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Sally raised an eyebrow. “Your room?”
She blushed. “He’s a detective. He’s going to look at the scene of the crime.”
“Ah,” Sally said. “Sure.”
Martin led Jake, Astrid, and Emma up to Astrid’s old bedroom, which hadn’t been decorated since she was in her late teens. She was so embarrassed about Jake getting a glimpse of her youth – it was like he was looking into her soul and seeing all the parts she was trying to hide. He smiled coolly as he eyed-up the posters of rockstars on the walls and the bookshelves crammed with schoolwork.
Astrid loitered by the door and took in the ransacked room. “Oh god, what a mess.”
The burglar had clearly been looking for something in a hurry – he’d emptied all Astrid’s drawers and strewn her old clothes on the carpet. Astrid had a suspicion this had something to do with Simon, but she decided to let Jake do what he was good at – snooping around in other people’s business and dishing the dirt on them. Anger spiraled up inside her – she still couldn’t believe how stupid she’d been
to let him play her like that. As soon as he’d finished up here, she was going to send him back to NYC and insist he leave her alone forever.
The prospect of never seeing him again squeezed her heart with dread. Damn him! Why had she let him in so fast? She needed to harden herself against him, otherwise she was going to end up with more pain.
She watched as Jake’s gaze collided with her old vanity table, which held toiletries and a jewelry box. He opened the lid of the jewelry box and it played a tinny piece of classical music, which Astrid found strangely soothing, because it reminded her of carefree childhood times. He gazed at the contents and frowned. It was mainly full of costume jewelry, but there was an expensive Rolex in there too, which he seemed interested in. He picked it up and turned it over, reading the inscription, which read: ‘Happy Eighteenth Birthday to our beloved Astrid. Love mom and dad.’
He dropped the watch back into the box and closed it. “Astrid, anything missing?”
“I’m not sure. Let me see…” She strolled inside. “I guess I didn’t leave too much here anyway – nothing worth stealing, you know…”
“Other than an expensive Rolex with sentimental value,” Jake said, accusingly.
“I left it here because I didn’t feel safe with it in New York.”
“Un-huh.”
Astrid didn’t know what he was implying, but her attention had now been seized by the rug covering the wooden floorboards by her bed. She remembered exactly what was stored under those floorboards and she tensed, cringing internally.
Jake picked up on her change of posture. He lifted the rug. “Something under here?”
“Just my old diaries,” she said, blushing. “With my deepest teenage thoughts. I’d be devastated if anyone read them, but they aren’t worth anything of value.”
“Hmm… they might be to someone…”
Jake pulled up the floorboard, revealing the empty space below. He reached out and rubbed his fingers over the flaky wood around the hole, then gazed at them for a moment, before glancing up at Emma. The tension in the room was thick and tangible – and Astrid’s confused mix of anger and attraction for Jake was distracting.
Jake dropped the floorboard back into place, then gazed deep into Astrid’s eyes, making her prickle with discomfort. “The person who broke into your room left your Rolex but stole your diaries. Any ideas why they might do that?”
Astrid shrugged. “No.”
He transferred his gaze to Emma. “You got any ideas, ma’am?”
Emma shook her head innocently. “Why would I know anything?”
Jake stood tall. “Because you’re the person who broke into this room last night.”
Martin threw his hand to his hip. “You’d better have a good reason for that accusation, sonny!”
Emma gasped dramatically. “Of course it wasn’t me!”
“Jake, are you sure?” Astrid asked.
“Positive.” He showed them the marks on his fingertips. “The red nail varnish on the wood where Emma forced it open with her fingers matches the color she’s wearing now.” He stepped over to Emma, who was frozen to the spot in shock. He reached out and wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “And look here, she grazed her skin on the wood.”
Emma ripped her arm from Jake’s grip. “Why the hell would I want to steal my sister’s diaries?”
“No idea. But I’m sure we’ll find the diaries in your room.”
