The Mighty Quinns: Cameron (13 page)

Sofie slowly stood. She pointed to a set of French doors. “This way?”

Vivian nodded. “Just don’t touch anything. He’s really fussy. Some of the pieces are really valuable.”

Sofie walked through the doors to the library, then froze, a tiny gasp slipping from her lips. The floor-to-ceiling wooden shelves had been cleared of books and were now lined with Native American artifacts. She moved closer, her gaze taking in the massive collection. There had to be at least a couple million dollars in looted pieces, beautiful bowls and urns, ladles without a single crack or chip. But as she got closer, she began to see that something wasn’t quite right.

Though the artifacts looked old and the patina was almost perfect, Sofie could tell they were fakes. She’d seen plenty of the real thing in her mother’s gallery and in museums.

Her mother was one of New Mexico’s foremost experts in authenticating legally collected artifacts. Talie Reyes had no patience for anything collected illegally. But was this illegal, to dupe a man intent on breaking the law?

She picked up a pot and turned it over. The even color of the patina was a dead giveaway. And a tiny chip in the side revealed the real color of the clay. The oils from handling the pot over a hundred years would have sunk deeply into the clay, not just sit on the surface.

“Please don’t touch those,” Vivian said.

Sofie turned, the pot still clutched in her hands. “How much of your money has he invested, Vivian?”

“I don’t know. Maybe a quarter million. I have an inheritance from my father.”

Sofie drew a deep breath. “Vivian, these are fakes. They’re modern pots made to look old. This one here,” she said, pointing to a bowl on the middle shelf, “I think this actually might be one of my mother’s bowls. She’s a potter in Albuquerque and sells these to tourists for a hundred dollars.”

“No. Walter says they’re an investment. He gets them right from the people who dig them up.”

“The people out at the dig site near the airstrip?”

Vivian nodded. “Yes.”

“If you don’t believe me, you can take them to my mother’s gallery and have them authenticated, but I’m pretty sure you’ve been swindled. What I’m not sure of, however, is whether Walter is doing the swindling or if he’s been duped, as well.”

“What do you mean?”

Sofie crossed the room and took Vivian’s hand. “He took money from you, and he gave you these things that are worth nothing. Maybe he bought them cheap and kept some of the money for himself?”

Vivian’s eyes filled with sudden tears. “No. No, he wouldn’t do that. Walter thinks they’re real. They are real.”

Reaching for an arrowhead, Sofie held it out. “This looks real. Maybe there are a few pieces in here that are authentic. I’d guess they were the first things that the perps sold Walter, in case he had them checked out. But after they’d lured him in, they sold him the big-ticket items. And those have been made to look old.” Sofie paused. “They probably told him these treasures came off government land, which would make them illegal to possess. But there’s a huge black market for artifacts. That’s where the money is. Don’t you see, Vivian? Either way, it doesn’t make Walter look like a good guy.”

“You—you need to go. You need to go right now,” Vivian said. “I don’t want you here anymore.”

Sofie crossed to the desk and scribbled her cell-phone number on a scrap of paper, then returned to Vivian. She pressed the paper into her hand. “I’m not going to give the photos to Stella. But you need to think about yourself here.” She met Vivian’s wide-eyed gaze. “If you need my help, just give me a call.”

Vivian drew a ragged breath. “He loves me,” she said.

“I really do hope that’s true, Vivian.”

With that, Sofie decided that she’d done all she could. As she stepped out onto the wide porch, she realized that her attempt to clean up a mess just made things a lot messier. Poor Vivian. If she’d been swindled by Walter, the betrayal would be almost too much to bear. And if Walter had been unaware of the pottery’s origins, then he wasn’t nearly as smart as Sofie had given him credit for.

An idea teased at her thoughts, and as she started the Jeep, she realized there was a way to discover the truth. Now that she knew about Walter’s marital infidelities, she would start investigating his newfound hobby. Someone out at the dig site was involved in this, either providing Walter with fake pottery or raking in a lot of cash duping collectors who’d be too afraid to get the items authenticated.

