Stakes & Stilettos - Michelle Rowen [78]
I tried to see past him into the shop, wanting to scan the place as soon as I could, but the man was large and he blocked the entrance.
“Speaking of wives,” Hans said, “how is Veronique? I only met her once in passing, but she has stuck in my memory as one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen.”
“Veronique is fine,” Thierry replied.
Hans shook his head. “If I was married to a stunning woman like that I might have considered becoming a vampire. My wife may look thirty, but it’s an ugly thirty.”
“I will pass along the compliment to Veronique.”
He glanced at me. “So you’re the problem, eh?”
“Excuse me?”
“The reason I had to open up my shop. You’re the problem.”
Yeah, that sounded about right. Veronique was the stunning beauty and I was the problem. Nothing new there. That was the least of my troubles right now.
Thierry touched my arm. “Sarah is looking for a gold chain that was sold here by accident. We wish to retrieve it.”
“It was me,” Amy admitted. “I was in the day before yesterday with it.” Her shoulders hunched. “I am so ashamed.”
Hans eyed her. “I think I remember you. How could I forget that hair color? You said you wanted to get rid of it for any price.”
Amy glanced at me and shrugged. “Again, so sorry.”
“I’ll pay you for it,” I told Hans. “Can you please get it for me?”
He pulled a pair of round-rimmed glasses out of the pocket of his robe and put them on, pushing them into place on the bridge of his nose. I felt as if he was studying me at the end of a microscope. “I’ll look.”
I waited, feeling on edge and jittery, as he wandered over to the main counter, a glass cabinet filled with all sorts of jewelry. Around the rest of the store were other objects, not only jewelry. I thought he would look through the merchandise itself, but instead he consulted a list on a clipboard.
He looked at Amy. “You were in the day before yesterday, you say?”
“That’s right.”
His finger traced the line of the page. “Yes, I see. Here you are.” He flipped forward a couple of pages, tilted his head to one side. “Hmm.”
I glanced at Thierry and tried not to allow my current state of anxiety to show on my face.
“What do you mean, ‘hmm’?” I asked. Had he found it?
“Just a moment.” He took a key, opened the cabinet, and pulled out a few chains. “Come here, miss.”
I did as he asked and I was looking at the necklaces that he laid out on the counter on top of a black piece of velvet.
I frowned. “What about them?”
“Will any of these do?” he asked.
“Will any of these do?” I repeated. “No, they won’t. I need the one that Amy brought in.”
“According to my records, it was a simple gold chain. As are these. Any of these would make a fine replacement.”
“We don’t wish to find a replacement,” Thierry said, and I felt his hand on my back. “We require the original.”
“Well, I’m sorry, but that’s not possible.”
“If price is the object,” Thierry continued, “we are willing to pay any price to get it.”
Hans shook his head. “A generous offer, but not the point, I’m afraid. The chain you are looking for was sold earlier today. I didn’t remember until I looked at the ledger.”
“Sold?” I squeaked. “You’re joking, right?”
“No, I’m afraid not.”
I felt a tight sensation building in my chest. I think it was panic. Or possibly a massive heart attack. “But… but it was ugly. Who would even want it?”
“Yes, the same, I suppose, could be said about my wife, and yet someone wanted her.” Hans took the chains and returned them to the cabinet before he locked it up again. “It was an odd situation. For a moment this afternoon I was quite sure that I was being robbed. The man came in and looked around. He approached the counter and pointed directly to the chain. I was almost ready to reach for the alarm when he produced a thousand dollars, asked me to give him the chain, and walked out without a receipt or a box.”
I felt like throwing up. No. It couldn’t have been sold. Who would buy something like that when there were a dozen other nicer chains in stock?
“I don’t understand,” I managed. “Why did you think you were being