Through the Night (23 page)

Her stomach clenched, and she sought to understand and get straight, honest answers. “I thought you were hired to find the cane for Steven,” she said, a little voice inside her saying,
please, please
let her fears be wrong.

“I was. I also have my
own
reason for wanting to find the cane, and it has everything to do with this key.” He didn’t say anything more, just watched her with cautious eyes.

He should be concerned. His admission was a game changer. Valerie had been with a man who’d had his own agenda and she had no desire to go there again. But she was older now. Wiser. So, before she jumped to conclusions about Chase, she reminded herself she’d just spent five days with the man. And she knew him better than she’d ever known Glen.

For that reason, Chase deserved the chance to explain. She knew it would have been so easy for him to keep this secret from her, and she would never have known there was more to the cane than met the eye. Yet he’d invited her up to his suite and entrusted her with secrets that were not just huge but also meant so much to him.

She tried not to panic over what that meant, that he’d taken a big step across the line that separated their business relationship to something far more intimate and personal. And Valerie immediately felt that familiar bubble of anxiety well up inside her, telling her to run far and fast.

But Chase patiently stood just a few feet away, obviously waiting for her response before he revealed anything more. He’d trusted her, and knowing how difficult a feat that was for him, Valerie pushed aside her own fears and that impulse she always had to flee when things got too personal.

Besides, she was too fascinated to leave now. She wanted to know everything—about the cane, the key, and especially why it all seemed to mean so much to Chase.

“Tell me more,” she said, her curiosity and excitement rising.

The breath Chase exhaled was all relief, and in the next instant, his eyes brightened and his entire demeanor changed as enthusiasm replaced his previous apprehension. “I’ll tell you everything, but I could use a drink while I explain. How about you?”

“Sure,” she said as she followed him to the bar across the suite. “I’ll take my regular.”

He placed the key on the surface of the bar while he mixed her white wine spritzer, poured himself a shot of premium tequila, then sat down on the leather barstool next to hers.

“I just need to know one thing before you start,” Valerie said before Chase had the chance to say anything. “Does Steven know about the secret compartment in the cane, and about the Virgin Mary key?” She believed that Chase was a man of integrity, but if Chase had duped Steven while being paid to locate the staff part of the cane, she’d have a difficult time with that.

“Yes, he knows about both,” Chase said, alleviating her concern as he swirled his tequila in his snifter. “And after I’m done with the key, I intend to put it right back inside the cane where it belongs.”

She tipped her head. “And whatever this key leads to, does Steven know what
that
is?”

“No,” he replied, his tone honest and direct. “When Steven initially expressed interest in the ivory cane top for his collection, and then wanted me to find the staff to go with it, at that point I knew about the ivory key and what it
should
lead to. So, I told him about the key, which he thought was incredibly cool, but I also told him that the only way he could have the entire cane was if I was given temporary possession of the key inside, until I found what it belonged to.”

“So, the two of you made a deal?” she guessed, and sipped her wine spritzer.

“Exactly. I agreed to find the cane staff to go with the ivory top piece, and he agreed to let me use the key. And to protect both of our assets, we had an agreement drawn up stating that the cane in its entirety would be his, including the key, but whatever the key led to is legally mine, and he’d have no claim whatsoever to that treasure.”

“He was okay with that?” Valerie asked.

Chase shrugged. “Steven knew I could have kept the ivory top piece for myself and not sold it at all, and he’d end up with nothing. At least this way we both would get what we wanted.”

Which sounded fair and well thought out to her.

He slid his palm over the hand she’d rested on the surface of the bar where they were sitting. His thumb stroked her skin, and warmth and affection flooded her, and she let that direct connection to Chase and his emotions sink into her.

He smiled gently and threaded their fingers together, increasing the heat of his touch. “I know I’ve said this before, but I couldn’t have found the staff part of the cane without you, so I think it’s only fair that you get to see this through to the end with me.”

