Double Take

finally found a parking place on Chestnut Street, two blocks away, and too close to a fire hydrant. But he hoped the police wouldn’t be handing out tickets so late on a Thursday night. Dix looked down at his watch—it was nearly eleven o’clock. He should have plenty of time. It had taken him only about seven minutes to drive here after he’d walked quietly out of the Sherlocks’ house.
    He locked Judge Sherlock’s Chevy Blazer and started back to the Pallacks’ building, careful to keep to the shadows. He was tense, his nerves stretched tight. He was a cop, he believed in the law, yet here he was preparing to break into the Pallacks’ penthouse. And he was carrying a gun while doing it. Even though he was a sheriff, he knew that could put him away for the next ten years. But he’d already had these arguments with himself a dozen times before he’d found that meager parking place. He paused a moment to calm himself. He’d made his decision, and now it was time to get the job done. He prayed Ruth wouldn’t figure out what he was doing and come after him, bringing Cheney and Julia or even Savich and Sherlock after him. He’d be out of here by midnight, and if something did happen, well, he’d left an e-mail for Ruth’s cell phone set to alert her at midnight—just in case he needed her to bail him out of jail.
    It was past time to bring all this to an end. If he’d acted sooner, perhaps Soldan Meissen wouldn’t be dead. He’d been floored by what Savich had reported Courtney James told them—that Christie and Charlotte Pallack were both the image of Margaret Pallack. The madness of it twisted in him, the plain insanity of fate that had brought Christie to Pallack’s notice.
    Despite Savich and Sherlock’s discovery, Dix still knew it wasn’t enough to get a search warrant, knew Pallack could destroy everything incriminating at any time. He’d get away with murdering Christie, and Dix would never find out what had happened to her. His plan was the best way. The only way.
    If only Ruth didn’t get suspicious. He’d told her he wanted to walk, clear his head, think about what he was going to tell Rafe and Rob. When she’d offered to come with him, he’d told her he wanted to be alone, and she’d given him one long look and nodded, joining in a discussion with Julia and Cheney about August Ransom’s journals. Had they been destroyed in the fire at Julia’s house? Maybe he’d find the damned journals in Pallack’s apartment. But what he wanted most to find was Christie’s bracelet. Then he’d know. Of course Pallack could have gotten rid of it. Dix couldn’t bear to think what he would do if he couldn’t find something solid to nail the bastard.
    Dix moved around to the back of the building. He had taken care to wear dark clothes, black boots, and a dark watch cap, had even blackened his face to blend into the shadows. His arm didn’t hurt much. He moved it, clenched his fist. He would manage.
    He found the alarm system quickly, recognized it as top of the line, just as he’d expected, and disabled it.
    He had little trouble with the lock on the back service door of the building. He slid silently out of the storage and receiving room into the small elegant foyer, with mailboxes and palm trees. He took the stairs, not the elevator, to the top floor. Six seconds only on that lock, and he gently eased open the Pallack front door. He stepped into the foyer, and the enormity of what he was doing hit him again. No, no more doubts, no more questions. It was time to act. He’d broken and now he’d entered. Dix immediately went to the windows and pulled down the shades, closed the curtains. Only then did he switch on his flashlight.
    The penthouse occupied the entire sixth floor, and covered at least four thousand square feet, on two levels. Dix started on the second level. He found the master bedroom and immediately went to Charlotte Pallack’s jewelry box, an antique French affair large enough to hold Liechtenstein’s crown jewels. He carefully searched through the various pouches and boxes. Lots of expensive stuff, but not what he was looking for.
    Either Charlotte was wearing the bracelet tonight, or, since Dix had nailed her with it, maybe Thomas Pallack hadn’t let her out of the house again with the bracelet on her wrist. Maybe Pallack had destroyed it. Or maybe it was in a safe.
    Dix methodically searched the large bedroom with its extravagant furnishings, the space completely