Tuesday
“BUT ANNA NEEDS to know for her insurance.” Phone to her ear, Landon used her free hand to gather the clothes she’d need for school. Her sweater drawer remained shut even though Dylan had removed the knife last night.
She and Anna had slept in the front guest rooms at Zander’s insistence while he camped out in the ground-floor hallway. For some reason, she felt braver to venture in for her things today while she was on the phone. Or maybe agitation at telling Ciara the bangle was gone had forced her into mindless motion.
Ciara sighed, heavy and hopeless. “This is all because I shared my gift online. Whoever this collectibles thief is, he’s ruining my life. And hurting my friends.”
“Anna feels terrible that her safe wasn’t good enough.”
“Tell her I feel worse because it’s my fault. Come see me later?”
“After classes. Gotta go.”
A hot shower soothed the gummy feeling in her eyes, and a couple of painkillers pushed back the throb behind them. Today would be brutal. Helping with trouble at the inn had cost her one course already this year. She didn’t regret that choice, but she couldn’t fail again.
Downstairs, a warm cinnamon scent from the kitchen said Anna’s coping strategies were in full swing. Sugar-topped muffins rested on a cooling rack. Anna left the sink and wiped her palms on her apron, streaking soapsuds across the printed red and blue sailboats. She covered a yawn with her forearm. “Is she okay? I should have gone in to tell her in person.”
The phone call had been a compromise. Landon felt responsible to give her friend the bad news since Ciara had asked her to keep the jade bangle. And Anna wanted to start the insurance claim as soon as possible.
Landon pulled a lighthouse mug from the cupboard and went straight for the coffee pot. “Orran’s away and not responding to messages, but Tait should be able to reach him. I have his number.” She dumped extra sugar into her cup and poured a hefty dose of cream. “You know how Ciara gets, but she didn’t this time. She sounded more confused than anything. She’s blaming herself for talking about the gift online and getting the thief’s attention.”
“That’s a determined thief, to track it down when it wasn’t at her apartment.”
“It has to be someone she knows. Bobby’s taking me to the hospital after school. I want to go through everything with her again. We’ve missed something.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Zander spoke from behind her.
Whirling, Landon sloshed hot coffee over her hand. “Yow!” She set the mug on the counter and grabbed a towel. Crouching to wipe up the spill, she looked up at Zander. “Did you get any sleep?”
“Some.” His white shirt appeared freshly ironed, and a solid grey tie matched his darker grey dress pants. Despite a smooth shave, a heavy beard shadow clung to his jaw. The faint heaviness to his eyelids wouldn’t register with anyone who didn’t know him well. The eyes themselves glittered like a falcon’s.
Landon stood, shaking her head. “How do you do it? Anna and I are stumbling around like zombies, and you could conduct a board meeting.” She sniffed. “You’re even wearing cologne.”
“Looking alert helps me feel alert. Although I won’t say no to a shot of caffeine.”
Anna rummaged in the cupboard and drew out a tall pinstriped mug. “Help yourself. Breakfast’s almost ready.”
Muffin in hand, Landon carried her mug to the square farmhouse table. Elbows on the polished pine surface, she nestled the cup between her palms, inhaling the sharp aroma. It had been midnight before Dylan wrapped up his search. Fingerprint kits, bright lights, examination of every lock in the building, all for nothing. Which reaffirmed his initial read that this was a professional—one who’d now stolen their sleep as well.
Anna whisked a bowl of eggs for scrambling. No special orders this morning, just quick and easy one-size-fits-all. Sausages sizzled on the grill. Anna couldn’t put on as good a front as Zander, even with the jaunty apron covering a flowered blouse and khakis. Her head and shoulders drooped, and her steps scuffed the floor. If Landon knew her friend, the problem wasn’t lack of sleep. It was another violation of the inn. Yes, the theft, but most of all, the message in the knife’s serrated blade—a message aimed at Landon.
Zander took the seat across from Landon. Positioning his elegant mug in easy reach, he steepled his fingers. “Before you leave, I want to go over it all again.”
“After breakfast.” Landon tipped her chin toward Anna pouring frothy eggs into the frying pan. “I think we need a respite while we eat.” She downed half of her drink and set the mug on the table, then rose to put out the place mats and cutlery. By the time she’d filled water glasses, Anna was plating the food.
Anna took their hands to pray for the meal, with a long squeeze before she let go. “The Bible says a cord of three strands is not easily broken.” Instead of picking up her fork, she stared at her plate, palms flat on the table. “I can’t believe this is happening again, and this time it’s worse. That knife was a threat.”
Landon didn’t dare think about it. She had to get through the day first. Rehash with Zander upstairs. Attend classes. See Ciara. Tonight, when she needed to sleep, her fears would have space to be heard.
