Page 46 of Puppy Love & Snowflake Kisses
Chapter Fifteen
Therehadtobesomething he was missing.
Parker stared at the wooden jewelry box. To him, it was a big jewelry box. The outside was carved with flowers, hearts, and swirls. He didn’t see a name of a company, so he wondered if it was handmade. If so, there may well be a hidden compartment.
The top of the box didn’t move. It had two wooden doors that had little brass handles. And when he opened them there was a row of little drawers to the left and an open space to the right to hang necklaces. At the bottom of the jewelry box, there was a big drawer.
While Belle was upstairs changing into some dry clothes, he continued to puzzle over the jewelry box. He opened the doors and once more took out each of the little drawers. He studied each of them from top to bottom. He was certain there was nothing special about them. He set them aside.
Then he focused on the rest of the jewelry box. He turned it this way and that way. He knocked on this wall and that wall. And then he noticed that there might be an open space at the top of the jewelry box. He wasn’t sure. If so, it wasn’t very much space.
He pulled here, and he pushed there. If this thing opened up, it was like a puzzle box. He kept trying to move things, but with so much engraving, it was nearly impossible to see any cuts in the wood.
Desperate to figure this out so he could solve this case, he kept up his push/pull method. And then something shifted beneath his finger tip. It was a small strip of wood. His heart beat faster. This was it. He’d finally figured it out.
He pulled out the small slip of wood from beneath the lid and set it aside. Then he once more tried to open the top of the jewelry box. It didn’t budge. He tried again with the same results. He expelled a frustrated groan.
There had to be another piece of wood locking the lid into place. He kept searching. At last, he found it. He removed the piece. This was it. The final step. He was certain of it.
He set aside the strip of wood and then he lifted on the lid of the jewelry box. This time it gave way. He moved it to the table and stared inside the hidden space. Inside were folded papers.
He withdrew them and unfolded them. They were bearer bonds. He didn’t know much about them, but the amount on them and the number of them said they were valuable.
He heard movement at the top of the steps. Belle was coming. He still had his coat on so he stuffed the papers in the back of his jeans, then he replaced the top of the jewelry box. Thankfully, the two strips of wood quickly and easily slid into place.
The last piece of wood had just fallen into place when Belle entered the kitchen. She wore a worried frown on her face. He wanted to promise her that everything was going to work out, but he couldn’t say that, because he didn’t know how this situation was going to play, especially now that he knew the stakes were really high.
She stopped and stared at him as though she knew he was keeping something from her. “You figured it out, didn’t you?”
He hesitated. Then knowing he couldn’t lie to her, he explained what he’d found.
“Wow. I can’t believe that was in the jewelry box. I probably never would have found them. Did you put them back?”
And this was why he didn’t want to mention them to her. “No. And I’m not doing it.”
“But you have to. If he knows they’re gone, he won’t give back Odie.”
“We have no guarantee he’ll give the dog back, even if he gets the bonds. The best thing to do is hang onto them so we have some leverage.”
“I don’t know…”
He glanced at the time on his phone. “Just trust me and go. You don’t want to be late.”
Belle slipped on her coat. When she reached for the jewelry box, she said, “Don’t follow me.”
He couldn’t believe she didn’t want his backup. She was either very brave or very desperate. He figured it was a little of both. But it didn’t matter because she wasn’t doing this alone. He got to his feet.
When he didn’t say anything, she said, “Please. I’m begging you. Let’s just do this part my way. I can’t risk Odie.”
Still, he said nothing because everything within him was screaming to stop her. But he knew by the determined look on her face that she was going to put up a fight, but it wouldn’t stop him.
Buzz.
He reached for his phone. When he saw it was one of his deputies, he said, “Let me get this. It might be new information about the case.”
She nodded.
He pressed the phone to his ear. “Bishop.”
