Two years younger than Sarah, Gina tended to change careers with the same dizzying frequency she tumbled in and out of love. She’d texted just a few days ago, gushing about the studly tycoon she’d hooked up with. Omitting, Gina style, to mention such minor details as his name or how they’d met.
Sarah had no trouble filling in the blanks now. Devon Hunter was founder and CEO of a Fortune 500 aerospace corporation headquartered in Los Angeles. Gina was in L.A. chasing yet another career opportunity, this time as a party planner for the rich and famous.
“I think it best if we make this discussion private, Ms. St. Sebastian.”
Resigned to the inevitable, Sarah nodded. Her sister’s flings tended to be short and intense. Most ended amicably, but on several occasions Sarah had been forced to soothe some distinctly ruffled male feathers. This, apparently, was one of those occasions.
“Come with me, Mr. Hunter.”
She led the way to a glass-walled conference room with angled windows that gave a view of Times Square. Framed prominently in one of the windows was the towering Condé Nast Building, the center of the universe for fashion publications. The building was home to Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour and Allure. Alexis often brought advertisers to the conference room to impress them with Beguile’s proximity to those icons in the world of women’s glossies.
The caterers hadn’t begun setting up for the working lunch yet but the conference room was always kept ready for visitors. The fridge discreetly hidden behind oak panels held a half-dozen varieties of bottled water, sparkling and plain, as well as juices and energy drinks. The gleaming silver coffee urns were replenished several times a day.
Sarah gestured to the urns on their marble counter. “Would you care for some coffee? Or some sparkling water, perhaps?”
“No. Thanks.”
The curt reply decided her against inviting the man to sit. Crossing her arms, she leaned a hip against the conference table and assumed a look of polite inquiry.
“You wanted to talk about Gina?”
He took his time responding. Sarah refused to bristle as his killer blue eyes made an assessing trip from her face to her Chanel suit jacket with its black-and-white checks and signature logo to her black boots and back up again.
“You don’t look much like your sister.”
“No, I don’t.”
She was comfortable with her slender build and what her grandmother insisted were classic features, but she knew she didn’t come close to Gina’s stunning looks.
“My sister’s the only beauty in the family.”
Politeness dictated that he at least make a show of disputing the calm assertion. Instead, he delivered a completely unexpected bombshell.
“Is she also the only thief?”
Her arms dropped. Her jaw dropped with them. “I beg your pardon?”
“You can do more than beg my pardon, Ms. St. Sebastian. You can contact your sister and tell her to return the artifact she stole from my house.”
The charge took Sarah’s breath away. It came back on a hot rush. “How dare you make such a ridiculous, slanderous accusation?”
“It’s neither ridiculous nor slanderous. It’s fact.”
“You’re crazy!”
She was in full tigress mode now. Years of rushing to her younger sibling’s defense spurred both fury and passion.
“Gina may be flighty and a little careless at times, but she would never take anything that didn’t belong to her!”
Not intentionally, that is. There was that nasty little Pomeranian she’d brought home when she was eight or nine. She’d found it leashed to a sign outside a restaurant in one-hundred-degree heat and “rescued” it. And it was true Gina and her teenaged friends used to borrow clothes from each other constantly, then could never remember what belonged to whom. And, yes, she’d been known to overdraw her checking account when she was strapped for cash, which happened a little too frequently for Sarah’s peace of mind.
But she would never commit theft, as this...this boor was suggesting. Sarah was about to call security to have the man escorted from the building when he reached into his suit pocket and palmed an iPhone.
“Maybe this clip from my home surveillance system will change your mind.”
He tapped the screen, then angled it for Sarah to view. She saw a still image of what looked like a library or study, with the focus of the camera on an arrangement of glass shelves. The objects on the shelves were spaced and spotlighted for maximum dramatic effect. They appeared to be an eclectic mix. Sarah noted an African buffalo mask, a small cloisonné disk on a black lacquer stand and what looked like a statue of a pre-Columbian fertility goddess.
Hunter tapped the screen again and the still segued into a video. While Sarah watched, a tumble of platinum-blond curls came into view. Her heart began to thump painfully even before the owner of those curls moved toward the shelving. It picked up more speed when the owner showed her profile. That was her sister. Sarah couldn’t even pretend to deny it.
Gina glanced over her shoulder, all casual nonchalance, all smiling innocence. When she moved out of view again, the cloisonné medallion no longer sat on its stand. Hunter froze the frame again, and Sarah stared at the empty stand as though it was a bad dream.
“It’s Byzantine,” he said drily. “Early twelfth century, in case you’re interested. One very similar to it sold recently at Sotheby’s in London for just over a hundred thousand.”
She swallowed. Hard. “Dollars?”
“Pounds.”
“Oh, God.”
She’d rescued Gina from more scrapes than she could count. But this... She almost yanked out one of the chairs and collapsed in a boneless heap. The iron will she’d inherited from Grandmama kept her spine straight and her chin up.
“There’s obviously a logical explanation for this, Mr. Hunter.”
“I very much hope so, Ms. St. Sebastian.”
She wanted to smack him. Calm, refined, always polite Sarah had to curl her hands into fists to keep from slapping that sneer off his too-handsome face.
He must have guessed her savagely suppressed urge. His jaw squared and his blue eyes took on a challenging glint, as if daring her to give it her best shot. When she didn’t, he picked up where they’d left off.
“I’m very interested in hearing that explanation before I refer the matter to the police.”
The police! Sarah felt a chill wash through her. Whatever predicament Gina had landed herself in suddenly assumed a very ominous tone. She struggled to keep the shock and worry out of her voice.
“Let me get in touch with my sister, Mr. Hunter. It may...it may take a while. She’s not always prompt about returning calls or answering emails right away.”
“Yeah, I found that out. I’ve been trying to reach her for several days.”
He shot back a cuff and glanced at his watch.
“I’ve got meetings scheduled that will keep me tied up for the rest of this afternoon and well into the night. I’ll make dinner reservations for tomorrow evening. Seven o’clock. Avery’s, Upper West Side.” He turned that hard blue gaze on her. “I assume you know the address. It’s only a few blocks from the Dakota.”
Still stunned by what she’d seen in the surveillance clip, Sarah almost missed his last comment. When it penetrated, her eyes widened in shock. “You know where I live?”