Steamy Sisters (14 page)

Jake put his arm around her and sat her down in the chair. “Rest a bit, you’re in shock.”

“I’m okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll be okay.”
 

“I probably shouldn’t ask this, but do you think it’s Katarina’s fault?”

“Why?”

“She did lock up on Friday. Maybe she didn’t do it properly.”

“The alarm went off, so she must have set it right.”

“You better phone her and tell her what’s going on.”

“I will. Just give me a minute.”

Emily took a deep breath, composed herself, and called Katarina on her cell. She told her what had happened, and tried not to sound like she was in any way blaming her. They talked for five minutes, and Emily pushed disconnect.

“What did she say?”

“She was shocked. She was blaming herself a bit. I told her not to worry.”

“She coming back?”

“No. There’s nothing she can do here. It can wait until Wednesday.”

“I guess.”

“You’ll stay, won’t you?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t leave you alone.”

“Thanks,” said Emily, and she kissed him on the cheek. “I better call the insurance company.”
 

The detective continued to look around the Gallery, and Jake followed Emily into her office.
 

Chapter Seven

The next three days were taken up dealing with the aftermath of the burglary. Questions from the Sheriff’s Department; even more questions and forms to be filled in for the insurance company; new locks and security grilles fitted; all that, and the usual trade passing through the Gallery. Emily was glad Jake was here to help her out. Wednesday had arrived and Katarina still wasn’t back. She hadn’t called either. It was the last thing Emily needed, something else to worry about. She tried calling her, but there was no reply. She was half thinking of heading up to Snowmass, but Jake talked her out of it. His view was that her and Jack were working their way through his toy collection, one toy per day - and, at that rate, they’d be busy until Christmas. If she wasn’t back by Friday, she’d drive up there.

Early on Thursday morning the phone rang in Emily’s office. Jake picked it up. “Hello.”

“Is Emily Chase there?” said the voice on the line.

“Hold on a second. I’ll get her for you.”

“Emily,” shouted Jake. “Phone.”

Emily came from the Gallery floor and took the phone. “This is Emily Chase.”

“Hi. This is Detective Anderson at the Sheriff’s Department. We’ve got a lead on your paintings. Can I come over now?”

“Sure, I’ll be here all day.”

“I’ll be over in twenty minutes,” he said, and put the phone down.

Emily looked at Jake. “The Detective’s coming over. They’ve got some news.”

“What is it?”

“He didn’t say.”

Exactly on time, Detective Anderson arrived. Another man followed closely behind him. He was wearing a fedora hat, and had his head down.

“I’d like to introduce you to someone,” said Detective Anderson.

The man stepped forward and removed his hat and sunglasses.

Emily gasped. It was the man who had been in the Gallery the week before. The man who she’d seen leaning against the car outside. The man she had suspected of stealing the paintings.

“It’s him,” said Emily, excitedly. “The guy I told you about.” She looked at Detective Anderson.

“Calm down,” said the Detective. “This is Herr Schneider. From Switzerland. He’s an investigator for an insurance company in Zurich.”

“Zurich?”

“Allow me to explain,” said Herr Schneider. “We have your paintings. They’re safe. Don’t worry.”

“You took them?”

“No. We recovered them.”

“Recovered them? From where?”

“They were being put on a cargo plane at Denver International Airport yesterday afternoon. Headed for Switzerland.”

“But who…?”

“Two people have been arrested, and are now in the custody of Denver Police.”

“Jack Keate?” said Jake.

“Exactly,” said Herr Schneider.
 

“What…?” said Emily. “I don’t understand.”

“Jack Keate and his wife were arrested yesterday. They were the people who stole your paintings.”

“He doesn’t have a wife. He’s divorced.”

“Her name is Christa Kuegler. She may be better known to you as Katarina Wenger. And, they never divorced.”

“Katarina is Jack Keate’s wife?” said Emily, shaking her head. “But how…?”

