Tinsel In A Tangle

He couldn’t watch her walk away. He feigned sudden interest in the floor until the click clack of her shoes faded into memory. He smiled when he realized she still had his suit jacket and his socks.

Ana was gone and Jake was being put into handcuffs. Jake looked at the man he’d known his entire life, his boss, wondering again how Leonard and Ana became two such different people.

“How long have you had these guys on your payroll?”

Leonard didn’t smile, he smirked. “Long enough. You’re not as smart as you think you are.”

Jake smiled when the cop put his hand into the pocket holding the handkerchief he’d used to clean up Ana. He didn’t say anything when the cop pulled the fake diamond out of the other pocket.

“What’s this?” the head cop asked.

Jake simply looked at the stone and then up at the man. If he couldn’t figure it out, Jake wasn’t about to spell it out for him.

Leonard laughed his hyena-like sound. “Just remember, I’m smarter than you. You never stood a chance of getting away with the necklace. Take him away.”

Jake smiled at Leonard, not the loving smile he bestowed on Ana, the shark one.

This was so far from over.

Chapter Six

Ana couldn’t stop shaking.

She didn’t know what to do. She left the museum and got into her car and drove to the airport on autopilot. Jake would’ve yelled at her for driving with tears streaming from her eyes. She parked in the private lot but couldn’t force herself to get out of the car. She’d called the charter company and told them she’d been delayed. For a price, they were holding the plane for her until she could make it there.

How could she let Jake take the fall for something that was her fault?

The contents of her purse were a mess. More tears came when she found her phone under Jake’s borrowed socks. Her hands shook as she scrolled through her contacts. It was completely obscene to call someone at five o’clock in the morning, but it wasn’t the first time the Hoffmans had been woken up in the early hours by a Staffordshire.

She climbed out of the car, desperate for fresh air, and paced while she waited for it to connect. The morning was mild and the sun just starting to peek up in the east.

“Hello?” Tom Hoffman’s voice was husky. Obviously she’d woken him.

“Mr. Hoffman? It’s Ana Staffordshire.”

She heard him speaking to someone in the background, she assumed Jake’s mother, and then came back on the line.

“Ana, it’s good to hear your voice. What’s wrong?” Mr. Hoffman was as much of a staple of her early childhood as Jake. The distinguished older man was always there in the background of her memories.

“It’s Jake.”

“What? Is he all right?”

“He’s okay. I think. Leonard had him arrested. He... I... Leonard may be able to prove that Jake was going to steal the Staffordshire Diamond. But he’s covering for me.”

Mr. Hoffman was quiet for a moment. Why had she thought calling him would be a good idea? Obviously his loyalty would be to his son, not her. He’d turn her in, which is what she’d do herself if Jake hadn’t told her to “do what she was going to do.” He wanted her gone?

“What? Wait, that’s not important now. Ana, do you have an escape plan? What were you going to do once you had the diamond?”

“I had—have—a place to go, but what about Jake?”

“Did Jake ask you to trust him?”

She thought back. Had he?

She did trust him. She trusted him with her life. With everything in her. But did he specifically ask? Her mind had been going so many places before she left that she wasn’t quite sure. “I think so. Maybe.”

“Good girl,” Mr. Hoffman said. “Then do what he asked. Trust him. Make sure you’re safe.”