Page 76 of Defending You

Cici stifled irritation and explained about the necklace. “I was in the back room when Gagnon came in. He wanted to know if the other clerk was there—Mr. D’s niece. He said his son had dealt with her earlier in the week. Mr. D had already told me that the bag of stuff he wanted me to appraise—including the necklace—had been purchased by his niece. I can only assume she bought it from Gagnon’s son.”

“Which is why you wanted us to protect the niece,” Harris said.

“I explained all of this to the 911 operator.”

“Sometimes they don’t take great notes. I can listen to the call.”

Seemed she should already have done that, but what did Cici know about detective work?

“Did you?” Cici asked. “Protect his niece?”

“She was pretty distraught about her uncle. We recommended she get out of town. Far as I know, she did.”

“You need to make sure! She’s in danger.”

“So you said, Ms. Wright. We’re not a protection agency. All we can do is warn people. We can’t force them to do anything against their will.”

The police could’ve protected her. They could’ve put her in a safe house or something. Assuming they had safe houses.

“Tell me about this necklace,” Harris said.

Cici gave her the short version. “I took it and the whole bag of stuff the niece had bought.”

“You stole it?”

“If not, he’d have it, so you’re welcome. I’m giving the necklace and the rest of Grace Ballentine’s things to Forbes. Everything else, I’ll send back to you. I’m not a thief.”

The remark earned a long silence.

“What do you know about Wendall Gagnon?” Asher asked.

“Uh…” After a pause, she said, “Far as I can tell, he runs a legitimate business.”

“Not sure everyone in your department would agree with that. His name was forwarded to me when I asked for people in Philly with ties to organized crime.”

“I’ll look into it. And we’ll keep our eyes out for him.”

“He was in Massachusetts yesterday, tracking us,” Cici said. “Only by the grace of God did we escape.”

“Oh. Well…” Papers shuffled in the background. “I’ll do some digging. I can reach you at this number?”

“No,” Cici said. “If you need to reach us, contact my father, Gavin Wright. We should be at his house?—”

“TheGavin Wright.” Harris sounded almost awed.

As if Dad were some sort of celebrity. “I guess.” She gave the detective her dad’s number. “We’ll be in touch.”

“Okay. Stay safe.” The detective ended the call.

“She’s not exactly a fount of knowledge,” Cici said.

“At least now she can focus on the actual killers and quit looking for you.”

“One less hound on our heels.”

He smiled, the expression transforming his face. He was gorgeous when he smiled.

“I need to check in with Alyssa.”