“It’s like this,” said Detective Anderson. “Jack Keate lost most of his money after being caught using banned substances during the world championships. It was mostly covered up, but he was basically kicked off the ski-circuit, although he was allowed to say he was retiring. Most of his sponsors abandoned him as well. They didn’t want to be associated with a cheat. He stayed in Europe, lying low, waiting for the scandal to be forgotten before he returned to the States. Him and his wife had grown fond of the high life, and so they turned to crime to support their high-living.”

“But he has a home in Switzerland, one in Snowmass. Expensive paintings.”

“The Swiss house is theirs, the Snowmass property you were at is rented. He took out a three month rental on it.”

“That’s why it looked so unlived in,” said Emily. “But the paintings?”

“Fakes. They were all part of the image to make people believe he was still rich and successful. He’s a confidence trickster.”

“So they’ve been stealing art from around the world.”

“Not just art. They’ve swindled some people out of money, real-estate, rented out houses and actually managed to sell them, or take out loans against their value. You name it, they’ve been running every scam going.”

“I knew he was a crapbag,” said Jake. “So him and Katarina, or Christa, or whoever she is, targeted the Gallery from the day she showed up to work here?”

“We think so. Once they knew there was a million dollar painting here, they couldn’t resist it,” said Detective Anderson. “What they didn’t realise, though, was that Herr Schneider here, and his team, had been following them for several months. Since they’d pulled another art job in Switzerland.”

“That’s right,” said Herr Schneider. “We knew they were up to something. It was just a matter of waiting for them to make their move. We felt that if we could catch them in the act here, we could also recover the other art work they had stolen in the past.”

“But how did they steal it? We were with them in the lodge in Snowmass. They couldn’t have done it.”

“They must have sneaked out in the middle of the night, when we were sleeping. They knew we wouldn’t disturb them,” said Jake. “The whole thing was a set-up. They drove here, took the stuff. Kat…Christa had the keys. They made it look like a burglary. And then drove back. That’s why they looked so tired in the morning. Not for the reason we’d thought.”

“I can’t believe it,” said Emily.

“It’s true,” said Detective Anderson.

“But how did you catch them?”

“We didn’t catch them in the act. But we’ve been watching the lodge in Snowmass. When we saw they were moving out, we were pretty sure that they would try and get the stolen items out of the country as soon as possible,” said Herr Schneider, “Frau Kuegler had forged some export certificates for the movement of artworks to Switzerland.
 
She was using your own Gallery’s paperwork to steal your own paintings. Quite clever really.”

“That’s when we got a call from Herr Schneider,” said Detective Anderson. “We alerted Denver Police and the arrest was fairly straightforward.”

“Did they admit it?” asked Emily.

“They haven’t admitted much yet,” he replied. “You’ll have to make some statements and probably
 
have to testify when it comes to court.”

“Count me in,” said Jake. “I have zero problem with that.”

“I guess,” said Emily.
 

They continued to talk over the details of the case for the next hour, and then the Detective and the Swiss investigator left.

Emily and Jake were left alone at last.

“I’m in shock,” said Emily. “It’s unbelievable.”

“Yeah. Like something off of TV.”

“I was sleeping with Katarina. I can’t believe she’d do that to me.”

“Never know who you can trust, do you?” said Jake, putting his arms around Emily.
 

She smiled. “I know I can trust you. Maybe I’ll just stick with you from now on. Just the two of us. Anyone else just makes it way too complicated.”

“Fine by me,” said Jake. “Here’s to the two of us.” And he kissed her tenderly.

“The two of us,” repeated Emily, holding him tight.
 

Hard Ride

Chapter One

Melissa Chase pulled herself
 
into the saddle and followed the horse in front. The two of them had a few hours hard riding ahead of them, cross country and up into the mountains. At least it would give them time to talk. Find out exactly what Zack was planning.

“Nice morning for a ride,” said Melissa.

“Yep,” replied Zack.

“You been this way before?”

“Yep.”

Melissa hoped he wasn’t going to be a typical laconic cowboy, otherwise it was going to a be a long two hours. “What’s on your mind then, Zack?”

“There’s plenty of time for business later,” said Zack. “We’ve got some catching up to do first.”

“Catching up?”

“Sure. It must be eight…nine years since I saw you last.”

“You remember me?”

