Page 54 of Deadly Misfortunes

“Open the vent and pull out the small safe.”

He opened the grill and pulled out a safe.

“Good, it’s still here.” She opened it and let out a relieved breath.

“The three thousand dollars?”

“Yes. And the thousand from the Worthingtons’ party. Prescott was supposed to get the money, but I have two safes, the wall one and this one. I forgot to tell him about this one.”

“You don’t secure it in a bank and earn some money on it?”

“I do, but I just got paid, right?”

“True.”

A police officer cleared his throat as he poked his head into the bedroom. “Miss Lassiter?”

“Yes?”

“If you could give us an idea if anything’s missing…”

She nodded. “All right.” She walked over to the closet and yanked a couple of suitcases out of the bottom. She handed them to Gregory. “Here, fill them up. Pack whatever you think I’ll need while I stay with you.” Then she hurried out of the bedroom, the police officer trailing behind her.

Her broom skirt swished with her step as Gregory opened the suitcases on top of her bed. If she could read his mind, would she know what a puzzle she was to him?

He crossed the floor of her bedroom and opened one of her drawers in a tall chest. She asked for his help after all. He had every intention of finding out what else she wore at night, while she was tucked under her sheets.

Poking through the clothes, all he found were sweaters. He furrowed his brow, then grabbed one and dropped it into the suitcase. In the next drawer, he found part of her treasury. Gem-colored lace bras in emerald, ruby, sapphire, and amethyst. He took them all and shoved them into her suitcase. The next drawer yielded panties, lace-trimmed bikinis in every color of the rainbow. He grabbed every vibrant one and dumped them into the bag. “Nighties, nighties, where are the⁠—”

“Bottom drawer.” Sascha hurried into the room and headed for her closet. “I should have known you wouldn’t have gotten my clothes.”

He chuckled. “These are your clothes.”

“I meant the stuff in my closet.”

“Did you give the police a list already? You weren’t gone very long. I had planned on working my way to the closet before you returned, after…” He fell silent as he opened the bottom drawer and found her nighties. All lace and sheer and totally delectable in strawberry reds, orange oranges, blueberry blues, and grape purples.

“Is anything the matter?” she called out from the closet.

“No, nothing at all.” The image of him holding her close, wearing any of these garments instead of the shorty pajamas from the previous night, instantly triggered a reaction in his shorts.

“I’ll sleep in one of your guest rooms tonight, Gregory.”

He smiled. She’d read his thoughts. “I’m retracting the offer.”

“I can’t stay with you?” She sounded surprised.

He laughed. “Yeah, you’ll stay with me all right.”

“But not in one of your guest rooms.”

“They’re all suddenly unavailable.”

She laughed, and the sound cheered him. He had a hard time believing she would be happy after what the maniac had done to her place, but he was glad she seemed at peace.

He pulled open another smaller drawer and smiled. Bathing suits. He grabbed the three one-pieces in there.

“What have you in mind?” Sascha asked as she walked out of her closet with an armload of clothes.