Page 127 of SEAL's Resolve
“Has Ward been in there?” Cal asked. He held up a hand when Rafe scowled at him. “Chill, Torres. No judgment, but we need to know.”
Kristi laid her hand over Rafe’s “I didn’t invite Hugh to my bedroom, Cal. However, he walk into the room when he volunteered to get my purse or phone.”
“In the last month?” the former cop persisted.
“The last time was two weeks ago. We were going to dinner with friends, and I was working on a wedding dress. I wanted to finish a couple of things before we left. Hugh volunteered to get my purse to save time. I don’t know how long he was up there. I was distracted. However, after that incident, he talked about safes with my father. Dad mentioned his home safe and the brand because Hugh asked for recommendations.”
Jon snorted. “He wanted to know what kind of safe your father had. Wouldn’t surprise me if he planned to steal money to hold off the casinos.”
“Have you looked inside your safe since Ward was in your bedroom?” Cal asked Kristi.
She shook her head. “I haven’t opened the safe in weeks.”
Rafe sighed. “Check my email, Jon. Zane sent the video footage from the cameras WS installed on the second floor.”
A slight nod from his teammate.
Eli inclined his head toward the hallway. “Check the safe, Kristi.”
Kristi followed Rafe upstairs to her bedroom. “Why are we checking my safe? Hugh doesn’t know my combination.”
“Humor me.” He couldn’t forget the camera that had been installed in Kristi’s bedroom. From the position of the camera, anyone watching the security footage would see Kristi input the combination to open the safe.
She walked to the painting of a woman wearing a wedding dress and moved the painting aside. Kristi typed in the combination and twisted the handle to open the safe.
“See if anything is missing.”
She gathered the boxes in the safe and set them on her bed. One by one, she opened the boxes, eyes widening in horror when she discovered half of them were empty. “Oh, no,” she whispered. “Hugh did this?”
“We don’t know yet if Ward is the culprit. One of the other security team members might be to blame.” Rafe wrapped his arms around her. “Jon’s checking the footage now. We’ll find out who stole your jewelry and do our best to get the pieces back.”
“He stole my mother’s jewelry.” Kristi’s voice broke.
Fury burned in Rafe’s gut. “Come on. Let’s see what Jon discovered.”
His teammates glanced up when they walked into the kitchen. “Ward knew the combination. How much did he take?” Jon asked.
“All of my mother’s jewelry,” Kristi said.
Cal looked at her with sympathy in his eyes. “With his desperate need for money, Ward would have sold the pieces. If we’re lucky, the store that bought the jewelry will have a record we can use to track the pieces if they’ve been sold to someone else.”
“The settings were old fashioned. If Hugh took them to a legitimate jewelry store, the store would take the jewels from the old settings and placed them in new ones.”
“I’m sorry. We’ll do what we can.”
Rafe tipped up her chin and brushed his mouth over hers. “Come sit down. We need your help. Think about isolated properties that Ward and his family own.”
“I made a list of their properties along with a picture of each,” Jon said. He slid three pieces of paper down the table.
She scanned the first page and shook her head. “None of these. The neighbors are too close.” She looked at the second page.
Kristi tapped a large rustic home. “This is a possibility. I’ve been there with my father and the Wards. It’s out in the woods and isolated.” Her lips curved into a wry smile. “Not too isolated for Mrs. Ward, though. Plenty of shopping nearby.”
Continuing to the last page, she skimmed to the last listing. “This one also fits the parameters you laid out. It’s where Hugh’s father likes to go when he’s in the mood for fishing.”
“How often is that?”
“Once in the last five years. The cabin is by a lake and surrounded by 200 acres of forest owned by the Ward family.”