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I rattled the door knob and banged on the door to no avail. There was only silence. Cass didn’t even shout at me to get lost. Frustrated and impeded, I leaned over the railing to observe the path below. Maddox and Farid turned the corner, looking up. I waved to them and turned back to the door.

Maddox arrived first, sprinting up the external stairs just as I was trying to wriggle a slim tool into the door lock.

“Lily said you’d gone this way,” said Farid as he stepped off the emergency escape with a rattle of the ladder. “Is it really her?”

“Did you let her go?” yelled Maddox, striding towards me.

“No!” I finally felt the click and the door released. My lock-picking practice had paid off at last! “She must have had a key for this door already. It had to be her backup plan in case she was spotted but I don’t imagine she ever thought she’d have to use it. At least, not so soon!” Of course that was why she’d engaged me in conversation; she was simply making time to unlock the door with her hands behind her back.

While that was impressive, I could only imagine how much we’d ruined her day and that made me feel a little bit glad because she was definitely ruining mine.

Maddox ran a hand over his hair and then dashed his hand through the air, almost spinning around. He kicked the railing and it rattled horribly. “Damn Cass Temple and damn her backup plans!” he yelled.

“How did you know she was here at the motel?” I pushed the door, half expecting to find Cass Temple wriggling out the window, her legs flailing behind her so I could grab them. But no, the room was empty except for the three of us crowding the door.

“She’s Maddox’s nemesis,” said Farid as we squashed through. “He spends his days figuring out her next moves and mooning about catching her.”

Maddox dropped to his knees and threw back the comforter as he checked under the bed, his gun in hand. From the floor, he muttered, “She’s a pain in my ass. A thorn in my side. A…”

“I get the picture,” I said. I checked the window opposite, finding it firmly shut. I lifted the latch but it only opened three inches and below was a sheer drop. Unless Cass had vacuum-sucked her body through, there was no way she’d fit through the narrow opening without breaking most of her bones when she landed.

Farid darted to the bathroom, his gun drawn. He slid from view only to return seconds later, shaking his head.

“She definitely came in here. I saw her!” I told them, frowning in confusion. “She walked right through that door!” But where was she now? The room was empty except for the neatly made bed, twin nightstands, and a slim desk under a wall-mounted television.

“Well, she isn’t here now so there must be a second exit,” said Maddox, getting to his feet and turning around.

“The bathroom window is too small to climb out of,” said Farid. “But I’ll recheck the room.”

“Do that. I’ll…”

“Found it,” I said, cutting off Maddox as I pulled the closet doors open wide. A small panel had been excised in the rear of the closet, close to the floor, not big enough to walk through, but doable if I crouched and duck walked. The removed panel, the edges neatly cut with a power tool, had been pushed into the adjoining room.

“Let me,” said Maddox, nudging me out of the way. He crouched, leading with his gun, attempting to squeeze through the small opening. Halfway, he wedged himself snugly in the hole, and I got a moment of admiring his struggling butt, since I am neither blind, nor dead, nor without humor.

As gently as I could, I placed the sole of my sneaker against his butt and pushed. Maddox toppled forward, grunting. “I hope you didn’t enjoy that,” he said gruffly.

“Nope,” I said, clenching my mouth so I didn’t laugh.

“Me neither, partner,” said Farid before he covered his mouth and put on a display of coughing to disguise the laugh that seeped out. “After you,” he said, waving me courteously towards the hatch.

I stooped and scuttled through on my hands and knees, stretching forwards a little extra so I was out of the closet and quickly rose to find myself in an identical room to the one I’d just left. Farid followed, twisting and grunting to fit through.

Maddox was already rising from checking the bed and after a cursory glance in the bathroom, he darted to the door and pulled it open. Then he ran across the room and wrenched the front door open, bursting onto the walkway we’d stood on just minutes before. He looked down, then smacked his hand on the balustrade. Stepping back into the room, he said, “She’s gone.”

“Looks like she had this set up in case anyone followed her,” said Farid, turning in a small circle to take in the identical room. “I bet she rented both rooms, probably as soon as she got to town, and had it all set up just in case she needed to lure someone to a false room.”

“Search them,” said Maddox from the doorway. “She must have left something somewhere. We need to know where she’s going.”

