Chapter Three
“Holy wow.” Jess’s face remained impassive as she overlooked the scene of Todd and Helen’s opening “barbecue,” but on the inside her eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open. Adam had warned her about Todd’s excessive tendencies, and he hadn’t been joking.
The party was held in what Jess would have called a backyard to Todd’s mansion on the edge of the vineyard, but the word “backyard” just didn’t really work. The outdoor living space of Todd’s palatial estate featured an enormous eternity pool—with a matching eternity hot tub—that overlooked vines on grounds lower than the house and a stunning view of the small mountain at the edge of the Fielding property. The mountain grew the grapes which went into Todd’s most expensive Cabernet, the one he called The Miracle Fields.
White twinkling lights hung over the scene from some sort of invisible apparatus, giving the sense that the stars had lowered to be nearer the party. Elaborate concoctions of flowers floated in the pool. Guests wearing cocktail dresses and casual (but ridiculously expensive) summer suits stood at highboy tables or sat carefully on cushioned chaise lounges. Waiters in white coats carried trays of champagne and pomegranate martinis. Along the side of the pool, a tremendous banquet table offered a sumptuous selection of appetizers.
Jess eyed the wide variety of sushi rolls and contemplated making herself a plate. But she just wasn’t comfortable enough in her disguise to easily eat. The thick wig was chin length, very straight and angular with heavy bangs. The dark red of it looked natural against her pale skin, and the thick, long bangs obscured her black eyebrows.
Her lipstick was also red, as was her lacy fitted sundress. She blushed remembering an offhand comment Adam made over the summer as they put together various disguises and identities for her. “You’re too beautiful to go incognito, Jess,” he’d said, completely matter-of-fact. “So, to disguise you, we need to make you a different kind of beauty.” She’d never thought of herself as beautiful before, but he certainly made her feel that way. “We need to go a little over the top when dressing you for jobs so the packaging is what people see, what they remember.”
Tonight and for the rest of this trip, people would see the “Woman in Red.”
She put on a carefree smile and chose a pomegranate martini from a passing waitress, mostly because it matched her outfit. She did a slow scan of the crowd, looking for Adam. He’d arrived earlier, as Todd had invited certain moneyed guests to come an hour before the party to sample his new premium vintages. Jess had decided not to attend the pre-party. She used the extra hour to catch up on some much needed sleep instead.
“Mmmm,” said an Australian-accented voice behind her. “I’d forgotten how much I liked this one. The red hair, the red dress.”
She turned to find him leaning against the house, his lips turned up in a carefree smile, while his eyes were laser focused and alert. Focused, for the moment, on her legs. He liked her legs. She grinned and moved closer, arching her back to raise her cleavage. “Don’t forget the red, red lips,” she purred. And then licked them.
“Knock it off, Blondie,” he growled, dropping the accent. “Or we’ll go back to the hotel right this minute.”
Now that was an excellent idea. With the Nashville gig this week, Adam had been gone since Tuesday morning. Two nights without him in her bed was two nights too many.
No, she scolded herself. She had a job to do tonight. She needed to convince Todd or Helen to bring her to their bedroom and then find a reason for them to leave her alone in it so she could search for the safe. She and Adam needed to know what kind of safe stored the Scarlet so they’d know if they could crack it on their own at a later date or if they would need to contract outside help.
She could treat herself to Adam-in-a-hotel-bed later tonight.
Adam’s hot gaze shifted from her face and the heat disappeared altogether as he gave an upward nod to someone behind her. “Hey, mate,” he said. “Come meet my girl. Gracie, love, say hello to our host, the master of the house. Meet Todd Fielding.”
She turned, poker face in place—and still almost did a double take. Adam had mentioned that Todd’s larger-than-life persona manifested itself in his appearance, but she hadn’t fully understood what he meant. Eye to eye with Adam, Todd had to be at least 6’3”, and the cowboy hat he wore ensured that no man at the party stood taller. He was deeply tanned and wore a blinding white suit over a turquoise shirt. On his feet, flip flops. All in all, it reminded her of what a five-year-old boy might pick out of the closet. Certainly not what she would have expected from a semi-famous, fifty-ish millionaire.
She held out her hand. “Lovely to meet you. I’m Grace.” Grace Hopper was one of her absolute favorite IDs. The real Grace Hopper was a US Navy officer who developed the first compiler for an electronic computer. She’d also popularized the term “debugging.” “Thank you so much for having us, Mr. Fielding. Your place is amazing.”
Todd shook her hand so briskly her wrist hurt. “Pleasure’s mine, little darlin’. I was surprised when old Chase told me he was bringin’ a date, but now I get it.” He leaned forward and gave her a conspiratorial wink. Then, in a stage whisper, “He’s got a thing for redheads. I’ve seen him drooling over redheaded tail on three continents.”
Jess arched an eyebrow at Adam. “Is that right, Chase?”
Adam laughed and made a show of patting her bottom. Perhaps a bit more thoroughly than was absolutely required. He fired a mock glare at Todd. “You aiming to get me in trouble, mate?”