Cameron hadn’t started the kitchen remodel at Carlo’s house yet. Maybe they could fit this in first. She smiled to herself. She had an excuse to keep him all to herself just a little bit longer.

“One last case,” Sofie said. “And then I’ll be ready to let him go.”

8

C
AMERON
HAD
NEVER
seen the desert looking more beautiful. And he could say the same for his companion, the exotic creature sitting in the passenger seat of the Jeep.

She was dressed in faded jeans and a tank top, her straw cowboy hat pulled down against the late-afternoon sun. She’d pulled off her cowboy boots and had kicked her bare feet up on the edge of the door, her red-painted toenails shining in the sun.

Cameron smiled to himself. There were moments spent with Sofie when he believed his life couldn’t get any better. He’d become completely infatuated with her in the course of just a few weeks. How would he feel in another three weeks? Somehow, it was hard to believe that this contentment would ever fade.

Three weeks seemed like an eternity, but if the hours passed as quickly as the first three weeks had, then he didn’t have much time left at all. Cameron knew the connection they’d found was rare. It was as if they’d been created for each other, put into the world to be together.

They’d been staying at Sofie’s apartment in Albuquerque, but today, Sofie had decided they needed to get out of town. She’d packed the tent and sleeping bags, along with a cooler full of food and drinks, then told him to drive west, chasing the sun across the sky.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“We’re going to do a favor for a friend,” she said.

“I don’t have any friends around here, except for you,” he said.

“Actually, this is a friend of my mother’s.”

“I like your mom,” Cameron said.

Sofie turned and smiled. “And she likes you. But then, she likes everyone. My father says that if it weren’t for her, he wouldn’t have any friends.”

“How did they meet?”

“My mom was in college in Santa Fe and Dad had just taken a job with the police department there. She was working in an art gallery, and he was on foot patrol. He walked by and saw her through the window. She smiled at him and that was it. He came back the next day with lunch and kept stopping by every day until she agreed to go out with him. He says he fell in love with her the moment she smiled at him.”

“Do you think it’s possible?” Cameron asked.

“What?”

“Love at first sight?”

Her brow furrowed as she considered the question for a long moment. “I’m not sure. I suppose it depends if those feelings last. If they do, then it was love at first sight. If they don’t, then it was just lust at first sight.”

“Good point,” he said. He reached out and rested his hand on the back of her seat, his finger tangling in the hair at her nape. “I think if you believe in love at first sight, you have to believe in destiny, too. The idea that two people are meant to find each other, against all odds.”

“All dreams spin out from the same web,” Sofie said. She laughed. “That’s another one of my mother’s sayings.”

“What does it mean?”

“I think it means that everyone’s dreams are interconnected in some way. That your dream to become a paleontologist caused your grandfather to send you to Vulture Creek, where I met you, and you helped me with the case, which is helping me make a living while I work toward getting back on the force, which is my dream.” She giggled softly. “At least that’s what I think it means. Sometimes my mother’s Hopi wisdom can be a bit mystifying.”

“All dreams come from the same web?” Cameron asked.

“All dreams spin out from the same web,” Sofie corrected.

As they drove through the desert, Cameron thought about the words. He’d never really had any dreams as an adult. From the moment his parents had disappeared, he’d taken on responsibility for his brothers, for keeping the family solid. And his efforts had been a success. He and his brothers were best friends. And it had been enough—until now.

Cameron had always known he ought to want more. While men his age were getting married and having children, he was still wasting time with short-term affairs. He was satisfying his physical needs with no-strings sex and ignoring whatever emotional needs he might have.

He’d been treading water, waiting for a lifeboat to drift by and throw him a line. And now here was the line, floating right in front of him, and he was afraid to grab hold. Could he convince Sofie that they belonged together?

Her skeptical nature didn’t say much for his odds, but he had to try anyway. But Cameron wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say. Relationships were supposed to grow slowly, so each person had time to decide what they wanted. Cameron felt as if everything between him and Sofie had been accelerated from the start.

