Free Light in Shadow by Jayne Ann Krentz Page B

neutrally.
    â€œCall it intuition.”
    â€œOkay, I’ve got some respect for intuition. Been known to use it myself. Anything else?”
    Act normal. Think normal.
    â€œThe bed in the master bedroom is gone,” she said evenly. “It and a small area rug are the only furnishings that are missing. There’s a fresh coat of paint on the walls of that room.”
    His brows rose. “And that was enough to make you think Jennifer Mason had met with foul play?”
    She decided to try a more assertive approach. “Mr. Truax, I am a professional interior designer. I get the strong impression that you don’t think much of my career choice, but I assure you that designers are, by training and inclination, observant. Something is wrong at the Mason residence. I’m sure of it.”
    â€œOkay, take it easy. You sure Mason didn’t sell the bed?”
    â€œDavis told me that his wife had taken it because it was important to her. It was a very large, very expensive bed, he said. But—”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œBut I saw two full sets of three-hundred-and-twenty-thread-count Italian sheets in the linen closet. The sheets and pillowcases were still in the original packaging. “
    â€œSo what?”
    She tapped the tip of the pen on the desk top. “Do you have any idea what two full sets of king-sized sheets of that quality cost? If Jennifer Mason took the bed, I’m sure she would have taken the sheets that she bought to go on it.”
    Ethan meditated on that for a few seconds. Then he nodded. “You’ve got a point. Did Mason indicate that his wife put the bed into storage?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œDid he say how she arranged to pick up the bed?”
    â€œNo.” The steady litany of questions was getting on her nerves. “You’re the private detective here, not me.”
    â€œOh, yeah, that’s right. I keep forgetting.” He took a pen out of his pocket and wrote something down in the notebook. “Was there anything else that made you suspicious when you went through Mason’s house yesterday?”
    Aside from the screaming walls? She wondered silently. Gosh, no, that was enough for some obscure reason.
    â€œThere was one other strange thing,” she offered slowly.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThe shower curtains.”
    â€œWhat about them?”
    â€œThe master bath has a large, glass-walled shower and separate tub arrangement, but the other two bedrooms were obviously designed as guest rooms. They each have adjoining baths with standard combination shower-tubs with curtain enclosures. But the shower curtains in both of the guest baths are gone.”
    He gave her a politely blank look. “Explain.”
    â€œBoth rooms were fully outfitted with soap, towels, and amenities. The shower curtains should have been there, too. But they were gone.” She shrugged. “I just found that a little odd, that’s all.”
    He looked at her for a long time.
    â€œYou do realize,” he said eventually, “that we haven’t got enough yet to take to the cops?”
    â€œOf course I do. That’s why I hired you to look into it.”
    â€œCorrection, you came to me because Radnor was a lot more expensive, but we’ll let that pass for now.” He closed the notepad and dropped it into his shirt pocket. “We’ve got other things to do.”
    â€œSuch as?”
    â€œI want to get a look inside the Mason house. I beg your pardon, the Mason residence. ”
    She stared at him, intrigued in spite of her misgivings. “You’re going to break in?”
    â€œHell, no. Private investigators only get to do stuff like that on television. You think I want to risk my license?”
    â€œNo, I suppose not.”
    His reaction to her question was entirely logical, but for some reason she felt a flicker of disappointment. Maybe she had allowed her fantasies about private investigators to run