“Ahhh, and there’s the million-dollar question,” she teased, doing nothing to pull her hand from his as she might have done a few days ago. “What, exactly, does the key lead to?”

“A treasure that is hopefully
worth
a million,” he said. “When I originally found the ivory cane top, there were numerous things that flashed in my mind when I touched it. I saw the staff, and I even saw that ivory Madonna key. And the more I held the top piece and really focused, the more things it eventually revealed.”

“Like what?” He still hadn’t told her what, specifically, the key led to, but she was enjoying the build-up and hearing all the details, and she knew he’d get there eventually.

“I saw the words
Madonna Mia
in my mind, the same ones that are etched into the key.” He picked up the ivory key and showed her the inscription. “So I did a lot of research, and I learned that Al Capone wrote a song while he was in prison called—”

“‘Madonna Mia’!” she exclaimed before Chase could finish, recalling what Paul had told them during their tour at Alcatraz, and what she’d seen and heard in her visions as she sat in the gangster’s jail cell. “The love song Capone wrote for his wife.”

Chase’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “Exactly. So, having seen the title of the song on the ivory key in my flashes, I found the lyrics to the song and tried to decipher them, to see how they related to the cane or the key that was inside the staff.”

“And what did you find?” she asked eagerly.

“The lyrics of the song were like clues … if you knew what you were looking for,” he said, and took another drink of his tequila. “And by now, I’d done so much research and had enough mental flashes that I had an idea how it all tied together. Hang on while I get something.”

Valerie watched him go to his computer case, retrieve a file, and return to the bar. He opened the folder and showed her a printout of the lyrics to “Madonna Mia,” and pointed to the first verse.

“The song starts out, ‘In a quaint Italian garden,’” he said, reading the words aloud. “Which led me to discover that Capone owned a speakeasy in Chicago called the Garden Club that he operated during the Prohibition period in the late 1920s. And on one of the walls in the place there’s a mural of a garden with roses and lily of the valley flowers, just like the cane top and what is inlaid on the staff. There were enough clues in the song to lead me to believe that the ivory Madonna key would unlock something in that underground bar, so I went there a few months ago to check it out.”

Since Chase lived in Chicago, it made sense that he’d investigate the old bar. “Is the place open to the public?”

“Sort of. You can see the Garden Club as part of a tour they have about the city and gangster life, so since I was with a large group of people with a guide that kept ushering us along, it was difficult to really check out the bar the way I wanted to. Besides, I didn’t have the ivory key then, so even if I found something, there was nothing I could do about it, which is why I was so adamant about getting the pieces of the cane put together.”

“Wow.” She tried to absorb everything he’d just told her, her mind attempting to figure out how all the puzzle pieces fit together. Obviously, Chase had done extensive research on everything, so while there were certain things Valerie couldn’t quite wrap her head around, she had no doubt that every detail, every clue, every fact was permanently etched in his own mind and he knew exactly what he was doing.

But there was still one thing he hadn’t revealed. “Chase,
what
does the key lead to?”

“Oh, yeah, I haven’t told you that yet,” he said, and chuckled. He’d merely indicated it had to do with some kind of treasure.

He picked up the key once again and rubbed the flat surface between his fingers. “Whatever this key unlocks, I keep seeing flashes of a very large flawless ruby in the shape of a teardrop, which coincides with another verse in Capone’s song that states ‘I can see that sweet Madonna. There’s a teardrop in her eye.’ I won’t know the history to the stone or what it’s worth until I find it and can touch it. But just the fact that it belonged to Capone, and he went through so much trouble to keep it hidden, raises the value exponentially.”

She could only imagine. It now made sense why Capone would disassemble the cane and distribute the parts so no one else would find what he wanted to keep for himself. Except Capone had gone insane from syphilis before retrieving the pieces of the cane again.

