“I missed you, too,” she said.
“I want to hear everything that’s going on.”
“Yes, me, too. We have to get together.”
“A bunch of us are having a party on a friend’s boat later this week. Want me to text you the details? Penny is off camping, but she should be back then.”
“That sounds great. I’ll be there.”
“We can catch up and you can see the whole crew.” Sandy squeezed her arm, then held up her finger. “It is so good to see you, and I’ll be back. I need to run to the storage room. But stay here.”
As Sandy scurried off, Jake met her gaze. The look in his eyes was one of satisfaction. He tipped his forehead to the disappearing Sandy. “That’s why.”
He had an idea. He had a plan. It was crazy, but they might be able to kill two birds with one stone. Though he vastly preferred to work solo, especially given the Rosalinda fiasco, he had a hunch that he was going to need Steph on his side. This feisty, fiery woman wasn’t going to step out of the picture on her own, not when she was motivated by personal reasons to hunt the diamonds. If Jake let her walk away, he’d keep running into her and butting heads. She was in a unique position to be his best weapon in this case. Better to work with her than against her.
He just needed her to see the benefits, and he didn’t mean the physical ones, because tearing each other’s clothes off needed to stop. ASAP. Besides, she seemed closer to throat-punching him than yanking off his shirt.
“Teaming up makes sense for us both.”
“Why?”
“You need me and I need you. You know everyone on this island, which is great,” he said, giving her his best pitch for why she’d want to work with him. “But it also means that people recognize you. It only took you going out to one breakfast with your stepdad for me to find out who you were. But me? No one knows me. I could be anyone. I can go places you can’t go. I can be unseen. You have inside access, but I can walk around unnoticed.”
She crossed her arms. Her lips were doing an excellent impression of a straight line. “Unless I told my stepdad who you were.”
He scoffed and stared hard back at her, calling her bluff. “I highly doubt you’d do that.”
“Why do you doubt me?”
“Because you want the same thing. You want to know what happened to the money. And I’m willing to bet you’ve already asked him, and he hasn’t given you the answer you want.” Her eyes widened, telling him he was right. “Am I right?” he asked, softer this time.
“Yes,” she muttered.
“OK, so let’s try to get the real answers.”
She raised her face. “Show me, then. Show me this evidence,” she said, her voice both strong and wavering. He could tell she was torn, but there was no doubt in his mind.
With his phone very tightly in his grip, he showed her the e-mail, giving her time to read it. He walked her through all the backstory, showing her some of the other documents, from how the date of the e-mail matched dates when money was moved from the fund, letting her take in the full scope of the crime.
She winced as if she’d just eaten something sour, then she blinked several times.
“We don’t know for sure he stole anything,” she said, desperation coloring her tone. “Just that he was in contact with someone. The only thing I know for sure is he screwed over my mom. That doesn’t make him a criminal, just a man.”
As far as Jake was concerned, Eli was 100 percent guilty and then some, but Steph was clinging to some shred of hope. It pained him to see her like his, but he had to think like a mercenary, not a man who would bend too easily to a vulnerable woman, so he made a lateral move.
“That’s the evidence I’m working off of, and my job is to get this ten million and return it. You’re still looking into the missing money, too. We can work together and finish faster. Join forces. We both bring something to the table.”
She huffed, returning to her tough-girl persona. “Fine. That may be true, but I was the one who was invited into Eli’s house,” she said, tapping her chest. “In-vi-ted. Me. I’ll just be strolling through the door on Thursday night, and I can wander around and check it out.”
“Oh right. Of course,” he said, deadpan, nodding several times for effect. “Because he probably keeps a bowlful of diamonds on his desk.”
She shot him a side-eyed stare. “Ha ha, funny guy. But for your information, no. I don’t think my stepdad treats them like jelly beans,” she said, miming dipping her fingers into a bowl and grabbing some. “The point being, I can get the lay of the land. How many places can there be to hide diamonds in a house?” she said, in a tone full of bravado. It was, admittedly, adorable. Especially as she straightened up in her chair, acting all cool and tough. “I’ll see if there’s a loose floorboard somewhere. Or a piece of art hiding a safe behind it.”
That’s when he knew he had her. When he knew his plan would reel her in. She was, by her own admission, playing private detective. He was, by his profession, making a living as one. She had moxie and access, and he needed both, but he had something to offer her—skills. “When you find this floorboard, will you just yank it up with the hammer you keep in your back pocket?”
She breathed in sharply, and he was sure she was biting back all the things she didn’t want to say. She snapped her gaze away from him and stared off the deck at the water and the waves gently rippling along the shore. The blue waters lapped the sand, and as she watched them, her expression seemed to soften. When she turned back to him, she lowered her voice. “Maybe I do keep a hammer in my back pocket. It’s not as if I’m incapable.”