Chapter 2

He'd assumed Barry was talking to building security about Colette, but he might very well be calling security to come and get him. From the outside this might look like he'd just attacked a visitor. He really hoped that Barry and Anu both trusted him enough to know that he wouldn't have reacted like this without cause.

Anu was studying Colette, her expression unreadable.

"Um, hello," Colette said, raising the arm Landon wasn't gripping, and waved nervously. The cuff dangled from her wrist. She looked confused, harmless, and innocent. Landon tightened his hold on her other wrist.

"Ma'am, do you have a visitor's pass?" Anu asked.

"No. Was I supposed to get one?" Worry laced Colette's voice, and all around the room, his fellow agents' postures started to soften. A few even sat down at their desks.

Landon tightened his hold on her wrist.

"Ma'am, you should have a visitor's pass, and even with a pass, shouldn't be on this floor." Anu was speaking to Colette, but her gaze was on Landon.

"I'm so sorry. No one said anything. I thought this was the right place…" Her voice trembled as if she was on the edge of tears. "I didn't know what to do. I'm scared, and I trust Detective…I meant Agent Malik."

A phone rang, breaking the silence that followed her tearful statements.

"Wait, let me just show you…" Colette crouched, reaching for the diamond.

Landon didn't let go of her wrist, forcing her to stretch and grab the gem. Barry cleared his throat, frowning pointedly when Landon looked over. Landon shook his head. He wasn't letting go, even if it made his colleague think he was an ass.

"And what is that?" Anu asked as Colette straightened, gem in hand.

"Supposedly a fifty-carat blue diamond," Landon answered.

"I think it's the Saudi blue diamond," Colette whispered, as if afraid to speak the words too loudly.

"Is that the Hope Diamond?" someone behind him asked in what sounded like awe.

Landon slanted a glance at Colette, checking her expression. Maybe it was the damned Hope Diamond, and not the Saudi Diamond. Colette shook her head slightly. Landon didn't question why he trusted her silent answer to his equally unspoken question.

"No," he said. "This belongs to someone in Saudi Arabia."

"Wait." A newer agent whose name Landon hadn't learned yet sounded excited. "It's that blue diamond?"

Anu frowned at the speaker, then at Landon. "Not my area of expertise, but I trust that you understand the significance?"

Landon nodded. "Yes, Director."

To Colette, Anu said, "Ma'am, are you…turning yourself in?"

"No, no, no." Colette's hair flew about her face as she frantically shook her head. "I'm just a Good Samaritan here to turn in what is probably stolen property so it can be returned to the rightful owner."

"What game are you playing?" Landon murmured so only she would hear.

Colette looked at him, and something passed over her features. Fear? Worry? He didn't know what that look meant, but it caused something to shift inside him. He want to wrap her up and keep her safe.

She was playing him, and even though he knew she was playing him, it didn't stop, or even curb, his emotional reaction. Fuck.

She'd be safe once he had her in custody. Plenty of safety in a prison cell.

"Everyone, back to work please," Director Kumar said to the room as a whole. "Barry, I want a report and explanation from building security as to why she doesn't have a visitors pass and how she got on this floor." She looked at Colette. "Ma'am, if you'd follow me so we can discuss in private?"

"Thank you." Colette smiled sweetly. "I would like to sit. And perhaps a cup of tea?" Colette looked around hopefully.

"No tea," Landon countered, and plucked the diamond out of her hand.

"That's just rude," Colette chided in a low voice.

"Agent Malik?" Anu had one brow raised.

Landon transferred his hold to her shoulder and turned her towards the conference room. He felt eyes on them as they passed, and there was weight in those stares. There was no way the people who saw what just happened weren't building narratives and making deductions based on the way he'd handled Colette.

He thought he heard someone whisper "Club Alibi" to a colleague as they passed.

"Why are you really here, Colette?" he said quietly.

"Quoi? What do you mean?" Colette spoke so softly only he could hear, and her accent was back. She turned to look at him and fluttered her lashes in mock confusion.

