Winning Amelia

“Depends where you look.”

“Can you hack into the Ministry of Transport database?”

He shook his head. “Hacking the MOT would be illegal. Besides, I do have another approach I could take. I heard there was an antique car show at the fairgrounds on the weekend.”

“Last weekend? That couldn’t be a coincidence.”

“Probably not. Collectors tend to baby their cars, so they don’t use them for everyday errands. I’m guessing the owner of that yellow car your neighbor saw brought it out for the show.”

“Then you can contact the group who organized the show!”

“That’s the first step. Odds are good that the person we’re after is a member, or that I’ll find someone who knows him.”

Amelia closed her eyes briefly. She exhaled on a sigh. “Hank, this is wonderful. Thank you so much for helping me.”

“I haven’t found anything yet, Amelia.”

“I know, but at least you’ve given me hope.”

Her anxiety over the painting appeared as genuine as it had when they’d met in his office. Now that he’d seen for himself how she’d been living, he could understand how she might be feeling emotionally raw. That made it more difficult for him to broach the next subject. “Do you believe that Ruth’s observations are reliable?”

“For sure. And with all the gardening she does, she likely knows everything that goes on in the neighborhood.”

“Then I hope you could explain something to me. She was certain she saw your family celebrating on Sunday afternoon.”

“What?”

“She said you had just gotten home.”

Amelia wiped her palms on her knees. “Sunday?”

“In the afternoon. Ruth saw you hugging Jenny and Will. She said the boys joined in, too.”

“That was before I found out the painting was missing.”

“What was going on?”

“Jenny made more than five hundred dollars at the yard sale.”

“Was that what you were celebrating?”

“Five hundred dollars is a lot of money.”

“From what Ruth described, you appeared very excited. I just wondered whether there was more to it. Was there?”

“Why would you ask that?”

“You seem nervous, and you’re not looking at me.”

She rubbed her knees once more, then folded her hands in her lap. “Money’s a sensitive subject for me.”

“Sorry.”

“And I don’t appreciate being given the third degree. If I had a dollar for every time people have given me attitude about the fortune I lost, I’d be halfway to getting it back by now.”

“I wasn’t giving you attitude, Amelia, or the third degree. I was just trying to make sense of what I heard. That’s how I work.”

“Well, what Ruth observed had nothing to do with the painting. It wasn’t until we came inside that I saw it was gone.”

“I see.”

“Good. Then let’s concentrate on that. What happens next?”

“Hmm?”

“Once you find out who owns that yellow car.”

“Then I go and talk to him.”

“In person?”

“That’s right. I prefer to speak with people face-to-face whenever possible. It gets better results. It’s too easy to say no over the phone.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“Why?”

“I could help. He might be more willing to talk to a couple than to a man on his own.”

“I do have some experience conducting interviews.”

“Why wouldn’t you want me along? We both want the same thing, don’t we?”

Hank always worked alone. It was one of the aspects of his profession that he truly enjoyed. He had never allowed a client to interfere with his methods, much less accompany him on an investigation. “What about your own job at Mae B’s?” he asked. “Won’t you be too busy?”

“They let me go.”

“What? When?”

“Yesterday. They gave my job to the owner’s niece.”

“Amelia, I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “I’ll find something else, but at the moment I have plenty of spare time so there’s no reason why I shouldn’t help you. It’s only fair, since you’re waiving your fee. And besides...” She smiled. “It would be more efficient if we work together. You wouldn’t need to waste time giving me updates.”

Her smile set off another flash from the past. It was the first full smile Amelia had given him in more than a decade, and like everything else she did, she put herself into it one hundred percent. Eagerness shone from her face. Her lips curved, her cheeks dimpled and her eyes gleamed the familiar, unique blue-green that made his brain shut down.

He’d never had any defense against that smile. His reasons for refusing her seemed trivial when weighed against the prospect of spending more time in her company. Sure, he normally worked alone, yet he’d known this case would be anything but normal from the moment Amelia had shown up at his office. It wasn’t merely curiosity that had convinced him to help her. He would have gone along with whatever she’d asked, regardless of how slim the chances of success, because his knee-jerk reaction had been to make her happy.