Page 63 of When Fashion Turns Deadly

Under those conditions, Cole certainly qualified. It might be stretching the truth a bit in Lars’s case, but if practice watching security feed counted, few people could match him.

“I won’t lie to them,” Esmee said.

“It wouldn’t be a lie,” Isabelle said.

Esmee was vacillating. Lars could sense it. Maybe a reminder of what she stood to lose would be helpful. “There is a third alternative,” he said. “If you don’t think Cole and I can keep them safe, Marit and Isabelle could leave Paris. I’m sure you agree it’s not worth risking their lives to stay here unprotected.”

Esmee’s eyes flashed with something that looked remarkably like panic. “I’ll speak to the building supervisor,” she said. “You can stay until the police have taken care of the threat. But only until then.”

A phone rang in her dressing gown pocket. Esmee pulled it out, frowned, and answered it. “This is Esmee.” She paused, listening intently to whoever was on the other end. “Yes. I understand. Thank you for telling me.” She hung up. “Well, it looks like I won’t have to speak to the supervisor until later this morning,” she said. “That was the security guard downstairs. It seems that he returned to the lobby from the men’s room to discover the police sealing the building. No one is to go in or out until they’ve determined what happened.” She offered Marit a regretful look. “They’re on their way up.”

“I’ll go into the hall with Esmee to meet them,” Isabelle said. “Will you let Cole know what’s happening?”

The moment Isabelle and Esmee walked out, Lars pulled out his phone and called Cole. The phone rang four times before his cousin answered it.

“What’s going on?” Cole asked.

“The police are here and have sealed the building,” Lars said.

“Yeah, I guessed that might happen when I heard the sirens. Have they reached the girls’ flat yet?”

“They’re on their way up.”

“Okay,” Cole said. “I should be there in just a minute.”

“The police won’t let you—”

“Hey, would you have Marit go stand at her bedroom window?” Cole said as though he hadn’t even heard Lars. “I want to make sure I have the right one.”

Lars lowered his phone. “Cole wants you to go stand at your bedroom window.”

Marit gave him a puzzled look but hurried into the room behind her. Moments later, there was a slight thud. Lars arrived at the open bedroom door in time to see Cole appear outside the glass. Marit yanked the window open, and Cole slid inside. As soon as his feet were firmly on the floor, he released the harness he was wearing.

“Thanks for opening the window,” Cole said. “That made things a lot easier.”

Lars stared at him. “You rappelled in here from the roof?”

Cole shrugged. “I already had all the equipment with me, and I knew where the fire escape was.” He looked at Lars’s face and chuckled. “I told you I’d only be a minute.”

Lars rolled his eyes. “You get to explain to Esmee how you got in here.”

“Esmee’s here?”

“She and Isabelle went into the hall to meet the police,” Marit said.

Cole stuffed his harness into his backpack and tossed his jacket onto a nearby chair. “I’ll go join them. If Esmee asks where I was earlier, we’ll tell her I was in the bathroom.”

“Okay,” Lars said. “But for the record, the security guard downstairs already used that excuse.”

Chapter 22

Isabelle stood between Esmee andGardien Chalamet as the police officer explained that he would remain in the building until morning.

“Do you have any idea what happened to the extra guard the building manager hired?” Isabelle asked.

“They only had him working until they locked the building down at night,” Gardien Chalamet said.

“They assumed no one could get past the locked doors?” Isabelle asked with a shake of her head.

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