Sophie put her hand on it, then excused herself to the agent and went to a mirror. “Is this . . . ? Are these . . . ?”
“Rubies set in gold,” Sara said. “They’re from an ancestor of mine, the original Edilean. We found them in a secret room in this house.”
Sophie put her hand on the jewelry. It had a timeless beauty about it that was stunning. She looked at Agent Ames. “These are what they’re after?”
“What they want to steal, yes,” he said. “The pieces are so unique that it would be hard to sell them, so it’s my guess that they’d be melted down. The jewels are superior quality even if they do need to be recut.”
The artist in Sophie was sickened at the thought of something so old, so beautiful, being melted down and sold in pieces. Being able to stop something like that gave her courage. “Tell me what I need to do to help you,” she said.
Reede didn’t return until almost seven, and by then Sophie was so glad to see him that she had to work not to fling her arms around him. She saw him from the back. This time he had on a suit, but in the style that Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy would wear. It clung to his body, showing off his muscular legs and his trim waist.
She stood still, staring at the back of him, and he turned to her. As before, he wore a half mask that covered his eyes and nose, but left his beautiful lips exposed.
He didn’t say a word, just strode across the big room, took her hand, and led her into a bedroom. When they were alone, they stared at each other, their eyes questioning, then Reede opened his arms and she went to them. He held her tightly.
“Tell me what’s on your mind,” he whispered.
“They don’t know what a coward I am. They keep telling me I’m very brave but I’m not. I want to hide under the bed and not come out until it’s all over.”
“Me too,” he said.
“You? But—” She pulled away to look up at him. His eyes were shining so brightly that she couldn’t resist elbowing him. “You love this! It gets you out of that apartment you hate, and you don’t have to stay in an office, and you—”
He kissed her. It was a quick kiss and a familiar one, then he left her sitting on the bed. He picked up a plate that contained a turkey sandwich. “This yours?”
“Yes.” She’d been too nervous to eat.
Reede took a big bite of the sandwich. “How much have they told you?”
“Not much,” Sophie said as she sat down beside him. “I answer their questions but no one answers mine.”
“Someday you and Mike will have to talk about the FBI. I think you two will agree.”
As Reede ate he told her what they’d been doing and how the enemy had been set up. With the FBI training ground so near they’d had a lot of volunteers to attend the party and put on the costumes Reede’s relatives had planned to wear. “And to put on the all-important jewels,” Sophie added. “What do you want to drink?” “Beer,” he answered. It took her only seconds to go to the kitchen and get a bottle and open it. She was aware that everyone, agents as well as Reede’s relatives, stopped talking and watched her. “I’m the freak of the day,” she said when she got back into the room and handed Reede the beer.
“I think it’s more likely that they’re wondering when you’re going to murder me.”
“For what? Making me cross that narrow beam? Or for taking me to an abandoned house full of thieves with guns?”
Reede took a deep drink of the beer and didn’t answer.
“There’s something that worries me,” Sophie said. “If this man has lived in Edilean for years, won’t he know a lot of the guests at the party? Won’t he be suspicious when different people show up?”
“That’s why most of the people coming to the party have no idea what’s going on.”
“But isn’t that—?” She broke off, not wanting to say the obvious.
“Dangerous?” Reede asked. “Yes, but it’s worse for you. If these men had any idea that you could identify them . . . Sophie, I don’t want to think about that.”
He set aside his empty plate and bottle, put his feet up and leaned against the headboard. When he put out his arm, it seemed natural that Sophie should sit beside him, her head on his shoulder.
“Your job will be to talk to every male there,” he said. “Only you can identify the voice.”
“But you heard the other two. You even saw them.”
“Jeff Ames said they’ll nab the two we saw in the house right away. We know they’ll be in costumes that cover them.”
“With itchy fur.”