Page 51 of Girl, Sought

‘Correct. Is there a problem?’

‘Depends,’ Luca said.

Thorne’s mouth twitched, then he sighed. ‘Oh, I see. So I guess there are no sneakers for me to appraise, is that right?’ There was no surprise in his voice, no anger at being deceived. Just that same corporate calm.

‘Sorry, Mr. Thorne, but we needed to know where you were.’

‘And you couldn’t have just asked me directly? What’s this about?’

‘Eleanor Calloway and Alfred Finch,’ Luca said. ‘Do those names ring any bells?’

Thorne blinked. Confusion, then suspicion chased across his face. ‘Eleanor? This is about her death?’

'Yes, it is. What do you know about it?'

‘I know that it was in the news. I know our office have been talking about it. That’s it.’

Ella watched his micro-expressions; the tells liars couldn't control. ‘Your company appraised her doll collection recently, is that right?’

'Yes, we did, but I had no contact with her. One of my colleagues did. I never met the woman.'

‘How about Alfred Finch?’ Luca asked.

The name struck a subtle chord. Thorne’s pupils contracted and his breath hitched.

‘Finch? The specimen expert?

‘Correct.’

‘Yeah, I knew him. I appraised his collection about a year ago. Why?’

Ella watched the micro-expressions chase each other across his face: genuine surprise melting into calculation. Thorne had some acting chops, she had to admit, but such deception came naturally to psychopaths.

‘Because we found Mr. Finch dead yesterday too.’

The color drained from Thorne's face in stages. It was like watching time-lapse footage of a corpse going pale.

‘I’m terribly sorry to hear that,’ Thorne said with conviction. ‘Mr. Finch was a wonderful man, but why are you questioning me about this? I never met Miss Calloway, haven’t seen or spoken to Mr. Finch in a year.’

Luca said, 'We have quite a few questions for you, and it's pretty cold out here, so why don't we head to the precinct?'

Thorne gestured to the storage unit behind him and said, ‘I’d love to, but I’m at work here. I have ten vases to evaluate before the day is out, and I really don’t see what these deaths have to do with me.’

Ella said, ‘We insist, Mr. Thorne.

‘We can also talk about your little collection back at your office,’ added Luca.

Thorne's face hardened into something that didn't belong in corporate headshots anymore. His mask slipped in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it flash.

‘You were in my office?’

‘Yup.’ Luca doubled down, either missing or ignoring the warning signals Ella was desperately trying to transmit telepathically.

‘Without a warrant?’

‘Don’t need one when you’re investigating murder suspects,’ Luca said.

Ella bit back a groan. There went any chance of finessing this situation. Sometimes she forgot that teaching someone to bend rules meant they might snap them entirely.