The Scarlet Stinger (LRDA Book 1)

Chapter 9

When Talia and Juniper went to the kitchen the next morning, Elaine was already at the table surrounded by papers and three empty mugs.

"Mom, are you alright?" she asked. She poured Juniper's food into her bowl.

Elaine groaned and rubbed her eyes. "I can't find a way around this partnership agreement. It's too tight. I could claim that since Richard took out a private loan to start the health spas that it isn't a part of the company but I doubt that would work."

Talia sat across from her. "Mom, I looked up partnership agreements last night. If Craig Rogers committed a crime before Richard's death, wouldn't the shares go to the Taylor's?"

Elaine thought about it. "It would be a little difficult but I could probably get that to work." She smiled mischievously. "Why? Know any crimes he committed?"

"You can start with Richard's death and Nora's accident."

Elaine laughed. "I wish it were that simple. The police are looking into it but I can't rely on that. Everything will be decided on Friday. Unless something else happens before then, I'll have to use these papers," she said gesturing to the mess around her.

Two days. Talia had to recover the painting or find evidence of a crime in that time. She made a mental list of possible crimes, apart from murder, that Craig Rogers could have committed. She needed to meet him face to face.

She turned on her phone and looked at the videos Jigsaw had sent her. It was hard to tell with all the shadows what the thief's physical features were like. The clearest video caught him at the corner of the building next to one of the potted trees. There was a wall right behind him. Talia thought back to when she saw Phillip walking near that spot. The wall had reached his belt and the tree was about the same height as him. In the video, even though the thief looked slightly crouched, the wall was around his waist and the tree looked slightly taller than him. Unless it had grown, along with the wall, and comparing his height to Phillip's she would put him somewhere around 5'8".

So far, all she knew about the thief was that he wore glasses, was slim and was an estimated 5'8" tall. That wasn't much to go by and if the thief still had the painting then she needed to find him or her. Most of the men she'd seen working for Craig Rogers fit that profile. Even the women could fit that profile. She needed more to go on.

She was still looking at the grainy videos when she reached to school and it wasn't until Nicolai called her name and presented her with another calzone that she snapped out of her thoughts. Even when she was in her programming class with Bryce and he was reminding her of their date the next she was distracted and only gave him enough of an answer so he wouldn't feel as if she wanted to cancel. Time was going and she needed to figure something out. What was wrong with her? She was working too slow.

She needed some ice-cream to help her think and she knew the perfect place. She called Mrs Wilson to tell her that she was going to be a little late and headed in that direction. She looked at her watch. It was quarter past three. Businesses generally didn't close until four or five but she didn't want to miss him. She was running out of time.

Talia went inside and got her ice-cream then went to sit on the terrace outside before the same woman as before, who must have been a regular, started shouting again.

"Juniper, we have to keep an eye out for Craig Rogers," Talia said. "Don't even blink."

Juniper sat up straight and stared at the building across the street. Talia slowly ate her ice-cream. She knew, or at least greatly suspected, that he was not the one with the painting or whatever had been hidden in it. That didn't mean he didn't know who the thief was or at least how to contact him, or her. She also needed something to pin on him, a crime just terrible enough for him to be arrest and be labeled as unfit to run a company. One that he committed before Richard Taylor died.