having what other people seemed to take for granted, and so she devoted herself to her work, her business, and tried to put the past behind her.
As for Brock, she was repeating her history, and she felt guilty, like always. Maybe she thought he was so easygoing that he’d allow her to get away with her take on what a relationship should be—she thought that was probably true. She thought she could control him, but she was wrong. He was the most recent man to see her for what she was. She was missing a piece of her heart, and she knew who owned it. Was it gone forever? One thing she did know for certain, she would never sleep with Brock again.
The sound of Brock getting dressed for his golf game the next morning woke her, but she pretended to be asleep to avoid any kind of confrontation. She opened one eye and looked at her phone. She had an hour before meeting Dan. She lay still, willing Brock to hurry, and finally, when she heard the door close, she called room service for toast and coffee before jumping into the shower. She ate her skimpy breakfast and got dressed in record time, choosing jeans and a T-shirt, and putting her hair up in a ponytail again. The female’s how-to-survive-the-Southern-weather-best beauty secret. She kept the makeup at a minimum and put on her darkest sunglasses.
Jenna made her way down to the river, taking the well-remembered route, and wondered again why she left Savannah, or more accurately, why she never returned to Savannah as an adult. Everything was so different from New York City.
In Savannah, strangers smiled at you for no reason. Life was a bit slower and included others, rather than in her New York City world where everyone were always trying to beat others to the punch. Everything was a contest in New York City. From getting the best seat on the subway or waving down the taxi coming up the street, it was to-the-victor-go-the-spoils. When it came to scoring the seats in the best restaurant or getting the best tickets for the hottest new plays, the contest was especially heated. Living in New York City was a true survival of the fittest.
But she couldn’t blame her problems on New York City. Big cities were like that—lot of people using the same resources. She chose to live there to be one of millions, semi-anonymous, and now, she wondered why.
As her thoughts settled as she ran the route she knew so well, and as her view changed, she was reminded there were other ways to live. She saw herself as trapped in some sort of foggy dream for the last few years, and now she was waking up and seeing the world. Maybe she was seeing herself, her real self for the first time in years. The realization was throwing her a little off-kilter, and she wasn’t sure what to do about it.
As the route took her to her end point, Gloria’s bench by the river, she saw Dan sitting on the bench and looking down at his phone. She slowed her light jog to a slow walk and watched him for a few seconds before she made herself known. “Hey, I’m here. Sorry to be a bit late.”
Dan looked up and waved her over. “Come sit for a minute. I got confirmation Laura Bradstock reported her diamond necklace missing. She was at the party last night. Scott, an old friend of my brother’s, who’s now with the local police department took the report and told me she didn’t miss it until she went to the ladies’ room when she was getting ready to leave the party.”
Jenna sat next to Dan on the bench, and she tried not to think of other times that she had done the same. She felt her past and present collide and struggled to make herself focus. She sat back and exhaled. “I see you’ve worked all your many contacts already. So, somehow the Red Cat got the necklace off her last night without her even knowing. That is impressive.”
Jenna couldn’t help remembering she had done the same thing. A little diversion, a small bump, a spilled drink, crowded elevator, easy. She knew exactly how to do it.
“This does not bode well for me, Jenna. I was there at the party, and now the necklace is gone. I asked Scott to let me know if Gail Wells contacted them about me.”
“I doubt Gail Wells would do that. She wants to be the one who gets the credit for catching you. Though how she plans to do that without help is a mystery. What are you thinking?”
Dan looked around, eyebrows raised. “I’d be willing to bet she has a local contact on the police force here now. Maybe someone working with her or someone not so kosher on her team. Or it could be a freelance private investigator. That’s just the way she works.”
Jenna stood, flexing her leg muscles, trying to head off a leg cramp. “It’s all so frustrating. She has everything on her side legally to intimidate you. I didn’t see anyone at the party who made me suspicious, did you?”
Dan shook his head. “Not really, but a thought occurred as I left the party last night, and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you this morning. I wondered for a minute if it could be Harper.”
