Chapter 17

He hurried to the warehouse, dodging students on the way. He passed the guard—sure enough, the man was staring at his phone and tapping on the screen. He didn't even glance up as Hez half jogged by him. The warehouse door was open, and the inner door leading to the climate-controlled room holding the Willard Treasure was also ajar. Concern tightened his chest.

Her eyes opened wide. "Hez! What are you doing here?"

His concern congealed into a lump of ice that sank into his gut. "You weren't responding to texts, and I was worried."

Beckett smiled broadly but said nothing.

Hez kept his eyes on Savannah. "I see."

She stared down at her phone. "Your messages still haven't shown up. Did you have news?"

Savannah bit her lip and seemed lost in thought. Was she wondering how to break the news to her sister?

Hez wasn't surprised. "Someone is smurfing."

Beckett nodded. "I thought the same thing, Hez."

"Smurfing?" Savannah frowned. "Sorry, you lost me."

Savannah got to her feet and walked over to a crate that had papers spread across the top. "How many inbound transactions?"

Beckett cocked his head. "Inbound transactions?"

Beckett stared into the middle distance for a few seconds. "About thirty inbound transactions, I believe."

"And how much money are we talking about in total?" she asked.

"About twelve million."

***

She moved around to the back of the headstone and stopped at the sight of a waterlogged stuffed puppy lying upside down as if it had fallen off. She picked it up and saw a tag that read "Daddy loves you." Her throat tightened at the realization Hez had to have placed it on the headstone. She battled the sting in her eyes at the thought of him coming here alone like she did. If only they could have faced this battle together these past years.

"I'm fine. I wanted to decorate Ella's grave for fall."

Jess's brows winged up. "What's happened?"

"He carried out artifacts?"

Savannah shook her head. "He took things out—a wine bottle, corkscrew, glasses, and candles."

Jess stilled. "That sounds like he was expecting a—a woman."

"Exactly. A young woman showed up for a romantic tryst. He appears to be using the warehouse to hide an affair with a student."

"That's strictly against university policy."

Jess stood and paced in front of the park bench. "I'll need to do something about this. It can't continue." She stopped and thrust her hands in the pockets of her cotton sweater. "What about Beckett's investigation into the financials? I want him to quit poking around as soon as possible, and he's had ample time to evaluate them."

Jess followed her. "What's going on, Savannah? You're hiding something."

Her eyes widened. "Did he actually believe I'd do something like that?"

"He said he checked with the bank, and the person had presented documents claiming to be you."

"I'll get to the bottom of this! They surely have a copy of the ID and any other proof the thief used in my name. I guess I should be grateful Beckett saw something so I can put an end to it and figure out what's going on here." Jess's expression turned thoughtful. "Could Abernathy have been involved? Maybe there's a connection with his murder. Will Hez tell the police what your little investigative group has uncovered?"

"I—I assume so, but we haven't talked about it."