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Leo didn’t, in fact, stop it. He kept calling himself Rod Todd in every phone call, grinning at her the whole time.
It was the tenth phone call that netted them some information. The man on the other side of the call sounded like he was in his twenties or thirties, and when he heard Ari’s name, he said, “Oh, great. I was going to give Ari a call, but I didn’t think he’d launched the new company yet. I’ve got a friend looking to book a yacht in Miami for a bachelor party. Will he be booking events by August?”
Amelia straightened. New company?
“Great,” Leo said, voice calm. How was his heart not thumping as hard as Amelia’s? “I’d love to grab the details now, if it’s convenient.”
“Sure,” the other man said, and he rattled off a name and phone number and a brief description of what they wanted for the bachelor party. Leo stayed calm through the call, then finally reached over and hung up the call on the screen when the conversation ended.
He met Amelia’s wide-eyed stare. “Ari’s poaching clients,” he said quietly. “Either he’s forgotten about the non-compete clause in our contract, he doesn’t care about it, or he’s trying to circumvent it somehow.”
Amelia blew out a breath. Her mind was spinning. That must have been what Vanessa was upset about in the hallway. She didn’t want to get in trouble when she needed to keep her job. But… “Why would he steal valuables from Fred? What about the watch?”
“Maybe he lied about the watch. Maybe he needs money to start his new company.”
“And he’s getting it by stealing?”
Leo leaned back on the couch beside her. His body was emanating warmth all down her side. He turned his head to look at her, then reached up to push a strand of hair off her forehead. “If he’s willing to stab Fred in the back by poaching clients, he might be willing to do something worse.”
“Twelve million dollars is a lot,” she said. “Would he even need to start a new company? Couldn’t he just go to Mexico and live on the beach for the rest of his days?”
“I don’t know,” Leo admitted. “Probably.”
A knock on the door interrupted them. Amelia frowned, then stood up and opened the door. Fred and Percival stood on the other side. Both of them looked grim.
“Amelia,” Fred said with a nod.
“What’s up?” Amelia pulled the door a little bit wider, once Leo had shoved the list of names on the laptop keyboard and closed the screen.
Fred looked over her shoulder. “St. James.” His gaze returned to Amelia as he stepped into their room, so chilled it made Amelia shiver. “Were you in the library today?”
Amelia nodded. “Yes. We spent a few hours reading.”
“Was anyone else in there with you?”
Leo came to stand beside Amelia, his arm a comforting weight across her shoulders. “No. We were there from about one until four p.m. and no one else came in. George is the one who recommended we check it out.”
Fred’s lips compressed as his eyes narrowed. He shifted his gaze from Leo to Amelia, who stiffened in response. “Some valuable rare coins have gone missing. We’re trying to determine a timeline. They were in the glass case on the southern wall, next to the writing desk.”
“I saw them,” Leo stated, his hand squeezing Amelia’s shoulder. “Displayed on blue velvet, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Someone stole them?” Amelia squeaked, then regretted her question when it drew Fred’s gaze back to her. His face was all hard lines and grim suspicion.
“Yes,” he replied, an odd weight to the word.
“They were there when we left,” Leo told his boss.
“I’ll be calling the police,” Fred said. “No one’s to leave the grounds until this is cleared up.”
“Of course,” Leo replied.
The two men left, and Amelia closed the door behind them. When she turned back to look at Leo, her heart cracked at the look of devastation on his face.
“He thinks it was us,” Leo said bleakly. “He’s going to fire me.”
“Hey.” Amelia grabbed his hand and pulled him to the couch. She sat down beside him, still holding his hand. “He’s just trying to figure out who took his stuff, same as we are. He didn’t accuse you of anything.”
