"He might not know yet, but he's going to be royally pissed off when he finds out."

11.

Success was sweet, Evan thought, relishing the pleasure of the moment. He loved stealing in the middle of a crowd, doing what no one else could do. There had been people standing not three feet away from him when he'd taken the diamond. In the chaos that followed no one had regarded him with suspicion, or accused him of being a thief. No, he'd made sure the clues led down a different path-to Christina and her father, Marcus Alberti. He'd put his plans into motion weeks ago, ensuring that every detail had been covered, and today it had paid off.

As Evan made his way up the elevator to the woman's thirty-fifth-floor penthouse apartment, he thought of what was to come. She believed he would hand over the diamond in return for the cash she had promised him. It had been their deal from the beginning. At the time he hadn't wanted the stone. He'd had no use for a gem that would be difficult to fence, but cash was always good-not to mention the thrill of the steal, the knowledge that he had done what no one thought could be done. It had been fun-while it lasted.

Now he had another plan in mind, another woman whom he wanted to please far more than the one waiting for him.

She answered the door, her face lit up with expectation. Twin fires blazed in her eyes, and her hand shook as she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the apartment.

"Where is it?" she demanded. "You're late. You should have been here thirty minutes ago."

"Always so impatient," he drawled. He dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the necklace. When she moved to take it, he held it away from her greedy hand. "Not so fast. Where's my money?"

"In the living room."

He followed her into the next room. The curtains were drawn. He had no doubt that her maid had been dismissed for the day. They were alone.

"I want to see the diamond," she said. "Give it to me."

He saw a silver case on the coffee table. He walked over and flipped open the locks. Stacks of bills greeted his eyes. "Very nice."

He handed her the diamond. She sat down on the edge of the sofa and picked up a jeweler's loupe. She looked through the magnifying glass with a skilled eye. He frowned. "What are you doing?"

"What the hell do you think I'm doing?"

"How do you know how to examine a diamond?"

"My aunt works in a jewelry store, remember?" She twisted the stone in every direction, holding it up to the light. "It's not here," she said, her voice becoming shrill. She turned on him, the fire in her eyes turning to madness. "It's not here. Where is it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're supposed to be able to see a heart in the stone-the heart of the Medici." She looked at the stone again and began shaking her head. "It's not here. This isn't it. This isn't the real diamond. What did you do with it?" She jumped to her feet, waving the stone in her hand. "This is a copy."

She was out of her fucking mind. "No way. I stole the stone ten seconds before they were going to auction it off."

"You switched it then."

"I didn't." His mind raced to keep up with her accusations.

"Someone did. Dammit, Evan. You screwed up. You brought me a fake, you stupid bastard."

Her insults burned into his brain. And suddenly he wasn't hearing her voice anymore, but his mother's, telling him he was a worthless piece of shit and that she wished he were dead. "Stop it!" he yelled.

She wasn't listening. She never listened. She kept talking and talking. She lifted her hand and struck him across the face.

Her slap unleashed a roar of fury. She couldn't talk to him like that. She needed to shut up. She lifted her hand again. He grabbed her arms. He shook her but she wouldn't stop talking, telling him he had failed. He couldn't listen anymore. He put his hands on her throat. She gasped for air, and the sound drove him over the edge. "Stop talking!" he yelled, squeezing tighter and tighter. Her eyes bulged out of her head as she finally realized what was happening, her breath coming in choking gasps-until she was quiet, until her eyes closed and her body slipped out of his hands, falling to the ground with a dull thud.

He stared at her for a long moment. Then he took the diamond from her hand. His heart began to slow down as reality set in.

There would have to be another change in plan. It would look like a robbery had gone bad. She had come home in the middle of the day. She had been alone. Someone had broken in.

Carefully and deliberately he did what needed to be done. Then he picked up the case of money and took one last look around, making sure that he hadn't left behind a print or any other evidence of his presence in her apartment.

After leaving her apartment building, he got into his car and put his hands on the steering wheel. He looked at his fingers for a long moment, seeing them not on the wheel, but on her neck.

She had driven him to it. He'd had no choice. She wouldn't stop talking. She'd deserved what she'd gotten.

Now he had to finish the rest. No one got the better of him. His brain whirred like a computer assessing the facts. Someone had taken the diamond before him. They'd made a switch. He could think of only two people who could have done such a thing: Christina Alberti or her father, Marcus. The knowledge burned through his gut. He would not let them win. The game wasn't over yet.

He would find the diamond and get it back. He couldn't give his Jenny a fake. She deserved the real thing.

She would have it, and he would have her.

"Soon," he whispered. "Very soon."

Christina paced back and forth in front of the window of J.T.'s hotel room. He'd never seen her so on edge, not even when Evan had trapped them in the fun house. Her father's apparent betrayal had cut her deeply. He knew there was nothing he could say to ease the pain, so he didn't even try. She would have to work out her feelings about her father herself. In the meantime, they had bigger problems to deal with.

