page1 (1/2)

Prologue

A THIEF IN THE NIGHT

One

SARAH WELLS STOOD on the roof of the carport and snaked her gloved hand through the hole she’d cut in the glass Her pulse was thudding in her ears as she unlocked the double-hung , opened the sash, and slid quietly into the darkened rooainst the wall and listened

Voices rose froainst china Good tiht In fact, perfect

But tis entirely

She switched on her ree illuminated tour of the bedroom She noted the console table to her left, which was loaded hatnots She had to watch out for that table and the scatter rugs on the slick hardwood floors

The lithe young woman quickly crossed the space, shut the door between the bedroom and hallway, and headed to the open closet, which s the door open just a crack, Sarah played her light over racks of clothing She parted a curtain of long, beaded gowns, and there it was: a safe in the closet wall

Sarah had bet on this If Casey Dowling was like most socialites, she dressed for her dinner parties and wore her jewels Chances were that she’d left her safe unlocked so she could put her jewels away later without having to punch in the cohtly on the safe’s handle—and the heavy door swung open

It was a go

But she had to work fast Three minutes, no more

Sarah’s headla her hands free to frisk the jumble of satin envelopes and silk-covered boxes Way in the back was a brocaded box the size of a small loaf of bread She undid the latch and lifted the lid on the mother lode

Sarah gasped

She’d read stories about Casey Dowling for two littering with jewels But she hadn’t expected the sheer weight of dia mounds of baroque pearls

It was cra-zzzy Casey Dowling owned all of this

Well, not for long

Sarah plucked bracelets and earrings and rings out of the box and stowed thes, the straps of which crisscrossed her chest She paused to study a particular ring in its own leather case, to hts flashed on in the bedroom only yards from whe

re she stood in the closet

Sarah snapped off her light and dropped to a crouch, her heart rate shooting into overdrive as she heard the living, boo, superstar actor of theater and the silver screen, bickering with his wife as he came into the room

Sarah tucked all five feet eight of herself into a ball behind gowns and gars

God, she was stupid

While she’d been ogling the jewels, the Dowlings’ dinner party had ended, and now she was going to get caught and be ilish teacher It would be a scandal—and that was the least of it

Sweat broke out under Sarah’s knit cap Drops of it rolled from her underarms down the sides of her black turtleneck as she waited for the Dowlings to switch on the closet light and find her squatting there, a thief in the night

Two

CASEY DOWLING WAS trying to squeeze an ad it