Chapter 10 Rad #2
“They took the entire safe?” It was a rhetorical question as he stared at the wall in awe. Who took an entire safe?
“Yes.” She nodded as if he were being unusually slow. “The entire safe.”
“How?” Rad said his thoughts out loud.
“That’s why you’re here,” Sienna pointed out.
“Sorry, I was thinking aloud,” Rad told her. “I was wondering how someone would do this without anyone hearing it, as you must have a house full of staff.”
“No, not that many.” Sienna shook her head. “We have a housekeeper, a chef, and a butler. The cleaning crew comes three times a week, but haven’t been for a week because my mother fired them, and we haven’t been able to find another agency.”
“Still,” Rad said, picturing the layout of the pool house in proximity to the main house. “This was a pretty big task to do.” He glanced back toward the bedroom door. “I mean, how the heck would they get it out of here?”
“Through the back garden,” Sienna told him, and moved to the glass door, pulling it open.
“This door backs into the back garden that is hardly used. I used to come through the pool house and sneak out here when I was a kid.” She stepped up to it and stared out, pointing.
“The back garden connects directly to the forest, and it’s only a few miles to the campsite. ”
A cold feeling began seeping up his spine as he realized the Morrisons’ proximity to Ember Lake and Memorial Campground.
“That’s a scary place for a young girl to run to,” Rad commented as he made a mental note about Ember Lake.
Sienna gave a soft laugh as she stared longingly at the forest at the end of the garden. “Not as scary as my house sometimes.” Her voice was so soft that Rad had barely heard the words. “I used to pretend I was Goldilocks and wished I’d find the cabin the three bears lived in.”
His heart twinged as he realized she must’ve had a hard childhood with a mother as cold as Victoria Morrison. Rad felt awkward for a moment, not sure what to say or do, then decided to move the conversation back to the robbery.
“What was in the safe?” Rad asked her.
Sienna turned away from the door and looked at the closet.
“Money. Some watches.” Her face tightened. “But what I’m most worried about is the jewelry. If my mother found out about the family heirlooms…”
“What jewelry?” Rad’s mind instantly snapped onto the mention of family heirlooms.
Without a word, she reached into the pocket of the lightweight cardigan tied around her waist and pulled out an envelope.
“Wait.” Sienna walked toward her dresser, pulled a pen from the drawer, and a notepad.
Scribbled something on a page, stuffed it into the envelope, resealed it, and then turned to hand it to him.
“There, I wrote everything that was in the safe down. There are also a few photos of some of the most expensive items.”
“I’m going to have to get forensics in here to dust for prints,” Rad told her, slipping the envelope into his pocket.
“No.” Sienna stepped forward so fast the word nearly hit him. “Absolutely not. No way.” She sliced her hand through the air emphatically. “My father will have an absolute fit. Please, you can’t. He can’t know about this. Please!”
“You mean you haven’t told him about the break-in?” Rad stared at her.
“No.” Sienna shook her head. “That’s why I asked you not to mention you were coming here to him.”
“Sienna…” Rad began, seeing the fear and panic in her eyes.
“Please, you can’t. There is something you need to know.” Sienna glanced around as if the walls had eyes and ears before she got close enough to Rad to whisper in his ear. Her words made his eyes widen in shock.
“Oh.” That explained a lot. Not all, but enough to rearrange the shape of the problem in his head.
It also gave him an answer to something his father had been trying to untangle.
Still, he dragged a hand through his hair and looked back at the torn closet.
“How am I supposed to figure this out without fingerprinting, looking for evidence, and doing this properly?” Rad asked her.
“You’re a detective,” Sienna reminded him. “Detect.”
“Sienna.” Rad let out an impatient breath.
“No. Just you.” Her eyes held his. “Ace said you could be trusted.”
“Ace knows about the break-in?” Rad asked.
“No.” Sienna shook her head hard. “Only you know.”
Rad looked at her for several silent seconds.
“Please,” she said again, and this time the haughty edge dropped away. “You have no idea what my mother is really like. And if she knew…” Sienna pointed to the closet. “About this…”
Actually, he did have some idea. Rad had seen Victoria Morrison in action more than once, and between that and three years under his own mother’s rule, a woman who was nearly a carbon copy of the type of person Victoria was, Rad had a working familiarity with elegant cruelty.
“Okay,” he said at last. “But I’m going to need to get a kit and come back.”
Relief flooded her face so quickly it startled him. “Thank you.”
For a moment, Sienna’s mask slipped all the way.
Beneath the polished hair, sharp tongue, and brittle superiority, he saw someone scared and trying not to let anyone know it. Someone who had built herself a shell and lived inside it so long, she probably didn’t know how to ask for help without sounding offended by the very idea.
It pulled at him more than he expected.
He knew something about shields.
“I won’t be long,” Rad promised.
“No problem,” Sienna said softly. “Just be careful of my father.”
Rad nodded and headed back out to his car.