Page 58 of Burning Caine

“The painters, the security guy, and Mrs. Scott. Yeah, I know.”

As she stood to leave, I stopped her. “Hold on, I have something else. There’s a possibility the painting may be a fake.”

She sat, lifting an eyebrow, looking for more.

“I don’t know for sure yet. We have more tests to do. Either way, let’s assume it’s a fake. It was authenticated in 2015. So, I’m wondering if it had been stolen and the Scotts didn’t know. What you can help with, is—”

“Break-ins reported at their house. Jimmy said you’d called. I didn’t understand where you were coming from, but it makes sense now. I’ll look. I should be able to get away with that much, at least. Did you look for theft claims in your system here?”

“I did, but no hits. If anything was stolen from their house then, they didn’t go through us for it.”

“Any other insurance?”

“I’ll check around. I’ll book the appointments and visit the neighbor who called it in, too. Maybe something she saw would help.”

Janelle nodded.

“Momentary truce?” I asked.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Contrary to her words, she patted me on the arm, and headed out.

I ran a hand over my face. As if my own curiosity would have let me hand this over to Hailey, I certainly couldn’t now. Janelle had given me something important, and I had to keep it if I wanted a chance to earn my friend back.

Chapter 24

Samantha

WithJanellegone,Iwanted to scan through the police report further, but I had scheduled site visits. I grabbed the folder and started out to my truck. I didn’t make it to the exit before Cliff’s booming voice echoed through the office while he strode down the hall toward me. “Caine! Back here!”

“Yeah?”

“David and Olivia Scott are here,” he said, once he’d caught up with me.

Did no one realize I spent most of my time out of the office? Did they not own phones to find out if I was available?

“I have an appointment in—” Quick check of my watch. “—forty minutes, and it’s a thirty-minute drive.”

“Mike,” he hollered. “You here?”

“Yeah, boss.” The response came from the direction of the Pit.

“With me.” He headed to the Pit without checking I was behind him.

Per usual, Lucy was there, popping gum and doing something incomprehensible on her computer. Hailey was also there, updating the notes on a claim.

Cliff waved Mike out of the seat and sat, switching the claims system to his manager’s dashboard. A couple mouse clicks later, and the full adjuster schedule was in front of us. He filtered the results down to Mike and me. Mike’s was empty, and mine had three appointments showing for the afternoon.

“Mike, you’re taking Sam’s next appointment.” He switched the appointment details in the system. “Get off your ass and get going. It’s in—” He paused and pointed at me.

Watch check. “In thirty-six minutes, and it’s a thirty-minute drive.”

Mike’s brow furrowed. “I haven’t had lunch yet.”

“Grab it and go. You’re also taking her last appointment of the day.” He switched the assignments.

“Cliff—” I held up my hands to stop him from taking my claims away, but he kept going. He removed the filter for Mike’s appointments and added Hailey’s. Also, an empty afternoon.

“Hailey.” He flipped my other appointment over to her. “You’re taking Sam’s other claim this afternoon. It’s in an hour and a half.”