Todd roared with laughter—an actual roar. It was such a loud sound that Jess almost jumped in her heels. She’d never heard such a grating laugh in her life. “I always try to get everyone in trouble,” he admitted. “It drove all my ex-girlfriends batshit crazy. Thank God Helen doesn’t mind.”
“Where is your gorgeous fiancée?” Adam asked.
Todd used his wineglass to point vigorously at the kitchen. For a moment, Jess feared he’d slosh the Cabernet all over his white suit. “She’s instructing the staff on the passed appetizers.” His florid face softened into a dopey smile. “That woman can turn a party into a work of art.”
“Speaking of art,” Adam said, “did I mention that Gracie here is quite an art enthusiast? She just about fell down when I told her you’d snagged a piece by Sterling Ruby.”
Picking up on Adam’s smooth cue, Jess kicked into her cover. “Yes! I love him! That must be amazing, to be able to look at his work every day.”
Todd nodded enthusiastically, but when he spoke, it was at normal volume and with half as much faux-Texan accent as when he called her “little darlin’.” “I love it. Sometimes I’ll drink three or four cups of coffee while just staring at it before starting my day. My own little meditation.”
Oh, perfect. He was leading her right where she needed him to go. Adam sensed it too because he announced, “Going to the loo, back in a bit.”
“Where did you hang the painting?” Jess asked Todd. “I always think that where a painting is hung really influences how it’s seen. The surroundings in the room, how the light hits it, all those intangible factors.”
“I agree!” Todd exclaimed. “That’s why I put it in my bedroom. The floor-to-ceiling windows really bathe it in perfect light. Of course, to protect it, I have to shield it most of the time—”
“Of course.” Jess interrupted before he could go into a lengthy speech on art preservation.
She kind of wished Adam had stuck around to watch her nail her opening. Because last week he’d gone on and on about the kind of approach she should take with Todd in order to wrangle an invite to see the painting. “Don’t just ask him, Jess. Todd never says yes to any initial requests. It’s his thing.” Over and over, ad nauseam, he’d told her not to be too direct. “He likes a bit of push and pull, he likes to bargain or bet or argue on everything. He’s a game player. Make him convince you that you want to see it.”
But this conversation was going so easily that Adam’s advice seemed unnecessarily complicated. Surely Adam was just jaded by all the things he’d seen in his long career. So far Todd seemed perfectly reasonable, if a bit quirky. Why wouldn’t he show her if she just asked him without trickery or guile? “Would you be willing to show a fellow art enthusiast the painting? I’d absolutely just love to see it.”
Todd’s eyes widened, then narrowed. His face curved into that of a playground bully singing, “Na, na, na, na, na, na, I have your toy, come and get it.”
Cocking his head and crossing his arms, he raised an eyebrow. “Okay, fellow art enthusiast, which is your favorite Sterling Ruby painting?”
“SP231,” Jess answered promptly. Naturally, she’d done her homework on the artist.
“What other California artists do you like?” he asked, his eyes innocent.
Oh shit. She’d done deep research on Sterling Ruby, but she knew next to nothing about other West Coast artists. Next to nothing about most art really. Growing up, her father grudgingly allowed one trip to Chicago’s Art Institute a year, and with the insanity of her college athlete days and her intense IT career, she’d never really had the opportunity to learn much about art.
She willed herself to think of a name, just one other name from one of the articles she’d read about contemporaries of Ruby. “Uh, Paul McCartney?” As soon as the name left her lips, she wanted to cringe.
Todd favored her with a condescending smirk. “I believe you’re thinking of Paul McCarthy, creator of Tomato head (Green)?”
Jess didn’t know whether to nod, shrug or run. He’d exposed her lack of knowledge with one question and she was so humiliated she didn’t know how to turn the situation around.
Behind her, Adam snorted. “Mate, you’re not seriously talking to my girl about that perverted Mr. Potato Head, are you?” He put his arm around Jess’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze she knew was meant to comfort and calm her. But it really only made her feel more embarrassed. Was she ever going to be good at this?
Todd sniffed. “Tomato head (Green) sold for more than four and half million at Christie’s in 2011, you know.”
Adam just smiled. “Doesn’t mean it’s not garbage. If you like that, I definitely don’t want to see whatever Ruby you bought. His stuff is all over the board as well. Some good stuff, some shit.” He gave Todd a manly, teasing punch to the shoulder. “You’ve no taste, mate.”
Now Todd’s eyes gleamed. “You’ll eat your words, lazy-Chase. Grab a fresh drink and we’ll duck out for a bit. You’re gonna cry when you see the painting. Tears of awe.”
Jess certainly felt like crying. In a matter of three minutes, she failed at her attempt to be invited to see the painting and Adam swooped in to turn the situation around. Damn it. She shouldn’t have been so proud, so determined to do things her way. If she’d done exactly as he advised, she and Todd would already be in the goddamn bedroom and she’d be halfway on the way to getting the safe’s specs.
