“I’ll find out if there are any charges on the credit card and check out the driver’s license. In the meantime, I need to check to see if the information you have fills in the gaps in my timeline of Marc’s whereabouts.” He didn’t think he’d find new information, but he had to check.
“What can I do to help?”
“You can go through Marc’s bank records and credit cards. Make a list of any jewelry stores he used in the last six months and make a list of names or businesses you don’t recognize.”
“Why the ones I don’t recognize?”
“He would have had to deal with people or companies that you wouldn’t be involved in. He wouldn’t risk you finding out about the necklace.”
She gave him a brisk nod and began typing.
He raised his eyebrows. She was actually going to do what he asked? Not wanting to give her any reason to change her mind, Chris walked to the desk and opened the briefcase. He removed his laptop and turned it on. The timeline he’d created for Marc was riddled with gaps. His brother seemed to like to disappear for a few days and so far Chris had not been able to fill them.
It didn’t take him long to go through the information she’d found. Just as he’d suspected, he didn’t find anything new. Chris turned and looked at her.
Half a cookie sat on a plate beside her mouse pad. Her eyes narrowed as she studied the computer screen. She looked totally engrossed in her work.
“Did you find anything?” she asked without ever looking away from the screen.
Not so engrossed after all. “No. Did you?”
“I found two jewelry stores and three names I don’t recognize.”
“Are the stores local?
“Yes.”
“Good. I’ll head over later. I know you contacted the jewelry stores in the area to see if any of them had the necklace, but Marc might have spoken with someone about it.”
She stopped typing and gave him a hard look. “We’ll go there later.”
He leaned back in the chair. “We’ll head to the stores later. Are you looking at bank statements or credit card bills?”
Her expression brightened and she picked up the cookie. “Bank statements.” She took a bite.
He felt a zing of desire spread throughout his body. What was it about her that attracted him so much? There were more beautiful women in the world. He should know because he’d dated a few of them. None of them had made him feel this visceral desire. His gaze focused on her lips, lush and tempting.
Chris jerked back to face his laptop. He was going to have to get himself under control. She was off-limits to him and he knew how to walk away from things he wanted. He’d had a lifetime of experience.
“I’ll go through the credit cards.” His voice was rough. He took a sip of the sweet tea.
“I’ve got some of his credit card information here.” She wrinkled her nose. “I haven’t looked at the statements. I can e-mail you the files.”
There wasn’t a chance in hell that he was going to get on her Internet connection. He reached inside his briefcase and removed his jump drive. “Just put it on this.”
He rolled his chair the short distance to her desk and gave her the device. He ignored the slow burn of desire when their hands touched. He rolled his chair back to his desk.
He went to work on the credit card statements he’d retrieved a week ago. Marc hadn’t denied himself any luxury. He’d purchased several Hugo Boss suits, two Rolex watches and ordered three pairs of handmade Italian shoes. His spending habits were in sharp contrast to Renee’s. She bought books and a lot of them.
He turned to her. “Did you buy books for Marc?”
She looked up. “Yes, but he wasn’t much of a book reader. He liked magazines and newspapers.”
“There weren’t any books in the boxes.”
“No, they are in the library.”
“You gave the books to the library?”
“No, the library in the house.”
“I need to see the books.”
“Okay, hold on a second.” She made a few keystrokes before standing. “It’s right across the hall.”
He followed her out of the room and across the hall to a set of pocket doors. She pulled a latch and pushed the doors open. Each of the walls housed floor-to-ceiling bookcases filled with books. A wrought-iron rolling ladder rested in the far right corner of the room. An iron railing system connected the bookcases together. He hadn’t seen this many books outside of the library.
“Did you buy all of these books?”
“No. Aunt Gert gave me some of them, but I bought most of them.” She went to one of the bookcases to his left and kneeled on the hardwood floor.
As he walked farther into the room, he noticed the bookcases were built into the wall and gave an illusion of wall-to-wall bookcases. There were two large windows that let in the morning sunlight, which brought out the brownish tint to Renee’s hair. She began stacking books on the floor in a neat pile.
Chris bent down. “Are these all of them?” he asked.
“Oh, no. Those are just the business books. The fiction section is over there.” She pointed the opposite wall.
“You group your books?”
She looked at him over the top of her glasses. Her expression said, I know you didn’t just ask that stupid question. He bit back a smile. She reminded him of an insulted, slightly nerdy Tinkerbell.
“Yes. I group my books. It’s called cataloging. It’s what librarians do.”
“Sorry.” The smile he’d been holding back broke through. He found her smart mouth a funny juxtaposition to the geeky glasses and loose-fitting clothes she wore. “You’re the only librarian I know.”
She shook her head and began to rise from her kneeling position. He stood then took her arm and helped her to her feet. Her arm felt slender, delicate and warm.
“Thanks,” she said and stepped away from him.
He watched her walk quickly to the other side of the room. She’d gotten as far away from him without actually leaving the room. What was with that? He looked down at the stack of books she’d left on the floor and picked them up. He put the books on a small table. He looked at the title of the first book. It was a popular business title that he’d wanted to read. He flipped opened the book and scanned the first few pages before laying the book flat on the desk.
“Is this book new?” He flipped to the next page.
She turned around. “Which book?”
He held it up.
“No, I gave him that book about six months ago.”
Chris looked at the cover. It was pristine. It didn’t look like Marc even read it. He put the book on the desk and began flipping through each page.
“What are you looking for?” She put a large stack of paperback books on the desk.
“Anything Marc put inside. He would hide small things in his books when we were boys.”
“Oh. What kind of things? People are constantly leaving papers inside library books. I found a fifty-dollar bill inside a book.”
He raised a brow. “What