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Christian arched a brow. “The mystery woman?”
“Yes.” Veronica handed her empty glass to Brad, and he scooted to fill it straightaway.
“Are you sure?” Christian asked, leaning forward and resting his hands on his knees.
Veronica looked at Brad, then back to them. “Positive. Brad and I were at this inn in Angel Fire. It was late, and the inn was basically shut down.”
“I decided to run out and grab us more wine,” Brad said, jumping in. “When I got back, Roni and I decided to enjoy it on our balcony.”
“It was a beautiful evening,” she said. “While we were enjoying our wine, a man strode out to one of the patio tables. His gait looked extremely familiar, but I shook off the thought. Tad doesn’t exactly stay in quaint inns. He’s a Ritz-Carlton kind of guy. Anyway ...” She redirected herself. “Soon a woman appeared.”
Andi scooted forward, hanging on Veronica’s words.
“They sat in the shadows and talked, but ...” Before Andi couldpose the question on the tip of her tongue, Veronica added, “They stood and passed by the line of patio lamp poles, bathing them in light. It was most definitely Tad and the woman from that sketch they are showing on TV.”
“You’re certain?” Christian said.
“Positive.” Veronica nodded.
Andi looked at Christian and smiled. They’d just connected their mystery woman to Tad well before the heists.
Seemed Tad had some explaining to do.
FIFTY-ONE
ANDI OFFEREDto drive next, and Christian gladly let her. He sat back against the passenger seat of the Equinox as they waited at Sonic for their food to come out. Andi, of course, had wanted to bypass lunch and keep going, but she ...theyboth needed to eat.
The server skated out with their tray, spinning in a circle before reaching the vehicle. She handed Andi the food and wished them a good day.
“Okay, two cheeseburgers and tater tots for you,” Andi said, digging in the brown paper bag and handing the items to Christian. “And one cherry limeade.”
“Thanks,” he said.
“Onion ring?” she asked, holding one of hers up.
“Thanks,” he said. “Tot?” He held the paper container bursting with tots over for her.
“Thanks.” She popped one in her mouth, then took a sip of limeade. “So what do you think? You believe Veronica and Brad? If so, it doesn’t make sense she’d conspire to have the galleries robbed, but there’s always the possibility they are just covering their backs.”
“Meaning?” He popped a tot in his mouth.
“They didn’t personally rob it. I think we can be certain on that from the video footage of the heist. It was two men and neither resembled Brad’s physique. But that doesn’t mean that they didn’t hire someone.”
“Yeah.” Christian sighed. “I’m not feeling it, but we can’t ignore the fact that they have motive with Tad cutting Brad out and trying to do the same with Veronica.”
“Rolling with the hypothetical possibility ...” Andi said. “The question becomes, are they in it for the insurance money or for the money the fenced items bring in?”
“I suspect they are fine for money, but, then again, even when everything on the surface indicates wealth, you just never know. Not until you start digging. Let me call Greyson, see if he can check into their financials. Determine if it was worth the risk in their minds to set this up.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’m not feeling it either, but it’s always better to dig than just brush stuff off.”
Christian placed the call to Greyson, and after a handful of minutes, hung up.
“We set?” she asked.
“Yep. Greyson’s on the financials. And Riley is going to take a ride out to the inn where Veronica and Brad said they saw Tad and our mystery woman to see if any of the staff recognize her. If she was a guest. Anything about her would be more than we have.” So far no hits were coming back from her picture on the news.
“Agreed.”
