It was…a lot.
Josie whistled under her breath.
No wonder Milo Steiner was blackmailing her. No one, not even her, had the skills to get into those safes. There were simply too many security measures. Too bad security had taken away her phone. Josie would have liked to take pictures of the safes in order to decipher the best way to get into them.
All she had been allowed to bring with her was a notebook and a pen. Not even her purse. Maybe she would try to convince Johanna to let her bring a tablet. Even that was risky. She was the only non-Warwick, and non-official employee, to be allowed into the inner sanctum of the bank. No matter what happened, she would be a suspect.
Now that she was seeing the security measures, she was sure of it. She had to make sure that every single aspect of her life in New York made sense and could be analyzed by authorities without any doubt of her innocence. She gulped loudly, making her way to the wall of small safes. Johanna had given her a key for it, and it was her first task to catalog all of the Warwick jewels.
Johanna had let it slip that her youngest son was looking for a particular piece to propose to his girlfriend. The woman had no idea where the ring her son wanted had been placed. If it wasn’t in the safe, Johanna was going to have a similar ring made.
Josie couldn’t decide if she would prefer a custom piece or an old family heirloom. She was still trying to determine what she favored when she took the first large box from the safe. She opened the wooden box to discover that it was lined with thick black velvet. It was brimming with jewels.
Tiaras, bracelets, necklaces, rings.
Everything.
Josie had never seen such luxury, such perfectly cut stones. And that came from an international jewel thief who had broken into Cartier. Damn, did the Warwicks know their jewelry! As she started to list all of the pieces, still looking for the ring that would bind two people together, Josie decided that if an engagement ring came from a haul like the one sprawled on the small table in front of her, she would prefer the heirloom.
Every piece was more perfect and breathtaking than the last.
Some of the pieces were so old, Josie knew that her suspicions that the Warwicks were dragons would have been corroborated even without Johanna’s admission. There was no way a human family could have accumulated so many jewels throughout history without being robbed blind. It was dizzying.
But it was also like being a kid let loose and free in a candy store. It was hours later, when Vern, the security guard, came to check on her, that Josie realized just how much time she had spent in the safes.
“Thought you had died or something,” Vern joked. “The offices are about to close.”
“Shit, is it five already?”
“Six,” Vern answered, shaking his head. “You need to take a break, girlie. Come back tomorrow, and make sure you bring some snacks if you plan on spending so long in here. I wouldn’t want you to pass out so far away from help.”
Josie gave the older gentleman a warm smile. “Thanks, Vern. I’ll keep that in mind.”
She quickly put the box back into the safe and locked it. Vern accompanied her back to the main lobby, where he gave her back her purse. Josie immediately grabbed her phone. There were multiple messages and emails, but nothing that couldn’t wait. Now that she wasn’t pouring over some sexy pieces of jewelry, Josie heard her stomach growl in the most ludicrous way. She decided to splurge and hailed a cab to take her to the brownstone instead of walking.
It would be worth it. The very little energy she had left was sure to make her stumble as she walked the distance in her heels. She couldn’t afford to break her neck or her legs as she walked a few miles in heels.
The thought popped into her head, and she thought of York. She leaned her head against the window, stuck in downtown traffic. She let her mind play back the abrupt meeting with York. She knew what she could do to get the grumpy man on her side. She was going to grab the biggest, most delicious cup of coffee and bring it to him. If he made it a habit of being at the office at five am, which was an ungodly hour, then she would be there to sweeten the deal for him.
As Josie waited in the traffic, watching the meter tick by, each increase making her feel more depressed, she grabbed her phone and ordered an insane amount of Thai food. With any luck, it would be delivered to the brownstone at the same time as her, and she wouldn’t have to wait too long to binge on some Pad Kee Mao.
The brownstone was in a fashionable neighborhood, and the home belonged to Johanna. The older woman had insisted that Josie live there while she worked for the family. It would save Josie the costly price of a hotel, all the while keeping her close to part of her work. It had been the ideal setup. After all, Josie had to catalog every piece of furniture in the brownstone.
An hour later, when Josie was bare foot, and had changed into blue jeans and a cream-colored tee, she was surrounded by boxes and crates filled with stuff the Warwicks had purchased but didn’t use anymore. They had literally forgotten how much expensive crap they owned.
The carton of drunken noodles, as Pad Kee Mao translated, was long since empty, and she was busy listing all of the desks and tables the Warwicks had in the house. There were a lot. Some would cost as much as a weekend gateway to Mexico.
The Warwicks weren’t rich.
They redefined wealth twenty times over.
Her phone rang, and half expecting the call to be from Gammy, Josie didn’t even bother looking at the screen. Instead of hearing the sweet voice of her grandmother, the slithering tones of Milo Steiner made her shudder. The noodles turned to rocks in the pit of her stomach.
“Look at your phone,” he ordered by way of greeting.
Even through the distance, his voice was all slithery against her ears. Josie looked down at her phone screen, and she shivered, nearly dropping the device.
There, clear as a day, she had received two pictures from Milo. The first was of Mia. Her best friend was in the process of crossing the street in the photograph. It had clearly been taken without her friend’s knowledge as she walked in their hometown of Buffalo. The second image was even more terrifying. Gammy was fast asleep in her bed in the care home.
The message was pretty clear: Milo could get to Mia and Gammy with minimal effort.
“Listen to me, dick breath. You are not to harm them. I’m doing what you wanted me to.”
Milo chuckled. “Are you? Wave, Josie. You’re being watched. From what my guys have told me, you’ve met with Johanna Warwick, and you’ve been allowed into the bank vaults. How come I don’t have my vase yet?”
Josie inhaled, trying to calm herself. It was no use. This mother fucker was playing with fire, and he didn’t know it. “I have a life to keep, you prick. You might want me to rush through this, but I’m not going to blow up my life. Or else, what’s the point of not just going to the cops?”
“Be careful,” he hissed.
“No, you listen to me. I’m not going to do this the dumb way. I’m the pro, right? You came to me because your cronies are too stupid to pull this job. You have to trust me on this. If I blaze in there and steal the vase at the first chance I get, don’t you think they’ll look at me? I’ll be the prime suspect. And if I’m caught? You can bet your slithering ass that I am going to sing like a chipper canary. You’ll be fucked.”
Milo was quiet on the other end of the line. Josie closed her eyes, hoping that the evil pencil dick wasn’t going to press the matters. She was having a hell of a time already, trying to make sure that her two identities didn’t converge to absolutely set fire to her life.