“I can’t argue with that.”
We drove in silence until I pulled to the curb outside the B-and-B just as Eric screeched to a halt in his cop car. Tommy and two other officers drove up behind him and parked a few doors down.
Eric, Mac, and I ran inside and rushed upstairs. At the end of the long, wide hall, Jane’s double doors were thrown open. I exchanged looks with Mac. This was just what I’d been afraid would happen if we revealed that the necklace had been found. But we’d been careful to specify that the necklace had been taken to a safe place. Okay, we didn’t exactly identify the safe place as my safe-deposit box, but how smart did someone have to be to figure that out?
Did Jane’s intruder not understand the part where we told everyone the necklace had been put somewhere for safekeeping? Did he actually think Jane would hide it in her bedroom?
So we weren’t just dealing with your run-of-the-mill intruder. We were dealing with a stupid one.
I grabbed Jane and hugged her tightly. “We’ll find whoever did this and they will pay.”
“I hope so. I really do.” She let go of me and leaned against the wall of her room, looking completely exhausted. This was one more horrific incident in her life, and I didn’t know what to do to help her.
I stood inside the doorway and tried to contain my fury as I surveyed the mess. Jane’s suite had been tossed quickly and without regard for any of her beautiful furnishings. Every last thing was on the floor, chairs were upturned, shelves and tables were flipped on their sides, and whatever had been on the surface of the tables and the bookshelves against the walls were now scattered across the carpeted floor.
“It can all be put back,” Mac whispered in my ear. “If anything’s broken, it can be replaced. Jane wasn’t hurt. That’s all that matters.”
“That’s right.” I repeated his words over and over until they sank in. Jane wasn’t hurt. That’s all that matters.
Eric walked into the room and pulled Jane into his arms. “I’m sorry. Are you all right?”
She sniffed, but nodded. “I’m fine. Or I will be as soon as this nightmare is over.”
“Were any of the other rooms touched?”
Jane’s eyes widened. “I’m such an idiot. I didn’t even check. When I got home I went to the kitchen and wound up talking to my chef for fifteen minutes or so. Then I came upstairs and saw this.” She whirled around, gazing at the wall-to-wall chaos. “I have no idea if anyone else was robbed. I’ve got to check on my guests.”
“You go ahead and do that,” Eric said, “then come back here. I’ll be looking around.”
She rushed out of the room.
I didn’t bother offering to go with her, because I knew she would want to visit each suite personally to assure herself that her guests were all safe and sound.
Instead I stayed in her suite, so livid on Jane’s behalf I could barely take it all in. My gaze met Eric’s and I could see that his anger matched my own.
“They were looking for the necklace,” I said, saying what had to be obvious to both Eric and Mac.
Eric gazed at me. “We let everyone in town know it had been found and put in a safe place.”
I shook my head in disgust. “I have a feeling someone didn’t get the message, or if they heard it was found, they didn’t hear that it was safely locked up. They must’ve thought Jane had it here. I can’t think of any other explanation.”
Mac looked around. “Who would be brazen enough to walk into a fully staffed and occupied establishment and try to rip off the owner’s property?”
“Someone who’s desperate to find a priceless piece of jewelry,” I said, clenching my teeth to keep from screaming expletives up and down the hall. “The same person who would destroy Jesse’s house looking for the same thing.”
“Yeah,” Eric said, his jaw tightening. “Okay, everybody out. I’ve got to get my team in here and dust for fingerprints.”
“I wonder if they actually took anything,” I said. “If they didn’t find the necklace, maybe nothing’s actually missing.”
“We’ll still need fingerprints.”
“Okay.” I frowned at him. “Just . . . don’t leave, you know, that black powdery mess everywhere.”
“Out,” he said, pointing toward the hall.
Mac took my hand and pulled me away.
*
Mac and I stayed at Hennessey House until midnight, keeping Jane company while the police combed through her private suite and all her personal belongings. We started out in the communal living room downstairs, sharing a bottle of wine, and ended up in the kitchen eating ice cream. It was how all good parties progressed, except we weren’t exactly in a partying mood.