"Why don't you sit down? Catch your breath," he suggested.

"How can I do that? The police could come knocking on the door at any second. Everyone knows we left Barclay's together. After my father's house and my apartment, I'd say this is the next place they'll look."

"That's why we're not staying long. I just want to pick up a few things. Then I'll drop you off somewhere safe while I go back to Barclay's."

"You can't go back there," she said with alarm. "They'll ask you where I am."

"Exactly, and I need to give them an answer. I'm going to tell them that you took off, ran away when I had my back turned. After all, I didn't know you were under suspicion at the time we left, so I wasn't watching you. I'll tell them I don't know where you are now. Otherwise, I won't be able to get any information. And we need to know just what Evan planted on you."

She stared at him in amazement. "You're going to lie for me? Why would you do that? You could get in so much trouble."

He was already in trouble, and it had as much to do with the way he was feeling about her as any rules he was about to break or had already broken. But he didn't want to discuss that now, so he simply shrugged and began to throw his clothes into an overnight bag. "Let me worry about that. Where can I take you that you'll be safe? Do you have any friends nearby?"

She thought for a moment, a frown marring her features. "Nobody I want to pull into the middle of this. I know," she said abruptly. "I'll go to the library. It's perfect, and quiet, particularly in the historical stacks. No one will think to look for me there, and I can do some research on that diamond. My father's note said he was going to put it back where it belonged. I have to figure out where that is."

"How difficult will that be?"

"I have no idea, but at least I'll be doing something productive, taking some action. I hate feeling so helpless, so out of control, at everyone else's mercy. It's the way I felt the last time, and I swore I'd never feel this way again. I really hate my father for doing this to me."

"But you love him, too. That's the worst part, isn't it?" He saw her eyes blur with tears and fought back an impulse to reach for her. If he touched her again, he might not let her go.

"Yeah, that's the worst part." She turned her back on him, gazing out the window at the city below.

He opened drawers, grabbing his clothes and throwing them into his overnight bag along with his laptop computer. In only a few minutes he was ready to go. Opening the door, he took a quick look down the hall before motioning for Christina to follow. They made it down to the underground garage without incident. So far, so good.

A few minutes later he let Christina off in front of the San Francisco Main Library. He watched her enter the building and waited to make sure no one followed her inside. Hopefully this time he was one step ahead of Evan. Maybe Evan hadn't yet discovered the diamond was a fake. In fact, he might never figure it out. He was a con artist, not a jewelry expert. But at some point, Evan would try to fence the diamond somewhere; that was when all hell would break loose.

Media trucks were parked in front of Barclay's when J.T. arrived. Field reporters were setting up for their evening newscasts. It had been two hours since he'd hustled Christina out of the building, and now the auction house was noticeably empty. A lone receptionist sat at the front desk in the lobby, sipping a cup of coffee. He'd met her before. Her name was Elizabeth. She gave him a nod and a weary smile.

"It's been quite a day," she said. "Any news on our thief?"

He shook his head. "Not on my end. Are the local police still here?"

She shook her head. "I think everyone left a while ago, except the press. They keep knocking on the door, but no one wants to talk. Apparently the Kensingtons are going to host a press conference at five o'clock. I can't imagine what they'll say. Can you?"

He saw the inquisitive look in her eyes and shook his head. She probably knew more about the Kensingtons' plans than he did. "Sorry. By the way, were you here at the desk when the word came to lock the doors?"

Elizabeth gave a vigorous nod. "I was. I couldn't believe it. We've never had that much excitement at an auction before."

"Did you happen to notice anyone leaving right before the doors were locked?"

"I didn't notice. I already told the police that. There were a lot of people in the lobby at the time. It was standing room only in the showroom, and some people were watching the auction on the monitor," she said, nodding toward the television monitor suspended from the ceiling in the far corner of the room.

"Thanks anyway. Where's Mr. Kenner?"

"In the third-floor conference room with the Kensingtons. They said they didn't want to be disturbed, but I'm sure they didn't mean you."

J.T. doubted he was high on their list, but he simply smiled and headed up the stairs.

As he approached the conference room, he saw a shell-shocked Alexis at one end of the table. Sylvia Davis sat next to her, jotting down notes on a pad of paper. Jeremy Kensington was seated at the opposite end. His face was as cold as ice and completely expressionless, but J.T. suspected that Jeremy was feeling the heat. In addition to the diamond theft, he had other problems, including David Padlinsky's death and Alexis's relationship with David. A lot had happened in the past fifteen or so hours since the Kensingtons had raised their champagne glasses to toast the success of the auction. This was supposed to be their biggest day. It was big, all right, but not the way they'd hoped.

The conversation ceased when J.T. entered the room, all eyes turning to him with one emotion-anger.

"Where the fuck have you been? And where is Christina?" Kenner demanded.