He tightened his hold on her shoulder. "Don't play dumb, it doesn't suit you."

"Don't play grumpy, it doesn't suit you," she countered, now back to sounding like she was from London.

"Yes, it does. I am grumpy. You make me grumpy." Landon guided Colette between the desks and work stations to the back of the office, which was lined with glass-walled offices and meeting rooms.

She made him feel a lot of things, but grumpy wasn't one of them. Enraged, irritated…aroused, relived.

Colette lowered her voice to just above a whisper. "Come now, Landon, I don't think grumpy is one of the things I make you feel."

The fact that her words mirrored his thoughts made his teeth grind.

Anu held open the conference room door and Landon steered Colette in. Landon made to follow her, keeping his hand on her shoulder, but Anu stopped him.

Reluctantly, he let his hand drop, watching Colette as she took a few tentative steps.

Anu pulled the door closed, but thanks to the glass they could still see her. Colette's acting was impeccable—she was hugging herself as she looked around nervously.

She looks like the museum intern I first met.

He'd wanted her almost from the moment they met, the spark when they touched—that first touch entirely accidental—intense and strong.

"Landon."

He steeled himself, braced for a reprimand, before facing his boss.

"That was a rather shocking display."

Yes, it had been. Time to deflect.

"Ma'am, whatever she says, she's lying. Look up her file. She's been tangentially connected to dozens of robberies. She's a very good thief, which is why she isn't currently incarcerated."

"I intend to look up her file." Anu frowned up at him. "And I'm not a fool."

"No, ma'am, you're not."

"We'll deal with her, but for now I need to know, is the way you…handled her. Touched her—" Anu stopped, looking slightly uncomfortable, but only for a moment. "That was Dom behavior?"

He crossed his arms, hating this conversation. "No. Not exactly. She's dangerous and I was controlling the situation."

"I see."

"Director…Colette and I have a history."

"Oh?"

"Yes. We met, during an investigation. And we… Before I realized who she was…" He shook his head in frustration.

"And was that relationship sexual?"

He wished he could say yes. Say she'd fucked him to distract him from suspecting her, but it had been more than that. His heart had been involved.

"To an extent," he said slowly, then shook his head. "The one thing I know, without any reservation, is that Colette Beaumont can't be trusted."

* * *

Colette watched Landon and his boss through the window.

Her body still hummed in reaction to the way he'd pinned her. For a few breathless moments, she hadn't known if he was going to arrest her, kiss her, or…

Landon was shaking his head, his back almost painfully straight as he spoke to his boss. A second later he opened the door, and she prepared herself to play the part of the upstanding citizen.

If there was an option to only deal with Landon, she could have been herself, or at least the version of herself that was as close to core-truth as she allowed other people to see. Odd that she was comfortable being that person with Landon.

Even the murderous look in his eyes as he stalked into the room didn't change the fact that she trusted him. His boss didn't follow him in. Colette could see her through the glass, apparently waiting for something. Maybe security. Merde.

"Did you get a talking to?" Colette asked with a mocking frown.

Landon grabbed a chair and yanked it out from the table. "Sit."

"Or what? Will you throw me against a wall again?"

Landon's jaw muscle worked. Alarm tingled through her.

Colette needed to back off. But…

Knowing that's what she needed to do, and doing it, were very different things. The urge to needle him until, yes, he put his hands on her, was stronger than the urge to be smart about the situation.

"So aggressive." She cocked her head to the side. "You weren't like this before…at least not in public. Have you changed since I last saw you, or do I inspire you?"

"You didn't know me then, and you don't know me now."

"I knew you," Colette said, and this time she was serious.

Unfortunately, he took it as another taunt. "I'm sure you'd done your research so you knew exactly how to manipulate me." He crossed his arms. "Whatever you've planned, whatever game you're playing now, it won't work."

"If I were playing a game, would you really want to bet against me?"

Landon grabbed her shoulder, turned her to face the table, then shoved the chair into the backs of her knees. She sat with a rather undignified gasp.