He still had another three weeks left, but hell, he didn’t know what they were doing tomorrow, much less a week or two from now. He had to take his chances while he could.

They headed off the road, the Jeep bouncing through rough terrain before Sofie pointed to a distant outcropping. “Right over there,” she said.

As they drove closer, Cameron saw a pair of ATVs parked near a stone fire ring. A couple of teenage boys waved as they approached, then hopped on the ATVs and drove off. Cameron turned to Sofie. “Do you know them?”

She shook her head. “Nope.”

“What are we doing here?”

“We’re going to camp. And we’re also going to guard this site from looters.”

“Looters?”

Sofie nodded. “The man who owns this land has agreed to give up any artifacts found to the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe. But looters have been sneaking onto the property and digging in the site. So, my mother and some of her friends on the museum board have set up a schedule for people to come out here and guard the site until the museum can get to it.”

“What are we going to do if we see any looters?” he asked. “Throw rocks at them?”

Sofie shook her head. “I have my gun in the Jeep.”

“You have a gun?”

“Don’t look so surprised. I’m a cop. I have several guns.”

He grinned at her. “I’ve never been with a woman who was armed,” he said.

She leaned over and brushed a kiss across his lips. “If you talk sweet to me, I’ll teach you how to shoot.” She slid out of the truck and began to unload supplies from the back. He grabbed the tent from her and carried it over to a flat spot near the fire pit. Chopped wood was already stacked neatly nearby, and someone had brought a big barrel of water for washing dishes.

“This is nice,” he said.

Sofie took the tent bag from his hands and dropped it on the dusty ground. “Come on, let me show you what we’re protecting.”

He laced his fingers through hers and walked along beside her to the base of a jagged outcropping. Cameron could see that the rock and earth had been crumbling beneath the elements. She hitched her hands on her hips as she stared out at the site.

“There’s a Hopi proverb that says if we dig precious things from the land, we invite disaster.”

Sofie bent down and picked up what looked like a jagged rock. But when she turned it over, he saw a design on the back. “This was probably a ceremonial bowl,” she said, placing the shard back where she found it. She pointed to another spot and held up a small sliver of rock. “This was likely used as a tool, to cut or scrape. You can see how the edge has been flaked to make it sharp.”

“So what’s to stop you from putting those things in your pocket?”

“Nothing. There are no security cameras or armed guards. That’s why it’s so frustrating. The thieves go after a place like this like vultures. Then, once they dig the artifacts out of the ground, it’s all about the money.” She pointed to a shard embedded in a clump of dirt. “Once the site is known, it’s an open invitation to looters.” She pointed to freshly exposed soil. “You can see where they dug right here. Most of the looting happens on public or tribal land. Even though digging there is illegal, there are lots of artifacts to be found and very few rangers to watch over it all. But at least these things will be saved before they hit the black market.”

“I’m glad you brought me out here.”

“There’s another reason,” she said. “I went to see Vivian a few days ago.”

“At the ranch?” he asked.

“I wanted to talk to her alone, to try to convince her to talk to Stella herself. Then I found out what Walter was doing out at the dig site.” She scrapped the dry soil with her boot. “He’s been taking Vivian’s money and buying what he thinks are smuggled artifacts. He has quite a collection. According to Vivian, he’s spent close to a quarter of a million dollars of her money on them.”

“And you think they’re looted?”

She shook her head. “No. I know they’re not looted. At least the good stuff isn’t. They’re fakes.”

“Why would someone sell fakes?”

“There’s a huge black market for artifacts. And if the buyer knows they’re smuggled, they don’t dare get anything authenticated. So the seller takes no risk in looting and gets all the reward from customers with money to burn. It’s a perfect setup, a lot like the fake sports-memorabilia market, especially if you can find a naive collector.”

“So the guy is duped, never learning that he’s bought fakes—”

“Unless he tries to sell them to another collector. Only then will he find out that he’s been swindled. Bu by that point, the sellers are long gone.”

“Now that you know what he was doing at the dig site, are you going to give Stella the photos?”

