Page 71 of Mountain Man’s Mystic Touch

I remain on the lawn where he placed me, watched by an employee who makes no attempt to pretend she is doing anything else.

The red banner hangs above the doors. Smoke drifts across the entrance. The location is right, but something is missing. Not from the vision. From the reason behind it.

If someone wants the necklace, breaking the glass during the busiest part of the evening is reckless. The sound would draw attention. The crowd would slow an escape. Even if the crack I heard was a gunshot, displaying a weapon in front of hundreds of witnesses would turn a theft into something far worse.

Unless the crowd is part of the plan.

Confusion. Screaming. People running toward the same exits.

A diversion at the parking area.

I look toward Rocco.

The false sighting pulled his attention to the south entrance. The person who reported it may have seen nothing more than a man in a dark jacket. Or someone may have counted on a vague description producing exactly the response it did.

Rocco turns in my direction as if he feels me watching. I walk toward him. The employee follows.

“The sighting,” I say when I reach him. “You wondered if it was intentional.”

“It may have been.”

“What if someone wanted to see how quickly your team moved? Which areas were left with less coverage?”

“We reassigned people without abandoning a post.”

“But someone watching would know where they went.”

His muscles visibly tighten. He lifts the radio. “Wade, preserve the original call reporting the south-entrance sighting. I want the time, the radio channel, and the identity of the person who made it.”

A brief pause follows.

“It came through the vendor assistance line,” Wade responds. “Female caller. She didn’t give a name.”

“Did the call originate from the festival phone system?”

“I’ll check.”

Rocco lowers the radio.

“Could the man who photographed the booths be studying your team too?” I ask.

“Yes.”

The answer contains none of his earlier effort to soften difficult possibilities for me.

“Then the auction case isn’t the only target.”

“No.”

“Cash-heavy vendors. Booth locks. Service entrances.”

“And response patterns.”

The danger expands around us. It is no longer a single person intending to steal jewelry from a poorly placed case. It may be someone planning to create enough disorder to reach several targets before security understands what is happening.

Rocco moves closer. “Do you sense more than one person?”

“I don’t know. I only saw one hand reach through the glass.”