Again with the rough handling. It should have made her angry. Or afraid. A normal person probably would have felt fear. But fear was weakness and vulnerability. She'd trained herself to suppress those emotions a long time ago. Pushing them so deep she didn't even have to acknowledge them.

Instead, she wanted to feel his aggression and anger pressed against her.

She thought she'd accounted for every possibility, even still being attracted to him the way she had been before. But this desire laced with just a thread of fear was unexpected, and throwing her off balance.

Refusing to let him see her rattled, Colette leaned back in the chair, swiveling to face him before crossing her legs.

Sometime in the past few seconds his attitude had changed, because now Landon was smirking down at her.

She tipped her head to the side. "What's amusing you?"

"I just realized…you want something."

Colette froze.

He studied her, and once again she felt the full weight of his attention pinning her. "That's why you're here, isn't it?"

He loomed over her, bracing his hands on the arms of her chair. She pressed against the back of the chair, breathing shallow. He had her trapped.

"All right, Colette. What do you want?"

Colette started up at him, and for an insane moment she considered telling him the truth.

* * *

The door opened, the sounds of a busy office spilling in and breaking the spell. Landon suppressed a snarl of frustration as Colette's expression went from stark and vulnerable, to a bewildered and slightly worried mask.

"I've got an evidence bag," Barry said as he rolled in.

Landon straightened and turned to the other man.

Colette turned to face the table and sat forward, hunching forward a little, arms straight out and resting on the tabletop. The cuff that still hung from one wrist clinked against the glossy wood.

Everything from her body language to her expression radiated worry and confusion, making her a completely different person than she'd been only seconds ago.

Fuck, she was good.

Anu entered, closed the door, then hit the button to switch the glass wall between this room and the bullpen from clear to semi-opaque. Silvery sunlight, filtered by the haze of clouds that currently blanketed Manchester and had for the past week, seeped in through the windows, giving the room an almost otherworldly feel.

"Let me begin by introducing myself. I'm Director Anu Kumar." Landon's boss went to the other side of the table directly opposite Colette and took a seat.

"It's nice to meet you, ma'am," Colette said nervously.

Landon took the bag Barry offered him, then pulled the stone from his pocket and sealed it in the evidence bag. He accepted the pen Barry handed him, filled out the information panel, then passed bag and pen to Barry to counter-sign.

Colette stared at the bag in dismay, for a moment seeming to forget the part she was playing. "Plastic? You're putting a rare, priceless gem in a plastic bag?"

"Yes, because it's evidence of your crime," he told her.

Colette sat back, looking wounded. "My crime? I didn't steal it. I'm turning it in."

"Not originally, no." If this really was the Saudi blue diamond, the original theft wasn't a mystery. "But if you have it now, you stole it, or purchased stolen property."

Colette leaned forward, turning and bowing her head as if she were about to cry. What she actually did was angle her body so her hair fell like a curtain, and neither Anu nor Barry could see her face.

Holding Landon's gaze, she mouthed, "Prove it."

Landon couldn't decide if he wanted to shake her, kiss her, or smile.

All three were inappropriate, and given the conversation he'd just had with his boss, he needed to check his reactions.

Anu cleared her throat. "Agent Malik, would you care to tell me more about what's going on here?"

"This is Colette Beaumont. A known art and antiquities thief and dealer in stolen goods. She's got a file in our database, and is wanted for questioning in several thefts and burglaries, including?—"

"What? I'm not a thief!" Colette's eyes were wide and round. She looked like she was about to cry. "I've occasionally been a consultant when authorities needed an expert. A consultant, not ‘wanted for questioning'."

Barry was frowning in concern and Anu looked uncomfortable.

Landon ignored their reaction to Colette's manipulations. "We met during the investigation into the thefts at the British museum."

Colette looked beseechingly at Anu, holding up her wrists as if the cuff dangling off only one were evidence of her innocence rather than her guilt. "I came here because I know and respect Detective Inspector Malik. He's the only one I trust."

If he hadn't known better, he would have believed her.

"You've met Agent Malik before?" Anu asked, stressing his title.