“Why are you after her?” I asked, turning away. The bed covers hadn’t been pushed down, the pillows weren’t indented. Unless the motel had a particularly sharp daily housekeeping service, she hadn’t slept here. Did that mean this motel was a backup for the safe house, or a decoy for a third safe house? No, Cass had been here. I’d seen her with my own eyes, and lost her just as quickly. “Wait… how were you tailing her? Why didn’t you call me?”

“We’ve been tailing her for…” started Farid until Maddox nudged him. In my pocket, my phone vibrated.

“We didn’t have a confirmed sighting,” said Maddox. “As soon as we did, I would have called.”

“Really?” I narrowed my eyes.

Maddox nodded. “Really!”

Somehow, I was skeptical. Maddox might have given me the courtesy to interview her after he’d arrested her, but I was pretty sure he didn’t want me in the way. That was just tough luck because I’d found her and I’d smoked her out.

Fat lot of good that had done. I’d also lost her.

“Why didn’t you call me?” he asked.

“I was going to when you spooked her! She spotted you across the road, standing out like a pair of sore thumbs.” My phone vibrated saving me from continuing the blame game. Lily had sent a message: 911!!!

“Guess I’ll leave you to it,” I said, edging backwards. “Doesn’t look like I’m needed here.”

“Not so fast!” Maddox blocked my way. “How did you know she was here?”

“Lucas tracked the car she rented and it hadn’t left this area,” I said. “We drove around until we found it.”

“Why didn’t you call me then?” he asked.

“We thought she might have dumped the car and used one of the local businesses like the travel agency or caught a bus. When the receptionist refused to confirm if she was here, we needed a sighting to identify her so I created one.”

“By crashing into her car,” said Farid, nodding now as he glanced at Maddox. “I told you Lexi isn’t just a crappy driver.”

“You said I was a crappy driver?” My jaw dropped, appalled.

“I said it could have been accidental,” said Maddox with a scowl aimed at Farid. “But it was good thinking. How did you know she’d come out?”

“We didn’t. The keys were in the car so we figured she hoped it would get stolen and lead us on a merry chase but it didn’t. She didn’t register the car with the motel either but the receptionist insisted she come out and deal with it.” I held up my hands in surrender. “We got lucky.”

“Why do you think she’s hanging around after stealing from your client?” asked Farid.

“My guess is to make the final delivery. The better question is why does she have so many safe houses in this town?” I asked.

“Well, that’s easy, she’s…” Maddox’s elbow in Farid’s ribs quieted him.

“Now she’s gone, I guess I’ll never know,” I said, suspicious of what Farid thought I knew and what Maddox didn’t want him to tell me. So much for camaraderie! “Anyway, thanks for scaring her off.” I waggled my forefinger at both of them as I circled Maddox, the open door only a few paces away. “Some investigators you are! I spotted you across the street. She saw you almost as soon as she came into the reception area.”

“She’s got a point,” said Farid.

“No, she doesn’t!” said Maddox.

“Totally do,” I snipped as my phone buzzed again. “That SUV and those suits stand out to anyone up to anything nefarious within a five-mile radius. Anyway, gotta go! Leads to follow! Criminals to apprehend! Toodaloo!” I was out the door, pulling it closed behind me before either man could protest. On the other side of the door, it sounded like something small had been kicked across the room.

Unfortunately, Maddox was right. Sally Smith, Cass Temple, or whatever her name was next week, was gone and I was pretty sure she’d just executed the simplest escape plan in her handbook. All she had to do was lock the door behind her, confident we would waste our time trying to get inside, then slip into the closet, and close the doors behind her as she wiggled through the hole into the adjoining room. Then, while we rushed into the end room, she simply sneaked out the door onto the walkway, jogging away while we chased our tails before we realized what she’d done.

Her backup plan had worked perfectly.

It was as if she’d done it a thousand times before, always ready to outsmart her pursuers.

I kind of liked her!

But I would have liked her more if I’d found the ring.

Now I’d blown my one chance at appealing to her face-to-face and I’d no idea how to find her. There was no way she would return here, not with the Feds buzzing around too, and the car would certainly be abandoned now. If she had another safe house, there was no way she would use it, not after these two were located so quickly. No, she was going to ground.

I jogged down the stairwell, looking around for Lily when I stepped onto the first-floor walkway. She hadn’t followed Maddox and Farid so where had she gone to?

“Psst!”

I looked around, in search of the noise.

“Psst!”

