Page 18 of Heartsong
Move over Most Interesting Man Alive.
Who were her bosses? Seriously.
“That’s…I didn’t know you were a doctor.”
Carrie blinked, color rising in her cheeks. “It was a long time ago.”
She was spared Anna’s questions when a light tap at the door drew their attention.
June Parkhurst was even lovelier in the daylight, all warm reds and golds and browns, her tall frame swathed in a soft, emerald-green sweater dress. She would have looked like a princess if it weren’t for the obvious concern marring her expression as the officer opened the door for her. He ushered her inside and pointed toward Anna and Carrie at the front desk.
“Wait over there please, Miss Parkhurst,” he said, then turned to speak into his radio.
June approached cautiously, gaze bouncing between Anna and Carrie, her long fingers clenched in the knit cuffs of her dress.
“Hello again,” Anna said with an awkward smile.
“Thank you so much for coming.” Carrie hurried around the desk to squeeze June’s hands, too. “I’m so sorry this happened, Miss Parkhurst.”
“Please, call me June.” Gently pulling her hands away, June said, “I’m sorry about the pieces. I only got a brief look at them, but they’re amazing. I can’t believe someone would do this.”
Carrie shook her head sadly. “We never imagined something like this would happen.”
“Do you know what was taken?”
Everything in Anna, from throat to stomach to toes, clenched.
“Two of the clan statues,” Carrie answered with a genuine mournfulness, as if it were family members kidnapped. “The large obsidian male and…” She turned her sad gaze on Anna, “the big gray male at the head of the gallery.”
“Oh no!” Anna gasped. And it wasn’t for show.
Carrie reached out to pat her hand in sympathy. “I know you liked him. He was my…one of my favorites, too.”
“It’s unbelievable that they made off with two huge statues like that,” said June, a slight frown disrupting the freckles on her forehead. “They didn’t go for anything smaller?”
“A few other small things were taken, but nothing of much importance. Not like the statues.”
“What kind of thieves would do that? It’s hard enough selling a small stolen Matisse let alone a giant statue.”
“Did the cameras get anything?” Anna asked through numb lips.
Should have thought of that sooner!She blamed it on shock.
“No, they were disabled. They shouldn’t have been able to.” Carrie’s face went stony, an anger simmering under the surface Anna had never seen before and that tipped the scales again towards her being fifty.
Static crackled through the air, the other officers confirming through the radio that they were on their way back to the lobby.
Looking between them again, June turned suddenly to Anna and said, “Can you show me the bathrooms?”
“Oh, um, they’re down the hall to your—”
“Can youshow me.Please.”
Anna nodded slowly. “Sure. Of course.”
She managed to give Carrie awhat can you dogrin before leading June from the lobby to the bathrooms.
They walked in silence, and Anna could feel both the officer and Carrie’s gazes on their backs as they went. With every step, it felt as though June’s anxiety bled into her, so that when they finally made the bathrooms and the door swished shut behind them, Anna’s breathing had gone labored and her heartbeat rapid.