How does he do it? she wondered, watching Adam simultaneously grab Todd another glass of wine while chortling at his inappropriate comments, all the while scanning the room for any security risks and nudging her to follow them. Maybe this ability was just too deeply ingrained in him for her to ever hope to emulate it. She’d literally never seen him make a mistake while undercover.
“This way,” Todd called. “We don’t even have to go through the house. There’s a patio outside the master suite with stairs to the grounds.” Adam and Jess followed Todd out of the backyard, away from the crowd, until they were climbing a set of wooden stairs up to the second level. “Nice view of the party from up here.”
The master suite must have taken up the entire rear southwest corner of the home, and the wraparound patio overlooked the pool and cocktail party. “Just gotta find the hide-a-key,” Todd muttered, poking in some potted plants. Adam and Jess made a big show of not watching him. Instead, they leaned over the balcony and watched the tipsy crowd below. They giggled as a woman wearing six-inch purple strappy sandals almost fell into the pool. Pointed at a couple of teenagers doing their best to stuff all of the mini-burgers and fries into their mouths before their more well-mannered parents found them. In the corner next to the hot tub, a DJ had started spinning and at least twelve couples were swiveling their hips on a makeshift dance floor.
“Helen thinks it’s unsafe to keep a key hidden out here,” Todd mumbled, digging through a copper pot of perennials. Jess agreed with Helen. It was asinine. “But, I manage to forget my keys about once a week, so it’s a must for me.” Jess chuckled to be polite, but he must have heard some skepticism in the noise because he continued. “We always have the alarm on anyway. So even if some weirdo climbed back here and found the key, the alarm would go off when the door opened. The cops would be here in less than five minutes.”
Again, Jess nodded in support when she really wanted to snort. If Todd could see what Adam was able to do in five minutes, he’d banish hide-a-keys for eternity.
Jess started to relax again. So, she’d messed up. But it was a tiny mess with no consequences. She’d apologize to Adam later and promise to follow his explicit directions for the rest of the job. She turned to Adam to give him a small kiss. He’d know what it meant.
But then the strangest thing happened. Next to her, Adam stiffened and all expression dropped off his face. Except for his wide eyes tracking something, he was as still as a statue. Jess opened her mouth and closed it again. Instead of demanding answers, she followed the trajectory of his gaze until she could see the object of his stare.
It was a woman.
A beautiful woman. Late twenties, curvy in the perfect Scarlett Johansson kind of way. Clear, pink and white milkmaid skin. Thick blond hair and round blue eyes. Silky, strapless pink gown. Innocent-looking until she laughed, and then she was exactly the right kind of wicked. For a long minute while Todd swore and puttered behind them, Adam never took his eyes off of her. In fact, he didn’t breathe.
Jess’s stomach started to hurt. Why was he staring at the blonde like that? He wasn’t supposed to look at anyone but her with that much focus.
“Found it!” Todd announced, holding up a dirty key. He leaned to put it in the lock of the back door but was interrupted by the ring of his cell phone. If Jess wasn’t mistaken, he used Britney Spears’s “Womanizer” as his ringtone. “Hello, my darling. What? Oh, yes. I’ll be right there, angel.”
He shoved the phone back in his pants and the key back in the copper pot closest to the stairs. Jess filed that away; who knew when that little fact might come in handy? “Sorry, folks. My Helen needs me, and when my lady calls, I go a-running.”
“No worries, mate,” Adam said, his voice as smooth as ever. But he still hadn’t looked away from the blonde woman by the pool. “Kind of dying to get back to the party, myself.”
Then, to her absolute shock, he shoved his way away from the railing, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and started down the stairs, taking them two at time. “Cheers, Todd. I’ll meet up with you later, love.”
Jess walked slowly back to the party next to Todd, who was now blabbing loudly on the virtues of his fiancée, not seeming to care that her only responses were nods and a pasted smile. When they reached the pool, Todd excused himself to find Helen.
Jess went to the bar and ordered a bourbon. Adam would have yelled at her for this. “Bourbon is Jess’s favorite,” he would have reminded her. “You are not Jess tonight.”
Screw that, she decided, taking a deep swallow. She’d messed up her first assignment, they weren’t going to be able to see the safe tonight, and her partner-boyfriend (or whatever he was) had abruptly ditched her in pursuit of another woman.
As dessert was announced, much of the crowd moved toward the buffet. This created enough space for Jess to see into the back corner of the dance floor. Oh. There was Adam, dancing with the blonde. He was smiling down into her eyes, not talking. The blonde smiled serenely back up at him. But Adam’s arms gripped hers so tightly, Jess could see his muscles clench.
Jess finished the rest of her bourbon with a placid face, but inside she was a disaster. She didn’t know what to do next. Scream at him? Cry? Hire an Uber to take her to the San Francisco airport? What the hell was this?
In the end, she simply brought her glass back to the bar, pushed her shoulders back and walked out of the party.