"I've been trying to find her," J.T. lied. "I didn't realize there was a problem with Christina or her father until I got your messages on my cell phone. By then we had already parted company. Rather than come back here, I decided to check her apartment and also her father's house."

"Why did you help her leave in the first place?" Alexis asked. "You heard me tell Christina that I received a phone message from her father on my voice mail. Didn't you wonder why she needed to leave the building so quickly after the theft?"

"No, I didn't, because I was standing right next to her when the diamond disappeared. We were both in complete view of everyone else in that room. Christina did not steal that diamond. And I personally watched while she was searched by the security guard before leaving the building."

"Where did you go?" Russell asked. "Why didn't you stick around to help us figure out what happened?"

"I thought I saw the man I was looking for-Evan Chadwick," he replied. "I believed he might have slipped out before we did."

"That's impossible. We locked down almost immediately."

"Almost being the key word. In those few moments of chaos, the real thief could have gotten out of the building."

"No, I don't think so." Russell gave a definitive shake of his head. "The guards were on those doors right away."

"Well, if you didn't find the diamond, and everyone is gone but the four of you and the receptionist in the lobby, then someone got away with it."

"There are other people still in the building," Sylvia interjected, nervousness in her voice now.

"I hope you won't let anyone leave without searching them and their belongings." J.T. knew he was putting Russell's back up, but he could use distraction as well as Evan could.

"I know what to do," Russell snapped. "And I'm not worried about who's still here. I'm concerned with who isn't here-Christina Alberti. Where did she go after you left the building?"

"We checked the parking lot together. I thought she might be able to tell me if she recognized Evan as anyone who had been working here at Barclay's the past month or so. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find the man I saw."

"Really? How surprising," Kenner said sarcastically. "So you lose your lead and you disappear with our key suspect. Maybe you're working with her, McIntyre."

J.T. didn't waver under Kenner's accusatory stare. "Don't look at me as a way to cover your ass. You're the head of security, as you told me many times. It was your job to protect the diamond, not mine. I was just trying to help."

"Or to hinder."

J.T. shrugged. He didn't much care what Kenner thought about him. "Do you have anything else on Christina's father besides some anonymous phone message?"

"E-mails on her computer," Alexis interjected. "And David told me that-" She stopped abruptly, darting a quick look at her husband.

"Why don't you just shut up, Alexis?" Jeremy said, anger and weariness in his voice, in his posture, in the way he shoved back the chair and strode from the room without giving the rest of them another look.

"David told you what?" J.T. prodded as Alexis stared after her husband as if she were afraid he was never coming back.

Sylvia patted Alexis's hand. "If this is too much for you..."

"No." Alexis drew in a deep breath and then continued. "David told me that he thought Christina was acting oddly when she examined the diamond. He also said he took a call from her father one day and wondered if Marcus Alberti had his eyes on the diamond."

J.T. was surprised by her latest revelation. "David had a conversation with Christina's father?"

"Yes, and Mr. Alberti asked a lot of questions about the diamond." Her gaze filled with worry. "Do you think the car accident had something to do with what David knew? Oh, my God!" She clapped a hand over her mouth. "Do you think Christina is the one who ran him down?"

"She certainly didn't like him much," Sylvia interjected. "They were arguing at your dinner party last night, Alexis. You heard them, Mr. McIntyre."

"I wouldn't say they were arguing," he denied, not liking the way the noose was being pulled even tighter around Christina's neck. "As a matter of fact I saw the accident last night. I was just arriving when David was hit. It wasn't Christina driving the car."

"You said you didn't see the car or the driver," Russell reminded him.

"I didn't. But I took Christina home. There was no time for her to get her car and beat me back here." God help him for all the lies he was telling. "I know David called you right before the accident." He turned back to Alexis. "I found his phone. Yours was the last number he'd dialed."

"I just told you why he was calling. It was about Christina."

J.T. studied Alexis's face. She averted her gaze, as if she was afraid of what he would see. He didn't completely buy her story. There was something else going on. Her husband hadn't stormed off without good reason. "It seems odd to me that David was at your party last night. He was just a part-time assistant, a grad student, hardly in the league of your other guests."

"David was very helpful yesterday in previewing the diamond while Christina was gone. Another strange disappearance, I might add," Alexis said on a huffy note. "I thought David might be able to answer questions from the guests. And I am not the one on trial here. We need to find Christina. She has a lot of explaining to do."

"The police are checking her house and her father's house," Kenner said. He shot J.T. a speculative look. "I hope we can count on your help."

"Of course you can. But first I'd like to take a look at the security tapes from the workroom. Unlike you, I'm keeping an open mind about the identity of our diamond thief. I told you from the beginning that the man I've been following intended to steal it. I know he has been in the area. He's left me notes to that effect. Now the diamond is gone. I'm not discounting the fact that he's the one who took it and planted evidence on Christina's computer to discredit her and her father."

"You keep talking about this mysterious man," Alexis said with a frown, "but none of us knows who you're talking about."