“What? Harper as the thief? Oh, Dan, you must be kidding. I can’t see it. Though…”
“I know, I know, at first look she doesn’t entirely fit the profile, but think about it. She is rich, she travels, she knows all the society people, and she has access everywhere. What could be more perfect?”
Jenna returned to the bench and sat. “With all of your contacts, can you check to see where she was at the time of the recent robberies in Europe?”
“I’ve sent Luc a text to see if he will do that since he has much better access than I do. But due to the time difference between here and Paris, it could be tomorrow before we hear back.”
Jenna shrugged. “But why would she do it? She seems to have everything. Why risk it? Or maybe she is one of those people who need more of everything.”
“Some people like the drama, the chaos, and the thrill, Jenna. It’s not like why we did it, to avenge my father and bring down Roget for all his illegal deals, and for causing my dad’s heart attack. The Red Cat might not have a reason beyond greed. Besides, we don’t know how and where Harper got the money that funds her jet-setting life, do we? And why is that—why is it so difficult to trace her background? That alone is a red flag.”
Jenna’s stomach did a flip-flop because she thought that he might be right, and more than that, in danger. “Dan, you might think I’m paranoid, but have you ever wondered if Roget’s accomplices might be somehow connected, too? It could be a way to reap the rewards and blame it all on you, us, as payback for Roget’s death. In fact, I worried about that for years. I was sure someone would come for revenge one day. It’s always been in the back of my mind.”
“It isn’t our fault Roget died in prison. He was guilty of the crimes he was there for. A jury convicted him. Once he was in prison, I didn’t think about it anymore. There were other things to deal with at the time.”
“Yes, I know, but I think it’s true just the same. Think about it. Yes, he died in prison, but it is our fault he was in prison. Does he have relatives around who still might want revenge? Do you know? I seem to recall a brother.”
“I think there was one older brother, but he was much older then and would be pushing seventy-five or so now. I can’t see it. Let us not forget Roget would not have been in prison were an innocent man, Jenna.”
“Are you being obtuse on purpose about this? Yes, I know he was a criminal, and you know it. But what difference would it make to a family member or friend wanting revenge? Ruling out his brother, are there any children or nieces or nephews?”
Dan reached for her hand. “You aren’t letting this theory go, are you? I guess that’s one more thing I’ll check with Luc about. But you might be right. Revenge is a powerful thing. Justice is only justice if you believe that it is.”
Jenna nodded her head, happy Dan was acknowledging what to her was obvious. “Another thing that is lodged in my head, I keep looking at Harper and wondering why she looks so familiar. It’s as if I should know her, but I can’t place her. Brock said she was asking questions about me and my family, but I thought those were girlfriend questions. But maybe it was about something more than that.
“Girlfriend questions?” Dan frowned.
“Yes, and don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean. Maybe she was trying to figure out if I was your partner at some point. She wants to determine how much she really knew about you and your past. How much does she know, Dan?”
“Come on, let’s walk on down by the river. I’ve never told her about that part of my life, the part concerning you and me and what we did. I just don’t see how she could know about it. Though I did catch her rifling through my things in Paris one time. But I’m pretty careful about what I keep out in the open. Most everything important or sensitive is in a safe deposit box in Paris.”
Jenna allowed Dan to pull her up from the bench. “But if we can track her, then she can track you and us. She obviously has the means, and the more we learn, it seems she might have the connections, too. Maybe she did just that, target you, investigate you, and she has put it together somehow. You need to ask yourself how much you really know about her other than what she has told you.”
“When it comes down to real facts, you could be right. I don’t know that much. She was always coming and going and just wanted to have fun. She was not a talker. I guess I was never that interested, and when we were together we were always on some adventure, like skiing, sailing, climbing. She didn’t seem to have those kinds of interests.”
“Brock told me she speaks four languages, Dan.”
Dan shrugged. “So what? I only heard French and German, but there could be another, Italian maybe. She seemed to have a lot of Italian friends and references, now that I think about it. Yeah, okay, you’re right. That shows you how little that I, that we, really know about her. We need to remedy that as soon as possible.”