"Yes, I have. And I thought he'd remember me, but…but I guess I was wrong." She glanced down, embarrassed, and even Landon believed her for a second.

"I think it's very clear he remembers you," Anu said gently.

"But he thinks I'm a thief! He must be thinking of the wrong person." She shook her head sadly.

"They aren't mutually exclusive," Landon said. "Being an art expert and being a thief."

Colette pointed at the diamond. "I brought this to you, because I think you're the best people to have it."

Anu picked up the bag, looking at the diamond through the plastic.

"And how did this item come into your possession?"

"I was asked to appraise it."

Landon bit down on his need to call her a liar. It was possible she wasn't lying, because Colette Beaumont was an expert appraiser. It was an open secret that the same woman who could assess an art collection could also help the owner acquire additional pieces…by any means necessary.

"I specialize in insurance and auction evaluations and authentications, as well as appraisals," she continued. "I was hired to evaluation a jewelry collection."

"Whose collection?"

"His name is Joseph Grizzard."

Barry's head snapped up, his gaze jumping from the small pad where he was talking notes to Colette's face. "Joseph Grizzard?"

"Yes, do you know him?" Colette sat forward eagerly, but there was a slight hesitation before her reaction, as if she'd been taken by surprise.

"No, no." Barry almost smiled. "But I think I read a book about him."

Landon almost smirked. She'd used the name of a character from a book? Sloppy.

Odd, because Colette wasn't sloppy.

"A book about him? Is he famous?" Colette's brow was furrowed in confusion, but the rest of her body was unnaturally still. She was worried.

Good.

Anu was looking at Barry, who shook his head in an I'll-tell-you-later gesture. She turned her attention back to Colette.

"Ma'am, I must advise you that taking this was theft. Even if you had reason to believe it was stolen, that didn't give you the right to steal it in turn."

"I didn't steal it."

Landon smiled, his teeth flashing.

"I didn't steal it," Colette repeated. "After I gave him my initial evaluation, I advised him that a stone of this size and quality needed to be immediately insured for a significant amount. I also asked him about the provenance. Mr. Grizzard asked me to take the stone for further testing, as the exact make-up of a diamond like this can sometimes narrow down where it's from, not only the country or area of origin, but sometimes even down to the specific diamond mine."

"He let you walk away with a fifty-carat diamond?" Landon demanded. "How stupid do you think we are?"

"Malik, please." Anu stayed focused on Colette even as she spoke to him. "Mr. Grizzard wanted you to help him establish provenance?"

"I believe so. Once I'd taken it to my personal lab for some more in-depth tests did I realize what it might be."

"So you're saying your client gave you the stone for further testing. You identified it as a known stolen piece, and that led you to bring the stone here?" Anu asked.

"Yes. I think it's that missing Saudi blue diamond."

"Why not take this to your local police?"

Colette glanced at Landon, and there was something in her gaze that made his blood hum with awareness.

"I trust Agent Malik."

Landon's anger stirred. She was manipulating him. Fucking up his life. He wanted her gone, preferably behind bars but at this point if he had to let her walk out, fine, as long as she left.

Landon's boss looked at him. "You say Ms. Beaumont was a suspect in the British Museum robberies?"

Landon's jaw ached, he was gritting his teeth so hard, but he unclenched enough to say, "Never officially a suspect." He hadn't had enough to do more than let it be known she was wanted for questioning. "She disappeared before I could interrogate her."

"I didn't disappear," Colette protested. "I went on an archaeological dig. It was in a remote location. I'm sorry I didn't know you were trying to get ahold of me."

That was utter bullshit. He'd been trying to contact her, find her, for years.

"I move around a lot, so the phone isn't always reliable, but I have an email. It's listed on my business website?—"

Landon planted one hand on the table, not exactly slapping it down, but close, the sound enough to make her jump.

He felt like a fool for wasting all those years worrying she'd stolen from the wrong person and been killed. She probably laughed every time he emailed her.

He was done with her bullshit.

Landon's voice was almost a growl when he spoke. "Why don't you stop playing, and tell us why you're really here, and what you want."