Chapter 16

 

Pen thought of Amber’s comment all the way home. The man she knew as Richard Stone had gone to the airport, then vanished. Sandy was probably correct—he must have changed identities at that point. Possibly, he’d had a different persona all set up in advance. All he would have needed to do was walk into the terminal and check in under another name. Changes in clothing, perhaps wearing a hat, sticking to crowded areas—whatever he’d done, the women had not been able to spot him on camera.

Her initial unease about Amber was mitigated by the amount of data the young woman had been able to find in such a short time. Pen smiled at the memory of Sandy’s startled expression when she saw how quickly the bank’s security footage became available. Despite Amber’s assurances that she had no access to customer accounts or bank financial records, Pen had the feeling Sandy was going to drop the hint that her employer might want to double check their online security levels. At any rate, Pen was happy to have Amber on her team now.

She parked her car in the garage, entered the house, and walked into her office. She laid the papers from Gracie on her desk and stared at the clutter, unable to concentrate well enough to pick up the pages of plot notes she’d made three days ago. Her writing routine was certainly suffering as a result of this whole mess with the missing necklace.

She picked up Gracie’s notes once again. Gracie had taken Sandy’s initial simple plan and expanded upon it.

Identify Richard Stone. Amber was working on that.

Find out what he did with the real necklace. No idea how they would do that.

For now, she couldn’t even contemplate the last step: Steal the necklace back. Other than the time in seventh grade when she’d been lured by a tube of Passion Pink lipstick at the neighborhood variety store, Pen had never stolen a thing in her life. Given the repercussion—Mum forcing her to return the lipstick and apologize to the store’s manager—it had never again been a temptation. She put on her reading glasses and looked at Gracie’s rounded handwriting.

Penelope will request copies of police reports regarding the original theft and ask what the police did to track the stolen goods. I can do that much, Pen thought. Detective Caplin might be embarrassed by the fact they never solved the case but surely he can’t deny me access to the information.

Sandy and Gracie will investigate at the museum. Break in if necessary.

Pen blanched a little at the thought. Now Amber, there was a girl who would likely have no qualms about it. She’d been a little testy when the meeting adjourned; the fact that she’d not come up with all the answers in one afternoon clearly gnawed at her. Amber would surely find more answers to get them on track in their mission. Once again, Pen felt glad to have the Heist Ladies on her side.

Pen picked up the phone, intending to call Detective Caplin, then remembered it was Sunday afternoon. Let the man at least have his weekend, she thought. Before she set the receiver down it rang in her hand.

“Pen, it’s Sandy.” Her friend sounded keyed up. “I’ve just learned there’s a gala fundraiser at the museum tomorrow night. It could be our way in. We just need tickets, and I figure you’ve got the connections to pull it off.”

Penelope thought about it. She’d heard about the fundraiser but the event had been sold out for weeks. She’d declined complimentary tickets for herself and Benton. The museum allowed her million-dollar necklace to vanish. She’d felt a certain righteous indignation that they still wanted her support. But now—

“How many tickets?” she asked Sandy.