Jenna shook her head and stopped to watch a large boat come toward the harbor. “Brock also said she has street smarts. Not sure how he figured that out, but he referred to her depths of information, but said the information was about only certain things. Not sure what he meant by that, either, but apparently, he found her fascinating.”
“Are you jealous, Jenna?”
Jenna tried to laugh, but it came out as a snort as she began walking. “Hardly, even though she does have legs up to her chin.”
Dan laughed. “Well, this is new. You worried about a little competition. Since when?”
“Oh please, I don’t see her as competition. Geez, your ego is huge.”
He laughed again and touched her cheek. “I was referring to being jealous of Brock’s admiration for her. You have no competition, Jenna. Never did, never will.”
Dan’s text ping stopped her reply, and they stopped walking.
While he read, he held up a hand. “It’s Luc, and he thinks he can have the information for us about Harper in the morning. But one thing he turned up already. Her ex-boyfriend there in Paris accused her of stealing his Picasso. Sadly, never proven and never recovered. Seems she left Paris shortly after that big event.”
“Now, that’s interesting.”
Dan put the phone back in his pocket. “She might be our Red Cat, after all. She’s been in training all this time. I was right there as she traveled the world, making contacts with rich people and maybe setting them up as future targets. I never suspected anything. Boy, do I feel stupid.”
Jenna rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Maybe you were overwhelmed by her beauty. Or to quote Brock, she was fascinating, and you were distracted. What do you do now?”
Dan ignored Jenna’s taunt. “Let’s go on down to that ice cream shop. Maybe that will put us both in a better mood, he said, taking her hand. “I want to talk to the senator and his wife. I want to get Mrs. Roseland to swap out her real necklace with a fake tomorrow night. I know she has one, because it was covered in an interview when he gave her the diamond for their anniversary.”
“Dan, they hardly know us. We are just names on some list. We will need someone to help us get a meeting. I do know their aide, Kerri Townsend. She does most of their press things. I think she trusts me. I’ve never done a hatchet job on her boss.”
“Excellent. I think they will listen since one of their guests’ necklace stolen right off her neck at one of their own parties. If your friend Kerri can get us a meeting, I think I can make them believers.”
Jenna nodded. “Maybe you can. I’ll give Kerri a call, explain things, and try to set up a meeting. I’ve already talked with Kerri about your years of working with your dad in the diamond and gem business. She also knows you’re an ex-policeman, and maybe will understand why you are worried about another attempt at the big event. She’s good at her job, and I’d bet she has already broached the subject of added security with the senator.”
Dan let go of Jenna’s hand and held the door open to the ice cream shop. “Why were you talking about me to Kerri?”
Jenna lowered her voice as she went to look at the ice cream selections. “She was running some names by me from her guest list to get some input. She knows I write about these people and their connections all the time. When we talked about press coverage, and my angle for my articles in the magazine, she recalled you and I were somehow connected but couldn’t recall why. So, I was just honest with her about things. Well, as honest as I could be.”
Dan looked at Jenna and grinned. “Okay, I guess we can start with Kerri and hope for the best. But with her recommendation, I’m sure we can get to the senator and his wife. You’d better come along for both meetings. If we put up a united front, I think it will go down better. They know you better than me. I’m still just a name on a vetted list of who might give them funds for re-election. Oh, that chocolate ripple thing looks good.”
Jenna placed her ice cream order for fudge ripple and turned back to Dan. “What are you saying to them about your suspicions?”
Dan shrugged as he reached for his order and paid for the ice cream. “I’ll tell them I became suspicious of Harper when I noticed she seemed to be in every place where a big jewelry heist was done. That started me wondering if their own necklace, which was in the news not long ago, might be the big attraction for the thief this weekend.”
“I guess they have nothing to lose by going along, but they will want their own security team on it, I am certain,” Jenna said as they went back outside.”
Dan nodded. “We’ll have to deal with that, but with an inside contact like Kerri, maybe we will know where the senator’s security team will be. That gives us an edge our thief won’t have.”
Jenna tried not to look skeptical. “I’ll call Kerri to see how soon we can get in to talk to the senator, or if he will even talk to us. We’ll hope for the best. Okay, yeah, this ice cream is putting me in a better mood.”