It was coming from the walkway between the reception and this wing so I edged forwards, past closed doors and dark windows, the TV flashing in one of them.

“Lexi! In here!” A hand shot out, grabbed my arm, and pulled me inside a room. The drapes were partially drawn but the material was thin, making it light enough to see. Lily grinned at me as she pushed the door closed.

“What are you doing?” I asked, looking around the room she’d pulled me into. The bed covers and drapes were a different color from the motel’s top floor and the layout marginally different, but the furnishings were all the same. This room, however, was larger with a kitchenette and a small, circular table with two chairs.

“I figured there was no point in me chasing after you when Maddox and Farid were clearly following you for backup, so I thought I’d check out Cass’s room. I knew it was one of these since she got to the reception so quickly after she was called, and she was just tucking a key into her pocket. Since the other two were occupied, I broke into this one.” Lily flashed me a pleased smile.

“I broke into a room upstairs!”

“We’re so good at this!” squeaked Lily and clapped her hands. “If only we broke into her car too.”

“Do you know how?”

“No. You?”

“No.”

“Hmm. We should learn,” said Lily. “Do you know any car thieves?”

“No.”

“No problem. Ruby probably does. If not, Jord definitely does.”

“We got lucky that she’d left the car open to be stolen,” I decided. “There wasn’t anything inside anyway.”

“So where did Cass go? Did you catch her?”

“No, she had another escape plan ready. I figure once she realized we were all bearing down on her, her ploy was to get us to follow her upstairs, give us the runaround, and make sure we didn’t come back to this room. It makes sense now,” I said, taking in the backpack on the chair and the duffel bag on the floor by the bed. A plate, a bowl, and flatware were drying by the sink. “Those rooms were empty but there are things in here. She stayed here, thinking even if we tracked the car, once it was stolen, we’d never check out this location again.”

“She didn’t figure on us ignoring that plan,” said Lily with a pleased smile. “I haven’t had a chance to properly go through her things but it’s definitely woman stuff. There’s a backpack and a weekend bag with a few clothes in it and a lot of cash. I mean a lot ! Nothing in the bathroom except a disposable toothbrush and a mini tube of toothpaste. She needs a skincare routine!”

“She had really nice skin,” I said. She’d been fresh-faced, and pretty without makeup. Her hair looked really good too but I couldn’t be sure. Two weeks ago, her hairstyle was a little different. I wondered if anyone knew what she really looked like.

“Probably the result of all that running away from stuff. So much fresh air and blood pumping gave her a healthy glow.”

I caught sight of myself in the mirror over the small table. “Do I need to do more running?” I asked, poking at my eye creases. “Do I look healthy?”

“You look tired and bruised. I know it’s not all down to late night baby-making because I don’t think you’d get bruises from that, although one time when Jord…”

“No! Definitely not and there was no baby-making last night. I didn’t even wake up when Solomon came to bed.” I peered at the bruise on my cheek. It didn’t look any worse and the brief excitement had distracted me from thoughts of my mildly sore but unbroken nose.

“You should definitely be awake for the fun stuff,” said Lily. “Anyway, wait until you get a baby and you hurt, and it cries, and you can’t sleep. Then you’ll think the flu gives you a healthy glow.”

“Can’t wait.” I turned back to her, knowing we needed to act quickly. “You take the bag, I’ll take the backpack. We need to hurry. Maddox and Farid are going through the decoy rooms upstairs but I can’t be sure they don’t know she had this room too. I don’t even know how they knew she was here. I’m sure Lucas didn’t tip them off about the car.”

“The joys of law enforcement means they’re tapped into a bigger network with a lot more eyes. You need to polish your informants,” said Lily.

“I don’t have any informants.” I grabbed the backpack from the desk chair and upended it on the bed, taking precisely no care about how I conducted the search. Cass Temple had to know that one of us would figure out where she’d been holed up eventually. There was no point pretending we hadn’t found her room.

“Exactly!” Lily pulled open the duffel bag zipper and the contents tumbled out. “Jeans, t-shirts, underwear, socks, three different passports. Hairbrush. Oh!” Lily stopped.

I glanced over, hoping for a revelation. Or, even better, the ring. “What?”

“Moisturizer,” said Lily, holding up a small tube to me. “Nice brand. I’ve been meaning to try it. She travels light. These t-shirts look new and the jeans still have the tags on.”

