Page 77 of A Real Good Bad Thing

I didn’t look away. “I believe that now.”

“Then let’s figure out who might have done it.” He took a deep breath but his mouth softened, as if he were perhaps ready to move on. “Tell me everything.”

37

CHECKOUT TIME

Jake

Ruby led me to the safe, recounting the details of the discovery while she opened the door and showed me the empty interior, her distress heightening as she reached the end of the story.

“So I looked in, and the diamond was gone. I don’t even care about it for me. I wasn’t going to keep it. That diamond was my insurance that I’d be able to give Mom something, even if I couldn’t get Eli to do right by her.”

Maybe it made me a fool, or maybe it was repeating past mistakes, but I believed Ruby wasn’t in this for herself. There was still a problem, however. “If the gem was part of the funds Eli embezzled though…”

I didn’t finish, because she nodded, looking miserable and guilty. “Then I wouldn’t have a right to it. Which was why I thought—”

“Why you thought I took it.” Annoyance still churned in my veins. At least she didn’t think I’d taken it for my own benefit. Small mercy, I supposed.

She shrugged. “You proved you could break into the safe,” she said in a small but certain voice. “You were in here alone when I talked to the room service guy.”

Her voice quivered, her pretty blue eyes full of guilt. Still, it stung that she thought I could sleep with her and then steal from her. “I’m not that guy,” I said firmly.

“I know that now. But I was so upset, I didn’t know what to think then,” she said, and though she seemed to try and hold it back, a tear slid down her cheek.

That errant tear did me in. It revealed fears I longed to erase, to take off and carry for her. Relenting, I wrapped my arms around her and tugged her close. I was pissed, but I understood her reaction. To find your precious stone stolen after you’d invited a man who cracked safes to spend the night must have felt like she’d welcomed the perpetrator.

I hadn’t taken the gem, but someone else had, and that changed everything. Doubt or no doubt, all that mattered to me was Ruby’s safety.

“You can’t stay here any longer,” I said firmly as we stood by the foot of the bed. “It’s not safe. Someone else is after the diamonds too.”

She lowered her voice and whispered with a nervous quiver, “Do you think they sneaked in while we were sleeping?”

I shook my head, reassuring her. “They must have come in when we were on the boat. I would have noticed someone slipping into the room and opening a safe, even if I was deep in the land of nod. Besides, if it were me taking something, I’d do it when no one was around.”

She arched an eyebrow. “So that’s your professional opinion?”

“Yes, Miss Sarcastic, it is. That doesn’t mean I did it.”

She sliced a hand through the air, cutting off that subject. “Forget I said that. It’s just…” Her voice wobbled then broke, etched with frustration. “I just wanted to do my tour, talk to Eli, and help my mom. And now someone is breaking into my room to steal diamonds, and maybe it’s the same person who took Willow’s too.”

“No way is this a coincidence, stealing two of the same watermarked stones on the same night. Someone is after the diamonds, and that someone knows you had one and Willow had one.” I locked eyes with her. “No matter how you slice it, Mr. Smith was in your room last night and took a ten-thousand-dollar jewel. I want you by my side. I will keep you safe. I’m good at it. It’s what I do.”

The rough edges around her melted away, and she smiled sweetly. “Thank you for saying that.”

I walked around the bed and dropped a hand onto her shoulder. “Say you’ll stay with me,” I said, in a gentle but firm command.

“I’m leaving for a tour in three days.”

“Then that gives us seventy-two hours to figure this out.”

Her lips quirked up. “What if Mr. Smith is ontous? Is it bad if we’re seen together?”

I shook my head thoughtfully. “My gut tells me Mr. Smith is angling for Eli, so he stole the gems Eli gave his fiancée and his stepdaughter. We just need to keep being stealthy and work together to stay ahead of Mr. Smith.”

“Work together, huh?” she asked, her arms crossed.

“Yep.” I held out a hand to seal the deal.