Page 58 of Artful Deceit
“But he chose to live here. He likes the tranquillity.”
“Codswallop! He came back from London with his tail between his legs because he couldn’t make a living there. No one was interested in his art there, any more than they are here.”
“That’s not what he told me.”
“That’s hardly a surprise. Every man has his pride.” Hemoved to pull the ladder away from the wall. “Let’s get out of here before anyone catches us.”
Lily stopped him with a hand on the ladder. “I could have a really quick look,” she said, her foot already on the first rung. “You wait out here and keep watch.”
Ignoring the pain that throbbed along the entire right side of her body, she climbed the ladder as quickly as possible. The large window was easy to step through, though she knocked a small cactus off the windowsill when she climbed in. Quickly, she scooped the spilled soil back into the pot and dispersed the rest with her shoe.
She got a shock when she straightened up to find Len at the top of the ladder.
“I thought you were keeping watch,” she said, her voice instinctively quiet.
“We’ll be quicker if we both look. Besides, I don’t want you taking all the credit if it turns out that Gideon is the thief.” He flashed her a playful grin and shot across the kitchen. “You check in here. I’ll make a start on the bedroom.”
Working with an accomplice felt odd, and she didn’t love being told what to do, but she got straight to work anyway, rifling through drawers and cupboards.
Finding nothing, her gaze swept over the assorted junk in the room. The backpack shouldn’t be too difficult to spot.
With nothing obvious in the kitchen, she headed into the hallway.
“Any luck?” she whisper-hissed to Len.
“Nothing yet,” he replied.
Lily moved into the small living room and sighed at the mess. “How would you even tell if there were stolen goods?” she muttered. “At least he probably won’t notice if we leave something out of place.”
“What was that?” Len asked, appearing beside her, apparently thinking she’d been talking to him.
“I don’t even know where to start.” The piles of books andmagazines were all over the place, some seeming to act as tables with a glass or mug balanced on top.
Her eyes went to the side of the couch where the sunlight reflected off a shiny object on the floor.
“Look at that,” she whispered, crouching to look at the necklace.
Len loomed beside her. “How are we supposed to know if that’s stolen property or just more of his junk?”
Lily squinted, trying to get a better look at the pendant without touching the necklace. “I think Hilary said the one taken from her place was a silver heart with a blue stone.”
“Is that a silver heart?” Len asked.
“Yes. But that doesn’t mean it’s Hilary’s.”
“Why not send her a photo and ask?”
Lily straightened up and felt another jolt of pain. “Because if she knows we found it, she’ll expect us to return it. But we can’t do that since we’re not supposed to be here.”
“What was your plan then? For if we found something?”
She rubbed the bump on her head. “I have a habit of not thinking things through that far. Hang on a second…” She paced the room while she pondered it, then she pulled out her phone. “I’ll ask Hilary to describe the necklace. I think she said she’d given the police a photo, so maybe she can give me that.” The woman had talked so much that Lily hadn’t taken it all in, but she had a vague notion that she’d mentioned a photo.
“What do we do if it’s hers?”
She tapped on her phone, messaging Hilary. “Nothing for now. We leave it here, get out and don’t mention to anyone we were here. Then we’ll give the police an anonymous tip so they come and search.”
Len beamed. “You’re very good at this.”
