Flawless

She needed to leave. She needed to get back to the pub before Declan started worrying about her.

But instead she was stuck sitting in the back of an ambulance, wrapped in a blanket and drinking coffee while desperately trying to convince the police and EMTs and whoever else was there that she was fine and just needed to leave.

Finally one cop told her, “Sorry, miss, you’re not going anywhere. You’re the best witness we’ve got against these guys.”

“But I really need to go to work.”

She hadn’t seen the agent who had leaped into the van like a fullback since the cops had sounded and he had jumped out again. An officer had helped her out, and then others had entered the van to gather up the thieves, who were now on their way to a police station somewhere to be held for arraignment. She’d overheard the driver, a good old boy with a beard and flannel shirt, inform them that he wasn’t talking to anyone until he had a lawyer.

She had turned over all the diamonds to the police—including the one her brother had pinched.

She realized that she was now actively afraid of explaining to Declan what she had been doing. She had promised to work that night, and while Daniel might manage for a few hours, he wasn’t up to handling the night crowds.

One of the EMTs came over to her. “You should really go to the hospital for a checkup, just to make sure you’re all right. Sounds like you got pretty shaken up in that van.”

“I swear, I’m fine,” Kieran said, putting a little more pressure on the ice pack pressed to her cheek.

“Everyone who was in there looks as if they’ve been in the ring with Ali,” the EMT said. He kept talking, but Kieran didn’t hear him. She was too busy being horrified by the reporters—with cameras—who had arrived on the scene.

She had to get out of there.

She slid off her perch. She’d told her story at least three times: once to a nice-looking man in his late thirties wearing a pin-striped suit, once to an officer in uniform and once to an older man with gray hair and a grim face. They’d said something about statements and the DA’s office getting hold of her. Fine. They had her information and they could call her later.

She did not want to appear on the news.

As she slipped around the ambulance, hoping that she could just blend into the crowd, she stopped short. The FBI agent who had literally jumped to her rescue was talking with the man in the pin-striped suit she had spoken with earlier.

“The bosses want you to make a statement, Craig,” the man in the suit was saying. “They want you to say that the jewel thieves have been caught.”

“Mike, they haven’t all been caught. These guys didn’t kill anybody. Don’t you understand? They were running around with toy guns!”

“Yeah, toys now. How do we know that they weren’t packing the real thing before? That they weren’t expecting to be caught sooner rather than later and were determined not to go down for murder?”

“Mike, why would they think—”

“Because it’s hit the news, Craig. Two people dead—you didn’t think that they’d be able to keep a gag on it long, did you?”

Kieran froze where she stood.

Two people were dead?

Killed by the same thieves who’d taken her hostage?

She stared at the two men in shock.

“Yeah,” her savior—Craig—said. “And I’m telling you, the killers are still out there.”

What the hell? Did he really believe that there were more jewel thieves out there, only carrying real guns?

“Just for a checkup,” someone said behind her.

She turned. The earnest EMT had followed her and was still trying to convince her to go to the hospital.

He flashed a light into her eyes, his own eyes worried as he examined her. “You need medical attention.”

“No, I don’t,” Kieran said.

She looked away from him and saw that FBI agent Craig—was that his first name or his last? she wondered—was standing only a few feet away, staring at her.

She felt a moment’s panic, then remembered that he’d managed to pass the stolen diamond to the police along with the others.

With any luck whatsoever, no one would know that it had ever been in her possession. Thank God she’d managed to give it back, even if not in the way she’d planned.

Thank God neither she nor anyone else had been killed.

“Miss Finnegan?” he said.

“Yes,” she said. She hoped he couldn’t hear the note of guilt in that single syllable. And why should she feel guilty, anyway? She hadn’t stolen the diamond. She’d been trying to do the right thing—and she’d been kidnapped for her efforts.

“I’m special agent Craig Frasier,” he said, and then he smiled, which changed his countenance entirely. He had high, strong cheekbones and a jaw that appeared to be made of stone. He was tall and dark haired with light eyes that drew her attention and seemed to home in on her like—like truth-seeking beacons.

“I know you’ve told your story several times, but would you tell it again to me?” he asked her.

“There’s not much to tell,” she said. “And you were there at the end, so...”

“But I wasn’t there at the beginning. You went to the store why? Were you looking for a premade piece or a unique stone you could have set?” he asked.

She looked at him, wondering why guilt had immediately set in. “I went to see some loose stones. A friend of mine was married—still is, technically speaking—to one of the salesmen there. She’s interested in buying one of the stones he handles, but she didn’t want to see him, so she asked me to go and look at them. It turned out he wasn’t working, but anyone can show another salesman’s stones. But before I could see them, the thieves came in.”

“And had you ever seen any of them before?”

She shook her head. “I still haven’t actually seen them. The ski masks, you know. But none of them sounded familiar. I’ve definitely never seen the driver before.”

“Yeah, this is New York, after all,” he murmured.

She couldn’t help but smile drily. “You mean we all live by the ‘don’t make eye contact’ rule?”

“I’d like you to come in tomorrow and take a look at some pictures of the men,” he said.

“Why? You can’t need a lineup. You caught them all red-handed.” The thief who escaped from the van had later been apprehended by one of the officers.

“I’d still like to know if they look familiar to you in any way.”

“I’ll come, but...”

“I’ll send a car for you,” he said. “Around ten?”

At ten she would be working her job at the Midtown offices of Doctors Fuller and Miro.