AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m praying nothing.” Though he feared otherwise.
“But...?” Tad swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing on the gulp.
Christian stiffened. Something uneasy anchored inside.
“This isn’t good,” Tad muttered. “I never thought...”
Christian’s curious gaze met Andi’s, then they both looked to Tad.
“You never thoughtwhat?” Christian asked.
Tad froze in place for a flicker of a moment, then shook himself out of it. “That I could be robbed like this.” He looked to Andi, puffing his chest out like some preening peacock. “Your company must reimburse me for my losses. Jeopardy Falls was bad enough, but this...” He glared at Andi. “They got my Aztec eagle whistle, all my jade and gold necklaces. Along with my statuettes, and... my masterpiece, my—”
He mimicked a sob, but Christian wasn’t buying it. Tad was putting on theatrics. The question was, why? Did Tad know more than he was admitting? Clearly, he wasn’t bright enough to pull off a heist like this, but he could be dumb enough to hire someone to do it. Someone who went off-leash.
Fear for Alex bit at him. Why couldn’t he shake that gnawing in the pit of his stomach?
“And your masterpiece was?” he asked a pacing Tad.
“My Aztec carved obsidian jar representing the monkey—the god of dance, play, and love.” Tad waved his arm, his bangles clanging over the hoots of the near-incessant monkey calls piping through the speakers.
Of course that would be Tad’s favorite piece.
“It was the only large item they took, but it was my most expensive piece. It alone was worth well over a hundred thousand.”
“They were smart,” Andi said.
“Smart?” Tad huffed. “Now we’re complimenting the thieves?”
“They took highly valuable but small objects that are easy to move and hide. The only large item was the jar, and even that was only ... I’m guessing maybe eight inches tall,” she said.
Tad’s thin, arched eyebrows lifted. “How do you know that?”
“Based on the time period of this collection and what Aztec jars typically look like, eight inches is a relatively safe call.” She clearly knew her artifacts.
“You’re correct.” Tad exhaled.
“I’m curious,” she said, striding toward him. “How did you come to have so many cultural artifacts?”
Tad straightened, his lashes flickering again. “I bought them from a private collector.”
“All from the same collector?” Andi asked.
“Yes,” Tad said, offering no more.
“That’s quite a private collection for one person to have,” she remarked.
Tad lengthened his neck. “It was a recent acquisition,” he said haughtily.
“How recent?” Andi asked.
“Three months,” Tad and Christian said.
Andi’s questioning gaze flicked to him. “How...?”
“Tad redid the room when he got the new collection,” Christian said.
“A new collection necessitated a new space,” Tad added.
