Page 15 of Savannah Heat
Dan laughed and grabbed a hand full of Jenna’s hair. “You are not stealing jewels across Europe and not telling me, are you?”
Jenna slapped at Dan’s hand. “Not this woman and not funny, at all. Hand out of my hair, please.”
“Oh, come on. Where is your sense of humor? It’s sort of funny. I’m sure the thief’s red hair color is not your lovely red color, anyway.”
“How would you know?”
“Only a guess. I’ll bet the Red Cat’s color is not a real red.”
“You have no idea that almost no women today are sporting their real hair color, Dan.”
“I know your color is real.”
Jenna avoided his gaze and the meaning behind those words and searched for a subject change. “So, what did you find out from your breakfast?”
“Oh yeah, she thinks I’m still in the business, and she would kill to catch me at it here. If she could pin anything on me, she would be due for a huge bonus. I’m not sure she has given up on the idea that I have a partner, either. She will be looking at everyone I spend time with, for sure.”
“But if she is so focused on you that means the real thief will have an advantage.”
Dan shrugged. “Yes and no. With Gail on my trail, she won’t find anything, which clears the way for you to do what you do best.”
“I don’t know, Dan. It’s been years. And what exactly are you talking about me doing?”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got a plan.”
“But…” Jenna was interrupted by the ping of a text message. “Oh, Brock is coming back.”
Dan frowned. “What? Back from where?”
“Well, he went to his uncle’s funeral and asked for a week’s leave. So, he’s coming back to be here for the remainder of the party cycle, which is now only the Black-and-White Masked Ball left.”
“That’s just great, Jenna. He’ll mess up everything.”
“What do you want me to do?”
Dan stood and paced back and forth from the door to the bed. “Easy, get rid of him.”
“I can’t do that, Dan. I’ll have to work around him. He’ll be playing golf all day when he is around, anyway. So, it’s only a couple more nights and the one final party.”
“Yes, the nights. How do you plan to keep him busy while you track our thief on the night of the Masked Ball?”
“I’ll—I don’t know, but I’ll think of something.”
“Really Jenna, can’t you send him packing—now?”
Jenna felt the repressed anger bubble up to the surface; it was like a living thing as she turned. “I realize you have no regard for my personal life, Dan, and you find it easy to walk away from people you care about, but I’m not you.” She felt terrible the second the words left her mouth, but it was too late to take them back. She hung her head, not meeting his gaze.
“Jenna, I—”
“You’d better go now before Gail’s radar finds you here. Or Brock finds you here. And, well, I’m sorry I said that. But it’s not Brock’s fault, and I don’t want to be a bitch about it all.”
Dan smiled. “Yeah, I get it. You want to let him down easy. I forgot you are a kind person. Much better person than me. One thought before I go, and not about Brock, so stop scowling. The thief leaving hair at a crime scene twice tells me he or she might still be learning. Or maybe it’s that she or he is very smart. The question is, was it an accident or was it done on purpose, and could there be two of them?”
Jenna shrugged. “What does either scenario really tell us?”
“Not much—yet. But only because we don’t know the answer to either question, but the questions themselves are important. I’m beginning to think it’s a woman calling the shots and that she has a partner. No seasoned thief, with the kind of skill who can pull off the robberies she or he has done, would leave a hair for DNA. Something doesn’t fit. We need to think about this more.”
Jenna threw up her hands. “I’m not sure that I can think about it anymore.” Jenna watched Dan chew on his bottom lip, his stress habit he picked up from her years before. “Come on, Jenn, yes you can. You have a good mind. We have done this dozens of times, Jenna. Let’s think about this in a different way.”