“Of course. Last time I saw you, you were a pretty little thing riding your pony on your Daddy’s ranch.”

“That’s when you were working there?”

“That’s right. Before I left to ride the circuit. You don’t remember me?”

“I remember you,” said Melissa. “Just didn’t think you noticed me back then.”

“Don’t be modest, honey.
 
You may have only been… what? Fifteen. But you were a real looker. It was obvious to all the guys that you were gonna be quite a beauty when you were older.”

Melissa felt herself blush slightly. “You weren’t the only ones looking. Me and my friends used to keep an eye out for some of you cowboys from time to time.”

“Well, I sure hope I was one if them,” said Zack.

“I don’t really recall if you were one of them,” said Melissa.

“You really know how to hurt a man,” said Zack, laughing. “What a heartbreaker.”

“From what I hear, you’re a bit of a heartbreaker yourself. Zack Burton, Rodeo star. A different girl at each stop on the circuit.”

“I do okay in that department.”

“All those rodeo groupies, you mean. The buckle bunnies, isn’t that what you call them?” said Melissa. “No-one special, though?”

Zack shook his head. “Nah. I’m too young to settle down. Maybe when I reach thirty. And, you know, it’s kinda tough on the circuit.”

“Having a relationship?”

“Yeah. We’re always on the road. Chasing the white line. One town after another. Don’t exactly make it conducive to family life or anything like that.”

“Must get lonely.”

“Sometimes. But it’s not forever,” said Zack. “I’m earning the big money now. Prizes, and some big name sponsors.”

“So you’re going to quit the circuit?”

“In another few years maybe. Saving as much money as I can. Maybe invest in some business opportunities back here in Steamy Springs.”

“Sounds good. Is that what you wanted to speak to me about?”

“Yeah. Just a little business proposition I though you might be interested in. But we can talk about that later. It’s too early in the morning to talk business. Like to let my brain warm up first.”

“Sounds interesting,” said Melissa. “You bought a lodge in town recently, didn’t you?”

“Yep. Just on the south side, near the lake.”

Melissa steered her horse expertly around some rocks and headed towards the forested area above. “Your folks still living in town?”

“They live a few miles out of town. They’ve got a few acres. Got some horses, you know. How about your old man. He okay?”

“Yeah. He’s doing great. And my mother. And my sisters. Everyone’s fine.”

“What was that twin sister of yours called? The one who runs the art gallery in town.”

“Emily.”

“Emily. That’s it,” said Zack. “I was in there recently. Didn’t see her, though. Some foreign girl behind the desk.”

“You were in my sister’s gallery? I didn’t think cowboys were interested in art?”

“Generally, I’m not. But they had an exhibition of stuff from the West.”

“That’s right. Art of the American West.”

“It was good. I was thinking of buying. As as investment. My financial adviser told me it might be a good one.”

“I didn’t know cowboys had financial advisers.”

“Cowboys don’t. Rodeo champions do.”

“Point taken.”

“Thank you ma’am,” said Zack. “I’m not the young kid who worked on the ranch anymore.”

“I can see that,” said Melissa, eyeing up Zack’s body. His muscular forearms expertly controlling the reins. “A real man these days.”
 

“Anyway, what about you? I heard you were out in Hawaii.”

“Yeah. I spent a few years out there. After college.”

“Working.”

“Kind of. But just hanging out, mainly. Surfing.”

“Surfing? Sounds good.”

“It was. But I eventually got fed up of the beach.”

“Wanted to come back to the mountains, huh?”

“Part of me, yes,” said Melissa. “But I had a few business ideas I wanted to start on, as well.”

“So you ended up working for the old man?”

“Had to start somewhere. Learn the ropes.”

“I hear you’re a big success.”

“I don’t know where you heard that. We’re doing okay. We’re really developing the sports events calendar throughout the year. We’ve got the skiing championships in January. The new mountain biking competition. Golf, tennis tournaments. Rowing and waterskiing on the lake. You name it.”

“It’s really putting Steamy Springs on the map.”

“Yeah. We’re doing well.”

“Good for your Daddy’s wallet too. All those people staying in his hotels, buying holiday homes, eating in the restaurants…’