“Pat down the bag in case of secret compartments,” I suggested.

“That is so exciting. Do you have secret compartments in your overnight bags?”

“No, but I don’t steal stuff.”

“I think you’d be good at it.”

I frowned. “Thanks… I think?”

While Lily patted the bag carefully, I poked through the backpack’s contents I’d dropped in a pile on the bed. A large manila envelope with rental papers for the car made out to, and signed by, Sally Smith. A wad of bills curled into a bundle and secured by a rubber band. A few snacks and a bottled water, and another smaller envelope. I ignored everything in favor of the small envelope and pulled out a sheaf of folded papers and some xeroxed photos. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I opened the loose sheets, scanning them. Cass Temple hadn’t lied about her hypothetical client.

“The bag’s empty. What have you got there?” asked Lily.

“It looks like a timeline of the ring I’m searching for and copies of a lot of other things, all translated into English. The commission, the date of purchase, the purchaser’s name, and the recipients. It appears to have been bought by a man for his wife on her birthday. Events it was worn to with appendix notes. The date it was stolen and by whom. The couple left Poland two days later, in 1938, and arrived first in England and later settled in the United States. There’re copies of train and boat tickets and a letter with a translation. I think it’s an offer of sponsorship from a relative.” I shuffled the papers. “The evidence backs up my suspicions. There’s a copy of the letter of the ring’s commission, a sketch of the design with a letter from the designer, the receipt, photos. Oh! I think it was an engagement ring, not a birthday gift. Even the boat ticket to the States in their names.” I set the papers on my knees, looking up at Lily. Cold shock gripped me. “I think Cass was right. The ring was stolen by Nazis and this couple escaped.”

“So how did it get to the people the Reynoldses bought it from?”

“Good question. They had evidence of ownership but… not this kind of evidence and not as extensive,” I said, showing Lily photocopy after photocopy. “They had evidence of the seller’s mother wearing the ring around the time of the occupation and after, and a plausible story why they didn’t have receipts. I don’t know if they knew who stole it but I did find evidence that they socialized with some very unsavory people. Perhaps they were given it? Or bought it from someone unscrupulous?”

I set the papers on my lap, frustrated by the conundrum that I now held. “If the ring were originally stolen, in what looks like a horrific act of Nazi persecution, then shouldn’t the ring be returned to the rightful owners? But also, I don’t think the Reynoldses did anything wrong. They didn’t know. They stand to lose the money they used to purchase it in good faith. No wonder Cass Temple’s clients wanted to bypass the law and reclaim it. They have to be related to this couple.”

“It would be more of a problem if you’d found the ring,” said Lily. “All this evidence is useless until you have it. For what it’s worth though, I think the ring should be returned to its true owners.”

“I agree.” I stood and arranged the papers on the bed, taking photos of each one, even though I planned on taking the envelope with me. Whoever Cass really was—and I was starting to doubt her name even was Cass Temple, no matter what Maddox said—I was sure this packet wasn’t her only copy. Someone had the originals too, or other copies elsewhere. I set the envelope aside and was considering whether to stuff everything else back inside the backpack or return it when I noticed a small envelope remaining on the bed, forgotten until now. I grabbed it, turned it upside-down, and shook out the small pouch inside. Loosening the ties, I shook it and out tumbled the ring into my open palm.

“ Now we have a problem,” I said, moving towards the door and window to see it in the light the half-drawn drapes allowed. The ring’s sapphire illuminated beautifully, the blue brilliant against the diamonds, and I could only imagine how delighted the original recipient had been to receive it along with her proposal.

I could also imagine her pain at losing it to evil.

Had she wondered every day who wore her ring? Who profited from its theft?

“Finding the ring solves the case,” pointed out Lily. “If you return it to the Reynoldses, you’ve done your job. The original owners can go to the police and petition for its return or…”

“Or what?”

“Or you could never find it and let the original owners have it back,” she said, fixing me with a determined look. “The Reynoldses can file a claim on their insurance. Everyone gets what rightfully belongs to them.”

We both looked at the ring. “I think I have a better idea,” I said, holding up the ring and smiling.

“Lexi!” Lily’s eyes widened in alarm.

A cool breeze hit the back of my neck, then a creak and a soft footfall sounded behind me. I didn’t even have chance to turn.

“I’ll take that,” said a woman’s voice as fingers closed around mine.