“Okay. Remember that we’re two hours later here, so don’t call too late.”
“I won’t.”
I had to get the stuff appraised and insured as soon as I could. But how could I do that without anyone knowing? Everything was still in the trunk of my father’s Mustang, which was parked outside the building.
Was it safer there than in the guesthouse? Here in the office building? How could I get it to a safe-deposit box?
I rose and went to the next office to see Joe. The door was open. “Hey.”
He looked up from his computer screen. “What’s up?”
“I need to talk to you.” I cocked my head to indicate outside.
He nodded and rose.
“Do you guys have a safe or something?” I asked after telling him about my find.
“We have many, but no safe is foolproof.”
“Have you checked them lately?”
“Are you kidding? I don’t have time to go around checking every safe on this property. But I’ve checked the ones here in the office building and in my home. Also the ones at the main house. Everything’s good.”
“What about the guesthouse?”
“I haven’t checked it, but there’s one in the master bedroom behind the Monet copy.”
“What do you keep at the guesthouse?”
“Ryan used to use it for personal stuff. I assume he moved all his stuff to the new house. I’m not sure what’s in there now. Probably nothing.”
“Would the jewels be safe there?”
“Depends. If there’s nothing in there now, we can’t know if it’s been tampered with. And no one’s lived there for a few months. Someone could have easily broken in.”
“Do you know the combination?”
“I have access to all of them, yeah.”
“All right. Come over after we’re done for the day, and we’ll check the guesthouse safe.”
He nodded. “Where’s the stuff now?”
“In the trunk of my car.”
“Are you nuts?”
“Where else was I going to put it? Leave it in the cabin? Along with the guns?”
“You didn’t—”
“No. We used tissues. Neither Marj nor I got our prints on the guns.”
“Crazy.” He shook his head. “We need to read the files.”
“I meant to look at them last night, but I got a little spooked. I didn’t want disgusting stuff on my mind right before my first day of work here.”
“I’m not looking forward to it either, but armed with information is better than not.”