Christmas Male(70)

“And the other daughter? The professor?”

D.C. smiled. “She’s much less forthcoming. She won’t admit to any involvement, and she’s distancing herself from her mother and sister. She claims she was waiting outside the National Gallery because the three of them had dinner plans. She also says she had no idea of Billy Franks’s involvement in the attempted theft until he came to her house in a panic two days ago.”

“And she didn’t go to the police because?” Chance asked.

“He was a student of hers. And after all, the necklace hadn’t been stolen, had it? But her sister Charity is singing a different tune. Lots of sibling rivalry there. And Billy is filling in a lot of blanks. He tipped us off that it was Kathryn who rented the van he and his friends used. It was also her gun that he used to hit Amanda on the head. He claims Lewen gave it to him just in case he needed it.”

“Do you know why they involved Billy Franks?” Chance asked.

“He had the skills to get to the diamond and Kathryn didn’t. Billy also says that Kathryn Lewen recruited him to come to the university in the first place. I’m betting that was Regina’s idea. After all, she knew of his grandfather’s talents and had probably done her research on young Billy. Fiona believes that Billy developed a crush on Kathryn Lewen and she used that to lure him into doing what she wanted.”

“Is he going to have to do jail time?” Chance asked.

“At Amanda’s request, General Eddinger has hired him a very good lawyer. And I understand that Arthur Franks has invited him for a visit.”

“Who decided to eliminate Billy?” Chance asked.

“I’m betting on Regina pulling all the strings. She’s the one Amanda heard talking about it. If the original plan had worked, all three women would probably have returned to their jobs with no one being the wiser for some time. But Billy would have been a liability. After waiting for ten years, Kate/Regina wouldn’t take a chance that anyone would spoil her plan.”

“And Amanda spoiled everything,” Chance said.

D.C. smiled. “Indeed, she did. And Regina panicked. That’s why I think she tried to eliminate Billy and his friends. And, of course, she had to switch to a much riskier backup plan. Once that necklace had left the National Gallery with your security detail, she believed she would never see it again. Her obsession with it took over and she risked everything.”

“She just might have pulled it off. That diamond has a lot of power,” Chance said.

D.C. fingered the bag in his pocket. “It does.”

In the distance, he heard the laughter of Chance’s brothers-in-law, but he never took his eyes off of Fiona. When she rose from the bed and turned to meet his gaze through the glass, every other thought slipped from his mind.



FOR A MOMENT FIONA DIDN’T MOVE. She just stood there, her gaze locked on D.C. Once more she felt that pull, as intense and irresistible as it had been from the first time she’d seen him across the display case. She moved toward him. Natalie’s room was small, the distance to the door no more than ten feet, but she felt like she was walking the last mile. Nerves danced in her stomach. She and D.C. had to get back to the station. There was still a lot of work to do, and she’d already lingered longer than she should have.

But her nerves had nothing to do with the case and everything to do with D.C. Their work together was drawing to a close. It was Christmas morning, and she’d spent the past ten minutes holding a little Christmas miracle. Noelle Gibbs-Mitchell. D.C.’s mother had once more invited her to join the Campbell family to celebrate Christmas. But they’d switched locations from Manhattan to Baltimore because of the case. She wanted to join them.

Fiona Gallagher, the woman who avoided Christmas like the plague, wanted to spend the holiday with people who were still strangers to her and with a man she was just coming to know.

And that wasn’t all she wanted. She wanted D. C. Campbell.

When she stepped into the hall, Chance ushered his food-laden brothers-in-law into the room, shutting the door behind them. For a moment, neither she nor D.C. spoke.

Christmas was a time for wishes, Fiona reminded herself. She’d believed that once. She’d already been granted one wish—the case that would keep her busy during the holidays. Now she was just going to have to take a risk and make another.

“D.C.—”

“Fiona.”

They spoke at the same time. Then the silence fell again.

D.C. studied her and tried to find the words. She was the only woman he’d ever met who’d had this power to tie his tongue into knots.

“I want to—” This time they not only spoke at the same time, they said the same words.