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“Look,” he continued, “I have no intention of bullying you. I just want to ask you a few questions. Okay?”
“Okay, but that’s how they started out too.” She shifted her jaw, and it popped.
Christian winced.Ouch.“Okay, let’s just start at the beginning. You came here this morning?”
“Yeah. I like to come in early. Home ain’t that great, ya know?”
“I get that.” More than she knew.
She tilted her head, leeriness in her eyes. She didn’t trust easily, and he didn’t blame her. He’d never trusted easily either.
“So you came in early...”
“Which Tad swore meant I’d been involved in the heist.”
“He said that?”
“Yeah. Threw me under the bus with the cops and the Feds, but I just come in early to get away from it all.” She shrugged a shoulder. “That’s all.”
“Okay.” He kept his tone soft, feeling awful the girl felt safer sitting in an empty gallery in the early morning hours than in her own home. At least she had a home. A set one. Or so he presumed. He shook off the painful tangent and refocused. “So you came in, and what was the first thing you noticed?”
“The alarm didn’t go off.”
“Not at all? No lights, sounds, any of it?”
“Nada,” she said.
“Okay, and about what time was this?”
“Maybe eight.”
“Was there a sign of anyone here?”
“Nah.” She leaned forward, planting her left foot back on the ground beside her right, the toes of her navy ballet flats polished in a shade that didn’t quite match. “But I felt something, and it spooked me. So I took my pepper spray out and took my time working my way through the gallery. No one was here, but Tad’s stuff was gone, so I called him.”
“I’m glad you’re safe.”
Her already arched brows hiked higher, a dramatic edge to them. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I just mean I’m glad no one was still here.” He didn’t want to freak the girl out about Alex missing and her home indicating a struggle. His gut clenched at the thought. Alex was a sweet girl. But, without going into too much detail, he’d warn Cara to watch her back before she left.
“Me too,” she finally said with a shiver.
“I’m not going to go through all the stuff I imagine the cops and Feds already did, except...”
She narrowed her green eyes. “Except?”
“I’m sure you get a lot of people in and out of here...” He led her into the flow of questioning.
“Yeah.” She shrugged.
“Was there anyone who stood out to you as lingering too long, being evasive, keeping eyes averted ... that sort of thing?”
“I don’t know.” Cara tapped her foot, her face pensive. “There was this one guy.”
“Yeah?”
“Well, he didn’t do nothing wrong, but I remember him because there was just something about him that gave me the creeps. You know how you can get those feelings?”