Leaving Anna so distressed hurt, but staying wouldn’t help. A diversion might. “You were right about not fighting from anger or in our own strength. If we win, we get the credit. And if we lose, people think God either couldn’t or wouldn’t help.”
“I guess you do listen to me once in a while.” Anna’s attempt at a smile wobbled.
“We looked out for one another this summer, and we can do it again. Help me learn to fight in God’s strength.”
“It starts by believing He’s got this, no matter how He allows it to unfold.” Anna’s shoulders lifted, a tiny bit. Enough courage for the day? “Committing ourselves into His care. Praying for strength, insight, and courage to follow His lead in trust instead of cowering behind locked doors.”
Zander coughed. “Letting me and the local authorities ask questions and rattle chains while you two—and Ciara—stay out of harm’s way. Let us draw the fire.”
“The girls are already in harm’s way.” Anna’s glass rattled against the tabletop.
Calm blanketed his intensity, the way it did in his counselling sessions. He was a soldier standing down from duty, still ready, but not poised to react. “Anna, will you be all right alone today, or would it be better to shelter with a friend?”
“He’s not chasing me out of my home. But I don’t want anything else to happen to Landon.”
“Then, while you handle the insurance calls and Landon is surrounded by witnesses at university, I’ll make more of a nuisance of myself. Do you know if Ken and Kimi are still in Bridgewater? They’re on my list, as is the biker who rescued her.”
“Ciara said they were in to see her yesterday.” Landon stifled another yawn. Time to get moving before she fell asleep at the table.
Zander rose. “I also plan to visit the police. They could be doing more.”
“They have Gord’s death too,” Landon protested. “Plus their regular duties.”
“Which is why I may have to find this person myself.”
Steel-cold certainty. If only it was that simple.
~~~
Landon sank into the Corvette’s soft leather seat and leaned her head back. She’d made it through the day’s classes. With the persistent ache behind her eyes, whether she’d learned anything was another story.
The commuter van wouldn’t leave for another hour. Bobby’s offer to pick her up this afternoon had been a literal godsend. “Thanks for this. And for checking Ciara’s apartment last night.”
“Dylan couldn’t go in without permission, and Zander wouldn’t trust anyone but himself to guard you.” Bobby navigated the university’s sloped driveway to the traffic lights. “I’m glad the thief hadn’t gone back to Ciara’s for round two.”
Still the terse edge. So he wasn’t just steamed at Zander. “Everything okay?”
He glanced sideways as the light changed. “You’re asking me? I’m not the one whose personal space was invaded by a knife-happy cockroach.”
She’d take that as a no. “I’m okay. I mean, I’m mad and I’m scared, but I’m not going to let him mess with my head.”
Tight-lipped, Bobby hissed a slow exhale. “Having a little trouble with that today.”
Landon nodded. Maybe he wouldn’t catch the motion in his side vision, but it was all she had to give. That and a silent prayer.
Finally he spoke. “It sounds silly, me being more bothered by this than you are, but Tony said family and friends have their own stuff to deal with when someone’s hurt. Or in this case, threatened.”
Ruth’s husband hadn’t participated when she shared her story at church last night. “You guys talked after?”
“Yeah, this whole forgiveness thing. It’s tough to let go of what happens to ourselves. It’s a whole other level when the damage is to someone else.”
“Like when it’s your friend tossed over the cliff. Or the knife turns up in another friend’s bedroom.”
“That’s why you were so fierce to defend Ciara. I get it now.”
The iron lump of resistance lingered in Landon’s will. “Anna had to push hard to make me see I was retaliating instead of acting God’s way.” Which did not mean she was ready to surrender. She forced a laugh. “The worst part of the battle can be inside ourselves. So did Tony have any advice?”
“Just that sometimes God has to break you before you can see things His way. Not the most comforting thing I’ve ever heard.”
“No, but that was me in Ontario after they rescued me—broken. And counselling wasn’t getting through.”
Her eyes filled. “It was Zander. Something about his intensity, his passion—it reached me in that horrible black place. When he told me about the light of God, I believed him.” Memory clogged her throat. “That’s why I love him. Even though he can be over the top.”
Bobby switched lanes and zoomed past a transport truck labouring up the steep incline. “I’m surprised he let you out of his sight today.”
“He’s going to revisit every possible suspect and source to shake out more clues.”
“He won’t win any friends, but I hope it works.”
Landon tucked a fingertip under the simple bracelet she’d chosen this morning, thumbnail flicking the smooth pink beads around her wrist. “The break-ins were about Ciara’s jade bangle. Even if it’s the same person who’s been stealing local collectibles, it must be linked with the original attack at The Ovens.”
“Hence the threat he left you.”
The beads stilled beneath her fingers. “But why try to kill her in the first place? She didn’t have the bracelet then, and if he wanted her other things, he could have stolen them any time. Without violence.”
“He told you the attack was a mistake.”
