Free Almost a Lady by Heidi Betts Page B

Finally she found the safe, tucked away behind a large painting of men and women playing croquet. She lifted the frame from its hook and set it aside, climbing onto the sofa to get a better look at the numbered dial.
    She had never broken into a safe before. She had no idea how to figure out the combination. But, she reminded herself, it's easier to break into the safe of someone you know than of someone you don't. She had to think like Robert.
    Robert was protective. He always kept an eye out for his friends and family. He was predictable. She could always tell what he was thinking, how he would react.
    So what would Robert do with the combination to his office safe? He would take it home with him. But he would also leave a copy at work, just in case.
    She went to his desk, rooting around in the drawers. Then she began pulling them out and feeling underneath for hidden slips of paper. She looked under the desk blotter, inside his cup of pencils. She even upended the chair to search around the heel base.
    Nothing.
    The Ambassador clock chimed one. If she didn't find the combination soon, she would have to give up and try another night. Muttering to herself, she set the place to rights and turned down the wick of the lamp. Robert would notice immediately if even one thing was out of order. Cursing him for being so damn secretive, she started out of the office, giving the floor plant by the door a swift kick of frustration.
    She adjusted the hump of rags in her jacket, replaced the knit cap, and slowly opened the front door, checking for observers before stepping out of the building. She had one foot on the front step when it dawned on her.
    Robert hated plants.
    Mrs. Girard filled the outer office with flowerpots of every shape and size, pruned and watered them like they were her children. But she wasn't allowed to give the shrub in Robert's office so much as a sip of water. He took care of it himself, complaining every time a leaf turned brown and died.
    Willow ducked back through the door and ran to his office. On her knees beside the less-than-healthy plant, she began turning over each huge, oval-shaped leaf. When that failed to turn up anything new, she tore off her gloves and sank her hands wrist-deep into the soil. She ignored the moist stickiness, turning the dirt over and over in her hands, letting it sift through her fingers. Finally her nails ran into something solid and cool.
    She brushed it off, feeling its shape. A key.
    That sneaky bastard.
    It made sense now. Robert memorized the safe's combination, but left the master key in the office in case something ever happened.
    She took down the painting again and felt the cool metal until she found a small keyhole just below the combination dial. It turned smoothly. The safe popped open. She piled the safe's contents in the middle of the desk and lit the lamp.
    The top file was marked XAVIER, YVONNE in bold black letters. Below, in a lighter, penciled scrawl was the name of the investigator assigned to the case: Charles W. Barker.
    She browsed through the file, taking in pages upon pages of a murder report, as well as several photographs of the crime scene and a woman's body.
    Knowing that Robert would notice if anything was missing from the file, she pulled a stack of Pinkerton stationery from the desk drawer and began copying the information, word for word.
    When she finished, she sat staring at the pictures for several long minutes. They weren't gruesome photographs. She'd seen bodies far more mutilated. This victim was clean except for the blood on her chest. Whoever killed her had taken the time to arrange the body just so, to place a flower—what looked to be a pale-colored rose—in her hands.
    If only she could take the photos with her. She needed to study them. There could be a clue somewhere in the pictures that she wouldn't catch in only a second-long glance.
    Duplicates. This file was probably Charlie's, recovered after his murder.
    Willow went to the file