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He handed the keychain to Felina.
She fitted the key into the lock and turned it.
When she tried the top drawer again, it opened easily to display a couple dozen rings with various stones and settings.Not one of them was the emerald ring Felina had seen in the video worn by the woman who’d murdered Thomas Crabtree.
She closed the top drawer and opened the next one.This drawer held bracelets.The next one had necklaces.The fourth drawer had even more necklaces.The fifth drawer held neatly folded scarves, and the bottom drawer held neckties.
No emerald ring.
“Where else would she store rings?”Lucas asked.
“It would be here.”Felina sighed.“I guess we should look for the costume.We can give it another thirty minutes, then we can leave.”
Lucas reached for the door handle and froze.
“What?”Felina whispered, straining to hear what Lucas must have heard.
He motioned for her to slip behind the rack of formal gowns.As she did, he backed behind a rack of men’s suits, moving a couple of suitcases in front of his legs.Then he reached out and flipped the light switch off.
A door creaked open in the master bedroom.
Felina’s breath caught and held as she strained to hear the sound of footsteps moving around the room.Drawers were opened and closed.The footsteps moved into the bathroom, clicking across the tile.More drawers opened and closed, the sounds echoing against the tile floors and shower walls.Then, the footsteps moved out of the bathroom and stopped in front of the walk-in closet door.
Her heart hammering against her ribs, Felina watched as the door opened.A slender hand reached inside and flipped on the light.
That’s when Felina realized she’d left the key with the bejeweled keychain in the lock.
A hand reached into the closet, grabbed a suitcase and dragged it into the other room.
A moment later, the hand reached in again for another case and dragged it out, leaving Lucas’s legs exposed beneath the line of suits hanging down to below his waist.
For a couple of minutes, the noises coming from the bedroom were little more than the rustle of fabric.Felina could picture a suitcase being packed with clothes.
Footsteps moved toward the closet again.The door opened wider, and Brenda Crabtree entered and walked to a rack of blouses.She yanked half a dozen from their hangers and rushed back into the bedroom.A moment later, she was back in the closet, standing in front of the row of pants.Again, she yanked several from their hangers, turned and started for the door.
A pair of trousers slipped from her collection and dropped to the floor.She bent to pick them up and froze, her eyes narrowed and then she uttered a curse and fell backward in her mad scramble to get away.
Lucas parted the row of suits and stepped into the open.“Mrs.Crabtree, I’m not going to hurt you.”
“You!”She clutched her trousers to her chest like a shield.“What are you doing in my closet?Are you here to steal from me?Go ahead.Take what you want.I don’t care.You can have it all.Just leave me alone.”
“I’m not here to take anything.”Lucas held out his hand.“Let me help you up.”
She scooted even further back, shaking her head.“No, please.Take everything; just don’t hurt me.”
“I’m not going to hurt you.”He backed away, leaving a clear path for her to leave the closet.“You’re free to go.”
“It’s a trick,” she said.“You’re with them, aren’t you?I told them I’d sell the manor.All they have to do is bring me the papers.I’ll sign.You don’t have to threaten me.I hate this place.I just want to leave and never come back to Louisiana.Please, I’ll sign anything.Just let me go.”
Felina’s heart hurt at the desperation in Mrs.Crabtree’s tone.It was the same desperation Trish had displayed.Felina started to part the long dresses.
Lucas gave a sharp but almost imperceptible shake of his head, visible only to her.She stilled and waited to see what would happen, wishing she hadn’t gotten Lucas into this mess.
If she wanted, Mrs.Crabtree could have Lucas arrested for trespassing.
“Ma’am,” Lucas tried again.“I’m not going to hurt you.”
Crabtree looked up at him, her eyes narrowing.“You aren’t?They didn’t send you?”
