Nights With A Thief

And of course her name was on that list.

“He wants the list tonight. We were instructed to take you to the museum to get it. Our vehicle is just down the street.”

Lisette shifted her gaze to the quiet street. Immediately she noticed the dark SUV three doors down, its engine a low hum, its parking lights on. Go off at night with men she’d never seen before? Candalaria actually thought she would do that for the salary he paid?

You had to choose the most dangerous path to regain the statue, Marley might have scolded her.

The most dangerous path would have been trying to seduce her way to Le Mystère through Simon Toussaint. She was hoping for much better results by using Jack. Somehow, though, she hadn’t counted on Candalaria launching an investigation. Presumably, previous targets had done so, but she’d been so far off the grid that there’d been nobody to investigate.

At her side, still clutching her cell phone, Padma finally spoke up. “Don’t you have that list on your laptop, Lisette? You can email them a copy or print it and give it to them now.”

Grateful for the suggestion, Lisette smiled her friendliest smile. “I do have it here. I can save us a trip.” Without giving McSwain a chance to refuse, she walked to the door, turning her back on him long enough to slide the key into the lock even though it roused every protective instinct she had. The instant she crossed the threshold, she hit the light switch that turned on the overhead lights. There were times when the lack of illumination was comforting, but tonight the lights calmed her nerves, at least until the two men walked through the doorway and the living room shrank by half.

For two people who looked nothing alike, the men were virtually interchangeable: six feet plus a few inches, regulars at the gym, spit and polished and unremarkable. Put them on a sidewalk in the business district in the middle of the day, and they would fade into the background. It was a good quality for men who worked security.

Right now she wished she could fade into the background.

“The printer’s on,” Padma said, gesturing to the corner where the machine sat on a small table. “You guys want something to drink while Lisette gets the file for you?”

“No, thank you.”

Uncomfortable silence fell as Lisette booted the computer, opened the file and skimmed it. The list was alphabetical for the guests, complete with contacts for the many who weren’t reachable for just anyone. A smaller section at the bottom contained the names and email addresses of the museum employees who’d been included, and at the bottom of that list was her own name.

Lisette highlighted her info, then hesitated. The conversations she’d had at the party had been superficial, head-bobbing responses to other guests’ comments. Hardly anyone had asked her name, and no one would remember, except Jack, his aunt Gloria and Mr. Chen, so no one would notice that her name was missing from the list.

But if someone did... Candalaria had seen her, but he hadn’t recognized her the very next morning in the museum gardens. He wasn’t likely to think back and say, Oh, wait, my minion from the museum isn’t listed here.

She opted to remove the information, pressing the delete key before looking up at the men. “Do you want the contact info or just the names?”

“Everything. A print copy and an email to this address.” McSwain passed over a business card.

Lisette saved the file, hit Print, emailed the list to McSwain, then stood to collect the printed pages. That sigh of relief from earlier washed through her like a tidal wave as she handed them over. His partner checked his cell phone, then nodded curtly. “It’s there.”

“Thank you, Ms. Malone.” McSwain’s gaze shifted to Padma. “Sorry to disrupt your evening.” And with that, he walked out the door. The other followed, closing it behind him.

Lisette and Padma stood in silence for a moment, then finally Padma set her own phone on the coffee table and sighed dramatically. “Wow, those guys could go unnoticed in a crowd of two.”

“I had the same thought.”

“Do you think your boss suspects you?”

“I don’t think he knows I exist.”

“But you talked to him this—Oh. Yeah.” Padma set her purse down, grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, then headed for the kitchen. “I’ll get the pop and the popcorn. You find us a good movie to watch.”

Lisette dropped onto the sofa again, kicking her shoes off and scrolling through the listings. She stopped on a classic movie channel, scowling at the brief description of a movie she most definitely did not want to watch tonight. Some things just hit too close to home, and tonight To Catch a Thief was one of them.

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