AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dan was unusually quiet on the way home.
Jenna caught him smirking a few times as he glanced her way. She knew that look. He was having great difficulty holding back some comment.
When they got to the house and watched the officer give them a wave and drive off, he doubled over with laughter. “These Southern boys, you gotta hand it to them. Nothing makes them lose it, not even seeing one of their fine Southern ladies come back from a grand party, a senator’s party, wearing hospital scrubs and paper shoe covers!” He lapsed into another laughing fit.
“Well, if you have all that out of your system now, I need a shower.” She glared and started upstairs.
“You go get out of the lovely outfit and I’ll order lunch. Then we’ll get out of here if you want to and go back to New York,” Dan said.
Jenna paused on the first step. “You know it’s only when I’m mixed up with you do I end up like this.” She gestured at the green scrubs she wore. “My life was going along fine, like a normal person until I ran into you again.”
“But were you having any fun, Jenna?”
“Fun! Fun? Not exactly a great day. Besides, fun is not everything, Dan,” she said, as she started up the stairs. “Also, of note, this is not over.” When Jenna came back downstairs, she saw Dan setting up their lunch at the table by the window.
He looked up, smiled, and motioned for her to take a seat. “I hope you’re feeling better and are hungry. I got some of your favorites here.”
Jenna sat and looked over the food. “Dan, I was wondering about Brock. I need to know if he was somehow connected, I guess. Was I such a bad judge of character or not? I’ll try calling him later.”
“I don’t think he’s involved but call him if it makes you feel better. Now eat, so we can figure out what is next. Oh, I have your purse thing in my jacket. Marta held on to it and gave it to the detective who got it to me before I left.”
“Oh, good, one more thing I won’t have to replace. My dress is ruined and the shoes are gone, but things could be worse. At least they half believed us, and we didn’t end up in jail. At least, not yet.”
Dan handed Jenna a bottle of water. “We are in the clear, and as soon as they find Harper and Gail, we can leave here knowing we did a good thing, even if it cost you a dress. Besides, think of the great story you now have for your article.”
Jenna shrugged. “Hmm, yes, I didn’t think of that. It might be a tough one to write though.”
Later, after finishing their lunch of delivery pizza and a salad, Dan stood to clear the table when he froze and looked at Jenna. “I think I know where Harper might be.”
“Where?”
“Harper will go back to where she feels most at home, where she can get around easier and have access to her money, and fast. She’ll go to Paris. She has property there, in addition to her stepfather’s house. When they arrested him they couldn’t take the house because the title to everything was already in her name. She owns a house outside the city which backs up to a small vineyard, too. I can see her going there.”
“But if she knows you have this information, will she still go there?”
“She doesn’t know I have all the information. I’m sure she thinks her house is the safest place on earth right now. The info about the house came from Luc. Anyway, she is well protected, Jenna. No one will get to her easily at either place. That is the land of her friends, family, and all her connections.”
“Why even bother with her now? She has the fake necklace and can’t do anything with it. She’s bound to stay out of sight for a time. I can’t see her pulling off any more jobs for a while, can you?” Jenna put the pizza box in the trash.
“You don’t know her, Jenna, she never quits. If she wants Marta’s necklace, the real one, she will come back. She will want it above all things now that she knows our trick caused her to end up with the fake. We have hurt her again and in the pocketbook.”
“Great, she has even more reason to hate us now.”
Dan hugged Jenna and stroked her face. “She will come back, mark my word. We must set a trap.”
Jenna frowned. “Oh, yes, a trap, since the last one worked so well. Do you think the senator and Mrs. Roseland will ever speak to us again?”
Dan nodded. “Confirming Harper indeed took the fake necklace went a long way in getting us out of trouble. Where do you think I was for all that time? I was convincing the Roselands and the police we were not the jewel thieves, and if you had taken the fake necklace off Marta’s neck, you had a good reason. Of course, finding you in the dirt and out cold behind the house kind of cemented the story.”
“Still, we could have gotten someone hurt or worse. You could have been killed, or we both could,” Jenna said.
Dan shrugged. “Okay, I take some of the blame for what happened and how it happened, but I know Harper will be nearby waiting for an opportunity as soon as she can. When she re-groups, she will be back. They can’t prove she was the one who did this to you or stole the necklace unless they track her down and find her with the fake necklace. That will never happen, so she won’t hide out too long, only long enough to hatch another plan. She won’t fear anyone because no one has proof.”
“If you know her so very well, Dan, what will be her plan?” As she imagined how well he did know her, Jenna gritted her teeth.
“Simple, she’ll wait for another public event where the necklace will be on show. She will have to decide to go for it there if she knows it’s the real one, or she will do it the old- fashioned way and break into the safe at their home.”
“Do you think the Roselands will make another fake since Harper has the other?”