“I don’t think it’s as easy as that,” Sofie said. “Here’s a guy who cheats on his wife. He takes her money and spends it on his mistress. And then, he takes his mistress’s money and invests in black-
market artifacts. I think Walter knows they’re fake and he’s using the purchases to steal money from Vivian. I’d be willing to bet that he’s paid about ten thousand for all he’s bought and pocketed the rest of Vivian’s money. That’s what he’s using to finance his real-estate investments.

Cameron ran his hand through his hair, shaking his head. “What a mess,” he murmured.

She grabbed his hand. “I was thinking, maybe we could work another case together. We could see if we can find the people selling the fake artifacts and try to get Vivian’s money back for her.”

“You think they’ll just give it back?”

“Well, we could threaten to go to the FBI unless they do. That might make them agree to cut their losses.”

“Why all this concern for Vivian?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I’d never let myself trust a man like Walter. He’s already cheated. But still, she loves him. I’m not sure she even knows the real Walter, but she’s just put her heart out there and is ready to believe. I kind of admire that.” Sofie sighed. “If Walter really is a creep, then he’s going to leave her a quarter of a million dollars poorer. She might never be able to trust a man again.”

“I think we make a pretty good team,” he said. “If anyone can get her money back, we can.”

Sofie pushed up on her toes and threw her arms around his neck. “We are a good team,” she said. “I’m the brains behind the operation and you’re the beauty.”

He growled softly, pressing a kiss against her neck. “I think you’re both the brains and the beauty. I’m just your assistant.”

“Yes, but you’re awfully pretty, too.” She pulled him along toward the campsite. “Come on, let’s get settled and then I’ll let you make me dinner. After that, I might take you inside my tent and have my way with you.”

Cameron followed along after her. “Can we do that tent thing first? ’Cause I’m really not that hungry.”

* * *

S
OFIE
WASN
’
T
SURE
what woke her up. But she sat up, feeling around in the dark interior of the tent for Cameron. To her surprise, his sleeping bag was gone and so was he.

Grabbing her own sleeping bag and wrapping it around her naked body, Sofie crawled out of the tent. The night air was cold on her skin, and she shivered as she scanned the campsite for Cameron.

She saw him sitting just beyond the fire, his body outlined by the light from the moon, his face tipped up to the sky. He’d wrapped himself up and was sitting cross-legged on the ground.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked. “It’s freezing.”

“Come here,” he said.

She walked across the hard-packed ground around the fire. He stood and wrapped his sleeping bag around them both. “Did you hear something?” Sofie asked. “You should have woken me.”

“No, there was nothing. I just woke up and came out to look at the stars and then—”

“What?” Sofie asked.

“It sounds silly.”

“You heard voices,” she said.

Cameron gasped. “I did. I was just sitting by the fire and I started hearing things. Like whispers. But I didn’t understand the words.”

She nodded. “Yeah, that happens. I used to think it was the spirit world talking to me.”

“Is it?”

Sofie shrugged. “If you believe in the spirit world, yes. If you don’t, I guess it’s just your ears playing tricks on you. It’s leftover sounds from your day, still vibrating in your head. It’s the wind or the animals or echoes from a nearby town.”

“Why would the spirit world be talking to a guy like me? I’m Irish.”

“I don’t know,” she said, turning her face up to his. “You have to figure that out on your own.”

His hands smoothed over her hips, then moved to her backside, pulling her against him as he kissed her. Sofie sighed as the kiss grew more passionate. He was all she ever needed. How had she gone so long without this? When Cameron touched her, every atom in her body came alive. She felt as if nature had created them for each other.

But it wasn’t just the physical attraction that she’d come to need. There was an emotional connection between the two of them, a trust that she’d never had with a man before. She could say anything to him, reveal her deepest secrets, and Sofie knew that he’d accept her for exactly who she was.

There were moments when she wanted to open her heart, to admit that she was falling in love with him, just to see his reaction. Was he feeling the same way? Sofie knew it was too soon to talk about the future, but she’d never been one to hide her feelings.

“Do you remember the other night when I said that you were my boyfriend?”

“I do,” Cameron said.