“Ah, you’re not wearing…” he whispered, his mouth on her neck, her throat, his fingers skimming her body.
“Nope.” She brought his mouth back to hers and kissed him deeply, her tongue tempting him, inciting him to take more. She felt his body respond and he pressed even closer, his hands kneading the soft mounds beneath the silken fabric. When she realized she’d implode if she didn’t feel his hands on her skin, she reached behind her to the buttons that fastened the halter top of her dress, and one by one, undid them. Slowly she peeled down the top, his mouth following every inch of skin as she exposed more and more. His lips sucked gently on her skin until they reached her breast, and she arched her back to offer more. Need and desire overtook her mind and her body, and she wanted nothing more than to have him right then and there. Every cell in her body hummed: she could have sworn she heard bells.
There. There they were again. Bells. Vanessa pulled back from him and tilted her head to listen.
Not bells. Sirens.
Grady tensed and turned toward the municipal building, where the police department appeared to be emptying, the cars flying out of the lot, lights flashing and sirens blaring, and up Kelly’s Point Road.
“I wonder if there’s been an accident,” Vanessa said.
She stared at the flashing lights, which had stopped at the top of the street where Kelly’s Point met Charles Street. It took a moment for her to realize that the patrol cars were not moving on. “Something’s going on up there.”
She watched for a moment.
“My shop is up there.” She continued to stare, an uneasy feeling flooding through her. The abrupt change from totally-turned-on-what-are-we-waiting-for to going stone cold made her knees shake. “I wonder-”
“Let’s go check it out. Here, let’s just fix this…” He pulled up the top of her dress and she redid the buttons, her eyes still on the lights. He took her hand. “We’ll walk up. If we drive, they probably won’t let us stop. Come on, Ness. We’ll see what’s what.”
She held on to his hand as they made their way past the police station and through the dark passage, moving more quickly with each step until they were running by the time they reached Charles Street. Vanessa’s heart all but stopped when she realized that Bling was the center of all the activity.
“Oh my God. My shop!” She rushed across the street and through the front door. “What’s going on?” she cried to the officers who were gathering near the rear of the building. “What’s happened?”
“You had a break-in.” Sue Dixon, one of the officers, walked back to meet her.
“A break-in?” Vanessa wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly. “Someone broke in to my shop?”
“Apparently.” Sue nodded. “Unless you or your help left the back door wide open and smashed the counters and tossed your merchandise all over the place.”
Vanessa followed Sue’s pointing finger to the jewelry case beneath the glass counter. “Oh, man…”
She went to the case and started to put her hand inside when Grady grabbed her by the wrist. “You probably shouldn’t touch anything until they’ve run prints.”
“Agent Shields, I’d appreciate you staying near the door,” Sue told him. “Nothing personal, but-”
“I understand about contamination.” He smiled. “But it’s not ‘agent.’”
“Oh. Sorry.” She turned back to Vanessa. “Gus just went out to get the kit out of his car. We’ll want to print you, Ness, to eliminate your prints.”
Vanessa frowned. “There have been dozens of people in and out of this shop for the past week. You’ll never be able to isolate the burglar’s fingerprints.”
“You’re probably right.” Carl Silver, another officer, came to the front of the shop from the office, holding a trash can in his gloved hand. “There are some used paper towels in here, and there’s a bottle of glass cleaner in the vanity in the powder room. Looks like the guy wiped everything down before he left.”
“We always clean the counters at the end of the day,” Vanessa told them. “I had someone new in for me tonight, but I did ask her to just give the glass a quick swipe before she left. I hate to come in to open in the morning and be met with smudgy counters. It’s one of my pet peeves.”
“Then maybe we’ll get lucky,” Sue ventured.
“Anyone smart enough to get past that lock would not be stupid enough to come in here without gloves,” Carl said. “Whoever it was did a masterful job.”
“I’ve seen a lot of smart people do stupid things since I started on this job,” Sue told him.
Vanessa glanced around her shop and almost cried to see the stacks of pretty sweaters tossed onto the floor in a heap, as if someone had simply swiped at the pile as he went past. Dresses that had been hanging on racks when she left the store the night before were now strewn across the carpet, and she could almost imagine a hand grabbing that last hanger to push the lot of them to the ground. Feeling sick to her stomach, she started toward the back of the shop.
“Do I have to stay near the door, too?” she asked.
Sue shook her head. “Your hair and fingerprints are already all over this place. Slip these on your feet, though.”
Vanessa took off her shoes and pulled on the plastic booties Sue handed her and walked into the office. Papers were strewn across her small desk and several garments that had been left on a stand, waiting for customers to pick them up, were on the floor. Thankfully, they were in their garment bags. It was all she could do to keep herself from righting the stand and picking up the dresses that lay there.
She was on her way out of the room when she thought of the white eyelet dress. She looked back at the mass on the floor, but the dress was not among the casualties.
Good for you, Candice. The woman must have been on her way into the shop when Steffie saw her leaving Sips, the takeout-only beverage bar two doors away that specialized in fresh juice drinks.
She returned to the front of the shop, where Gus Franklin was busy lifting fingerprints from the counter tops.
“I called Hal’s cell a couple of times, but he didn’t pick up,” Gus told her.
“The band’s pretty loud. He probably didn’t hear the phone. He’ll probably check his phone before long and he’ll give you a call.”
“Probably.” He nodded. “I’ll get your prints as soon as I finish here.”
“Fine. Whenever you’re ready.” Vanessa sighed and went to Grady, who was still seated patiently near the front door. “I’m sorry,” she said softly.
“Sorry for what?”
“Well, you know…” She gestured in the direction of Kelly’s Point Road and the general direction of the parking lot where fifteen minutes earlier they’d been hot and heavy and well on their way to what should have been an unforgettable night.
He reached out and took her hand and slowly ran his thumb across her knuckles. “You have nothing to apologize for. Your shop has been broken into, vandalized, and it looks like you’ve been robbed of some valuable merchandise. You do not owe me an apology, Ness. I’m just sorry this happened to you. I know how upset you must be.”
She was on the verge of tears when Sue’s phone rang. The officer unhooked the phone from her belt and looked at the caller ID.
“Oh,” she said. “It’s the chief.”
“Do not tell him about this.” Vanessa spun around. “Sue, don’t tell him. He’ll feel obligated to come back here and he’ll miss his honeymoon.”
“But if he asks me what’s going on…”
“Tell him it’s just another quiet Saturday night. Please. His honeymoon will be over before it starts.” Seeing that Sue was still hesitant, Vanessa added, “I will take full responsibility for this.”
“I can’t lie to him,” Sue told her. “He’s my boss. If he asks, I have to tell him.”
“Only if he asks.”
“Dixon.” Sue answered the call. “Oh, hi, Chief. Yeah, I had a great time. Sorry I couldn’t have stayed longer. I hear the band kicked ass. I hope someone reminded Hal where he is to bring the leftover cake.” She met Vanessa’s eyes and shrugged her shoulders. “Oh, sure, I’ll take care of that. Not a problem. Are you still at the airport? Is your flight on time? Good… yes, will do. Have a great time, Chief. And congratulations to you and to Mia…”