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“Just hoping that nothing else was taken.”
“I doubt that’s the case,” Christian said.
“Why not?” Andi asked.
“They beat a nearly unbeatable system. I’m sorry to say, they probably had all the time they needed to take whatever they wanted.”
“Wonderful!” Tad snorted. “Now, can you please get us in?”
Christian looked at Brunswick. “Were you able to talk to Martha about letting us into Alex’s place?”
“She said she would after she tried to get ahold of Alex—but only if it’s just me in a law-enforcement capacity.”
Tad rested his hands on his hips, bangles jingling on both wrists. “Then why were we waiting on him?” He practically sneered in Christian’s direction.
“Because Martha’s on her way down to Albuquerque for some medical appointment. She said she’d let me know when she’s back in town and I can go take a look. So for now, we need you”—he looked at Christian—“to work your magic.”
“I don’t understand,” Andi said. “Who is Alex, and what does he have to do with getting in the building?”
“Alex is a she,” Brunswick said. “And she has the other fob.”
She furrowed her brow. “Fob?”
“It’s how you enter the building.” Tad gestured to Christian. “He can fill you in later, but for now, can we please just get in my gallery?”
“I have my kit in the Bronco,” Christian said.
Andi’s attention locked in as he strode to and from the car and dropped his kit in front of the door. Sheriff Brunswick and Tad took several steps back to let him work, but she stayed in place. The man was either extremely cocky or exceedingly good—or maybe both. She no longer trusted her gut, but if she did, she’d have wagered he was going to pull this off.
He knelt in front of the door and pulled out what looked to be two intricate skeleton keys. “I have to insert them into both sides of the slot simultaneously without pressing anything else downaccidentally.” He did so. “Now ... I push up with equal force until they disconnect from each other, and...” A click sounded. “Voilà!”
“That’s it?”
He stood and brushed off his hands. “That’s one piece of the map.”
“Excuse me?”
“There are several actions necessary to get in.” Christian placed his hand on the knob. “There’s usually a shrill alarm.” He looked to the sheriff. “I called the alarm company to let them know it might go off.”
“Wait,” Andi said. “The alarm never went off?”
“Apparently not,” Christian said. “Which means they somehow avoided triggering the motion sensors and made it to the keypad in time.”
“The keypad?” she asked.
“You have two minutes from the time you use the fob to get to Tad’s office at the back of the gallery, open the safe, and key in the code before the alarm goes off.”
“You put the keypad in a safe?” she asked.
He nodded.
Ingenious.“And the chances that someone without prior knowledge could figure out all the steps of the map, as you called it, are what?”
“One in a million,” Christian said.
“Right.” So it had to be someone on the inside or someone with contacts on the inside. She looked between him and Tad, wondering who the guilty party was.
FIVE
