Chanceâs eyes narrowed and grew colder. âBut someone on this side is funneling the goods to the right person.â
âDo you suspect Noah Danforth, her assistant?â Lucas asked.
âIt could be him,â Chance replied. âOr it could be any one of her regular customers. She makes them feel like family. All it would take was a word that they were looking for a particular piece, and sheâd see that it was set aside. Noah would do the same.â
âSo the only thing you really know is that anyone who gets close to the head guy ends up dead.â Lucas turned to Tracker. âI want her out of that shop until the investigation is over.â
âThat wonât necessarily keep her safe,â Chance said quickly. âWhoever is behind this is very clever. His nickname is âPuppet Masterâ because he stays in the background and just pulls the strings. We got close to him three months ago when he shipped the first of the coins. He used a small shop in Connecticut, and the owner was killed in a fire that destroyed his shop. If this guy gets even a hint that Sophie knows anything, she could still be in mortal danger. The only way to really keep her safe is to find out whoâs behind this.â
Tracker paced to the French doors. The hell of it was Chance was making sense. From the sounds of it, the bastard behind the smuggling ring didnât leave any loose ends that could be traced back to him.
âIâll cancel my trip,â Lucas said.
âNo.â Tracker turned to face him. âIf you do, Sophie will know something is wrong. And so will Mac.â
âIt should all be over in the next week,â Chance said. âSophie has a shipment due in tomorrow, and the last of the three coins is supposed to be on it. Together, theyâre worth more than they are apart. Weâre pretty sure that the first coin went to the shop in Connecticut. The second one was picked up by the woman who was hit and killed after she left Sophieâs store. Iâve already offered to help Sophie unpack the delivery and arrange the pieces in the shop. Whoever is behind this will move quickly. All we have to do is trace the piece containing the coin to the buyer, and weâll have our man.â
Through the glass of the French doors, Trackerâs eyes went unerringly to one couple on the dance floor. Sophie was dancing with John Landry. Silently, he cursed himself. Heâd missed Sophieâs growing friendship with the gallery owner, Carter Mitchell. What had he overlooked in her relationship with John Landry?
âWhat about this Landry fellow?â Tracker asked. âSophie met him on her last trip to England.â
âHeâs clean. I checked him out myself.â
Tracker turned back to Lucas. âIâll be there, too, when she unpacks the shipment.â
âHow? You canât do anything to alert her to whatâs going on. The worst thing that could happen is for her to start acting strangely with Danforth or her customers,â Chance warned.
âI wonât alert her,â Tracker promised.
âSheâs not an easy woman to fool,â Lucas said.
âIâll figure something out,â Tracker said. âAnd sheâll never suspect a thing.â Then he turned back to Chance. âRight now I want you to fill me in on everything, including a list of your top suspects.â
3
S OPHIE HATED DUMPING anyone. Sheâd suffered enough rejection in her own life to know how much it hurt. But she ran the risk of hurting John Landry even more if she wasnât honest with him. Thatâs what sheâd been telling herself as sheâd avoided him for the two hours since sheâd left Macâs bedroom. But even now, dancing with him, she was putting off the inevitable moment.
âSophie?â
âHmm?â It didnât help one bit that she could feel Trackerâs gaze on the back of her neck. She
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