“Does anyone else know about the key or the ruby?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied, and appeared a bit troubled. “Obviously you’re the only person I’ve told. I’ve kept everything to myself because I didn’t want the details to leak out and have other treasure hunters or black market scavengers trying to find it first, or steal it from me once I have it in my possession.”

He paused a moment, that crease between his brows deepening. “The only person I’m concerned about is Angie. Remember me telling you that I caught her on my computer going through my research notes? I wouldn’t put it past her to have shared that information with Russ, and they could be just waiting for the right opportunity or moment to make their move.”

“Well, they don’t have the ivory key,” she pointed out. “You do.”

“True,” he said with a thoughtful nod. “But in this line of business, you learn not to trust anyone. And if Angie is looking for revenge because of the way things ended between us, then this is the way to get it.”

Yet Chase had trusted Valerie. That still blew her away—and scared her, too, but she was in too deep with the mystery of this key to turn back now. “So, now what are you going to do?”

“I’m heading back to Chicago with the key and taking another look at the Garden Club to see what matches up with the lyrics of the ‘Madonna Mia’ song.” He paused for a moment, his gaze holding hers. “And I’d
really
like for you to go with me.”

The breath whooshed out of her lungs. It was one thing for him to share his story with her, but another to ask her to be a part of something so momentous to him. And she was genuinely torn about what to do.

She felt herself standing at a crossroads, with two different directions forking in front of her. One path would take her right back to the safe, secure life she’d been living before Chase. The other trail would undoubtedly take her on yet another wild adventure with a man who made her feel too much.

But there was one thing she’d already committed to that made the decision moot.

“I can’t go,” she said, and there was genuine regret in her voice. “I have a wedding to attend on Sunday that I absolutely can’t miss.” Sean was like family, and there was no way she’d skip out on his big day.

“Then I’ll hang around and make flight reservations for Monday,” he said simply, clearly bending around her schedule. “Can you get a few extra days off from work?”

She had more comp days stored up than she knew what to do with, so taking a couple of days for herself wasn’t an issue. And he was willing to wait for her. Suddenly, she wanted this. She wanted to finish out this adventure with Chase and see this rare ruby he’d told her about. And she wanted the extra time with him.

She didn’t question her reasons or analyze her decision. And before she could change her mind, she offered a bargain of her own. “Tell you what. I’ll make a deal with you.”

His gaze sparked with interest. “Okay.”

“I’ll go with you to Chicago if you’ll go with me to the wedding on Sunday.”

He arched a brow. “Are you sure about that?” he asked, as if knowing how huge an invitation that was for her.

And it was big. Because taking Chase to the wedding meant him meeting her close friends and seeing a part of her life she’d never shared with another man. “Yeah, I’m positive,” she said, refusing to tie herself in knots over her spontaneous offer and what it all might mean. “I need a date, and I’m betting you look gorgeous in a suit.”

He grinned, one of those sexy, flirtatious smiles she loved. “I’m not really a suit and tie kind of guy, but for you, I’ll make an exception.”

Chapter Thirteen

Chase spent Saturday on his own while Valerie went shopping with her girlfriend Skye. Last night, before they’d parted ways at his suite, she let him know she was going to be out for the day getting ready for the wedding on Sunday, but Chase had things of his own to get done, and he assured her that he’d be fine.

After years of living a fairly nomadic, solitary life, he was used to being alone and on his own, but he had to admit that after being with Valerie for the week, he missed her company. Her smiles and laughter. Their interesting and enlightening conversations. And, yeah, their heated attraction, too.

He ought to be surprised that he’d fallen for Valerie so damn fast, but there was so much about her that drew him, and kept him coming back for more. Their psychic abilities gave them a commonality he’d never had with another woman, and they just connected in ways that went beyond sexual. Mentally she stimulated him, and emotionally—well, he hadn’t felt so much for someone in such a short period of time before. She made him want to be a better person, made him feel selfless and hopeful. And he wanted to share things with her that gave Valerie a clear, open view of his life, and who he was as a person and as a man.