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“I’m so worried about him.”
“He might have his phone turned off. I’ll keep trying,” he said solemnly, then taking a breath, he added, “You and I will be having a serious conversation about everything that happened tonight, but right now I need to get you upstairs and into that safe room.”
“Do I have to go in there?”
“It’s not four concrete walls.”
“It’s not?”
“No, it’s not, and don’t forget you’ll be able to watch everything through the security cameras.”
“So… the shit will be hitting the fan?”
“Absolutely, and you’ll be in that room,” he said sternly, scooping her up and carrying her into the hall. “I may not be able to punish you right now, but you know I will as soon as you’re better. Don’t make it any worse by being difficult.”
“But I warned you about Stu! Doesn’t that count for something?”
“Of course, but it doesn’t get you off the hook.”
* * *
Carrying her upstairs and into the game room, he set her on a chair, then hurried to the pinball machine and pushed the button. As the hidden panel opened, he turned to go back to her, but found her hobbling toward him.
“Hey, what are you doing?” he exclaimed, marching forward and sweeping her up. “Brent told you to stay off that foot.”
“It feels a bit better. It must be the support from the bandage.”
“You’re impossible. When will you learn to do as you’re told?”
“Wow, this is really nice,” she exclaimed as he carried her into the cozy space and placed her on a tufted couch.
Waiting on the coffee table were plates and mugs, along with a carafe of coffee and several plastic tubs of food.
“There’s a small bathroom through there,” he said, pointing to a door, “and a television in that armoire. Stay there! I’ll open it for you and get you the remote.”
“Marco, this is amazing.”
“There are also some mini bottles of booze in that mini fridge,” he continued, gesturing toward a cabinet against the wall. “The house phone works, but don’t call Benny unless it’s an emergency. The same applies to me. This room has its own small generator, so when the house goes dark—”
“The house will go dark?”
“Yes, but you’ll still have electricity.”
“Marco, do you have time to answer a question for me?”
“Depends what it is.”
“You said one of my ideas wasn’t quite right? Which one?”
“The conversation in the meeting room about my collection being fake,” he replied, returning to sit next to her. “That confirmed every piece of art in this place is genuine.”
“You’ve lost me.”
“Think about it. You overheard Stu in the cellar telling Oleg the cufflink had been found, right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“If you were Oleg, wouldn’t you immediately wonder how anyone here even knew there was a cufflink to find? As far as he was concerned, the only thing wemighthave found was the bug Ivan planted.”
