“That’s your discreet ‘help’ call,” Luke said. “If you feel like the situation merits Kyle and Jesse coming with guns drawn, you say ‘I think I’m getting a migraine.”

Her stomach knotted. He was about to leave. “Okay.”

Luke slapped the cover down on the mic and picked it up, then twined the fingers of his one free hands with hers. “Let’s go get you wired.”

She nodded because suddenly her throat was too tight to form words. A few minutes later they stood in the bedroom by the bed, and Luke used some sort of adhesive to stick the device on the inside of her bra.

His fingers skimmed her neck. “Don’t leave the building and stay in the highly populated areas of the function until I get to you. It’s killing me to leave you.”

“Then don’t,” she said, her hand grasping his wrist. “Please don’t go to the judge’s house. He’ll have moved anything of importance after Elizabeth’s threat.”

“Maybe,” he said. “But we have to try, and tonight when his main collection is on display will make it easier to see what is left behind.”

“Just come to the party with me, Luke, please. I have a bad feeling about all of this.”

“If I didn’t think my experience was critical to doing this, I’d send someone else, but I know how to get us in and out unnoticed. And Blake would die to protect you or I’d never even consider this.”

“I don’t care about me. I care about you. Just don’t do this at all.”

His expression softened. “I care about you and you said you wanted a means to an end. And as much as I want to lock you away someplace safe, I know it’s not realistic. That means I have to find answers and end this. I have to a look in the judge’s house and his safe.”

“It’s my fault you’re even in this.”

“It’s not your fault,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “And anywhere you are, I want to be, including at the party. So I’m going to go get this over with so I can join you.”

***

Julie spent the first thirty minutes inside the Manhattan Museum of Art checking on every detail to make sure the event was going well. More than anything, she didn’t want to think about what could be happening to Luke. That meant staying busy, which also allowed her to avoid the judge, and, for that matter, anyone who might want to kill her.

When her excuses to avoid mingling ran out, she stood at the edge of the main event space, large enough to host a wedding of at least five hundred. A band played a soft melody opposite from where Julie stood. White linen-covered tables surrounded a dance floor where only one couple had braved center stage thus far. Away from the tables, people in fancy dresses and suits stood in groups, chatting.

Julie headed for the tables, deciding to make the rounds and thank everyone for coming. She’d just finished chatting with the first table of ten when she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

“Julie.”

She swung around to see Gina standing in front of her with her arm linked through that of an Adonis with dark hair and piercing eyes.

“Gina,” Julie said taking in Gina’s white silk dress with appreciation. Her hair was pulled up with tiny ringlets of curls around her face. “You look lovely tonight. Like an angel.”

The man laughed, and Gina elbowed him. “This is Marco, my very rude date. Marco, this is Julie Harrison, my boss.”

He gave a gallant half bow. “Pleased indeed, Ms. Harrison.” There was a strong accent to his voice that Julie couldn’t quite place.

He straightened, and Julie didn’t miss the way his gaze lingered on her cleavage. He was good-looking but there was something almost predatory about him.

“Marco is an artist,” Gina inserted.

 “Really?” Julie said. “What kind of art?”

“My art, like my interests are broad,” he said, and there was no missing the undertone of flirtation. Julie’s gaze slid to Gina’s face with concern, but Gina didn’t seem to notice.

“I’m sure this is an interesting night for you two then,” she said. ”I hope you’ll enjoy the event. You deserve it. Thank you for making phone calls and juggling so much to help me this morning.”

“It was my pleasure,” she said, “and I’ll be glad to help with anything you need tonight.”

Was there a condescending tone to her voice? And had it been there before and Julie hadn’t noticed? Or maybe paranoia had just taken over. “It seems like all is well, so I’d say go have a good evening.” Julie motioned toward a corridor to the right of the band. “The judge’s collection is down that hallway and it truly is spectacular.”

“All right,” Gina said, “but I have my cell if anything changes.”

***

Gina tightened her grip on Marco’s arm as they walked away from Julie. “Why don’t we take a stroll in the back courtyard?” she suggested.

“It’s rather cold,” he said, casting her a dark stare. “And you aren’t wearing much in the way of clothes. Not that I’m complaining.”

“I’m sure you’ll keep me warm.” There was a reason she’d invited her starving artist along for the ride. He needed money. So did she, and the judge’s threats only served one purpose. He’d convinced her he’d pay far more than fifty thousand dollars. Oh, he might try to kill her, too, but Marco had a shadowy past, a way he moved and operated that told her he was more than he let on. She could feel it, almost taste it when she was with him. It turned her on. It also made her confident fate had thrown him into her path for a reason. The two of them could get rich together.

She wasn’t quite ready to bring him in yet though. She had a way of getting men to open up in bed. She’d take him for a few more rides, starting in the courtyard. She’d test him, size him up. If she was right, then she’d have her man, the journal, and enough money to disappear. Screw Julie and her law degree, and screw the judge who though he could fuck her and not get fucked himself.

***

Forty-five minutes outside the city, Luke squatted in the bushes at the back Judge Moore’s Long Island mansion, with Kyle by his side. It was only seven o’clock, still early for breaking and entering, but the two-acre lot and a heavy coverage of trees helped offer coverage.

Impressive as always, Kyle dismantled the security system in all of about sixty seconds, including the motion detector spotlights. Luke followed Kyle silently through the back door, blending into the darkness. Working with an unspoken understanding, they split up and began their search. Luke crept along the walls, looking for a hidden panel that might be a safe or hidden compartment, keeping low to avoid the windows. A quick flash of light, two blinks as a signal, told him Kyle had found something.

Within seconds, Luke and Kyle were side-by-side in a small library just off the kitchen, where Kyle had found a basement door under a carpet.

  Kneeling down, they examined the entrance where a combination lock was set inside a steel door. Kyle grinned, showing white teeth against the darkness of the room, clearly telling Luke his job would be a piece of cake.

Leaning back on his heels, Luke watched Kyle in action for all of another sixty seconds. The man was incredible. They were just about to lift he door when a tiny click made both of them freeze. They listened. There it was again, a low, barely there sound. Luke pulled the Glock at his ankle and motioned for Kyle to keep working.

Luke quickly, soundlessly, crossed the room, and flattened against the wall. Cautiously he leaned forward, surveying the hallway. When he was certain he would be undetected, he moved through the doorway.

He was halfway down the walkway when a faint creaking drew him up short. To anyone else it might have sounded like the house settling. To Luke, it sounded like they had company, and nowhere near his team’s skill, or they wouldn’t have been detected.

Adrenaline surged in Luke’s veins and he squatted down, on the move again, pausing to glance around the wall into the living room. Two big men, also in all black, were  searching the living room, and clearly they hadn’t done their surveillance well, or they’d have noticed the security system was down. They’d have known someone else was here.