Landon shivered. The knife in her drawer suggested he’d changed his mind. “Maybe she saw someone she knew with one of the stolen items, or they thought she did?”
“If so, she couldn’t have realized it. But that’s a good question to ask her.”
In a rural area like Lunenburg County, word would spread quickly if someone had suspicious collectibles lying around. He’d have to dispose of it. “What about online sales sites? It might be too soon for him to post Ciara’s bracelet, but we could search for the older thefts.”
“He’d use the dark net, not places honest people can find. But it’s worth a try. Have a look now.”
“My phone doesn’t have data.”
He reached inside his jacket and held out his cell. “Here.” He coached her through the swipe sequence to unlock the device.
At the first online auction site, jade bangle produced too many results. Landon added the word green and scrolled through a stream of pictures. Would she even recognize it?
At least the photos helped. Reading was hard enough on the full laptop screen. Mobile sites were not made for people with learning disabilities. “There’s so many.”
“Can you filter by posting date? Or location, although he might lie about that.”
“Thanks.” She spoke through clenched teeth. A four-year-old would know to sort by date. She found the filter and toggled the date. Two bracelets, neither a match.
Five sites later with no luck, she decided to try one of the previous thefts. Then the other. “This is never going to work. You’re right. It was a dumb idea.”
“That’s not what I said. I said it was worth a try. Dumb would be having an idea and not trying it—and missing a clue.”
“Maybe.” She navigated back to the browser search box and typed Burmese ruby pendant.
Bypassing the retail sites, she found a link titled “Stolen Goods Database.” Maybe that could point them somewhere useful, or at least suggest different search terms.
The page loaded an unexpected assortment of entries. Jewellery, paintings, stamps, but also figurines, firearms, furniture… “Here’s a comic book.”
“What?”
“It’s an international stolen goods website. You wouldn’t believe all this stuff. Like I said, a comic book.” She scrolled further. “An ancient human skull. A sword. A meteorite. And normal things like coins and art.”
“Have they added our items yet?”
“This is the ugliest lamp I have ever seen.” She zoomed in on the next image, but it remained a blur. “Honestly, if it didn’t say these things were valuable I’d think they were junk. Wait. Here’s—I’m not making this up—a taxidermy squirrel in little clothes, teeing off with a miniature golf club.”
Bobby snorted. “Bookmark that so I can show Gramp.”
Roy’s broken leg this spring came from a mishap with a squirrel, and the good-natured rodent humour showed no sign of dying down.
“A cast iron cannon. How’d they haul that away?” A flash of gold and red caught Landon’s eye. Her scrolling slowed. Backed up.
Rich oval rubies ringed an ornate goblet, tucked below the rim where they wouldn’t interfere with a drink. Smaller ruby chips outlined the tapered stem’s base. Now this was beautiful. The colours had stopped her, but an idea was trying to form in her mind. “A golden goblet…”
“I’ll stick with the squirrel, thanks. Can you imagine Gramp unwrapping that for Christmas?”
“Bobby, hush. Gold and rubies. Ciara—” The thoughts broke free in a clump, and she tried to sort them. “Ciara saw a ruby-studded goblet at Orran’s as a child. She remembered because it was out of character for him. He claimed it was a prop for a play.”
“And…”
“And what if it was real? Stolen?” Maybe that was the true reason he’d broken contact with the young Ciara before she found any other “props.”
“A security pro whose side hustle is theft.”
Heat washed Landon’s cheeks, and she tipped her face to catch cool air from the dashboard vents. Bobby had left the convertible’s top closed for highway driving. “Forget it.”
“Hey, I’m not mocking you. It could happen.”
“Forget it anyway. Orran’s not in any shape to be the attacker.” The jewelled image on the phone screen looked like it belonged in an old-time castle. Or a play. “I’m reading too much into this. It was probably a theatre prop after all.”
Driving one-handed, Bobby drew thumb and fingers along his beard stubble from jaw to chin like a cartoon villain. “Was Tait around back then?”
“No, why?”
“If Orran was—or still is—a thief or in possession of stolen goods, he can’t let his partner hear what Ciara saw. So he hires someone to scare her, but the guy takes it too far.”
“Why do you think Tait isn’t involved?”
“Long-term business partners aren’t going to have a miscommunication of that magnitude.”
Landon dropped the phone into her lap and pressed fingers like claws against the sides of her head. The tires’ whoosh against the pavement swelled in her ears, churning her thoughts until nothing made sense. “We can’t take this to the police.”
“It’s pure conjecture. First, let’s see what Ciara says about that goblet. Maybe she’ll laugh and admit it was plastic.”
“It fooled her at the time.” Landon leaned back in her seat and eased the shoulder strap away from a building heaviness in her chest. “She looks up to Orran. I don’t know how to ask her if he’s a thief. And if he is, it’ll crush her.”