Hidden Riches

“Wait a minute.” Sucker, she admitted, and flipped open the top of the box. The robe was nearly identical to hers, but for the color. She smoothed a finger down the deep-green terrycloth lapel.
    “They didn’t have a white one.” He wasn’t sure if he’d ever felt more foolish in his life. “You wear a lot of bright colors, so . . .”
    “It’s nice. I didn’t say I was forgiving you.”
    “Okay.”
    “I’djust prefer if we could put things back on some reasonable level. I’m not comfortable feuding with the neighbors.”
    “You’ve got a right to set the rules.”
    She smiled a little. “You must really be suffering to hand over that kind of power.”
    “You’ve never been a man buying women’s lingerie. You don’t know about suffering.” He wanted to touch her, but knew better. “I am sorry, Dora.”
    “I know. Really, I do. I was nearly as mad at myself as I was at you this morning. Before I could cool off we had some trouble in the shop. So when you came back, I was ready for blood.”
    “What kind of trouble?”
    “Shoplifting.” Her eyes hardened again. “This morning, not long after you left to buy a hair shirt.”
    He didn’t smile. “Are you sure it was all there last night when you closed up?”
    That stiffened her spine. “I know my stock, Skimmerhorn.”
    “You said you got in a few minutes before I did last night.”
    “Yes, what does—”
    “You were upset when I left you. You were still upset this morning. I don’t suppose you’d have noticed.”
    “Noticed what?”
    “If anything was missing from upstairs. Let’s go take a look now.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Somebody was in my place last night.”
    She caught herself before she spoke, but he saw the doubt on her face.
    “I’m not saying that to excuse my behavior, but somebody was in my place,” he said again, struggling to keep his voice calm. “Cops see things civilians don’t. I had an idea that it might have been some of Speck’s men, dropping around to hassle me, but it could have been something else. Somebody looking for some trinkets.”
    “What about the alarm system. Those burglary-proof locks you put in?”
    “Nothing’s burglary-proof.”
    “Oh.” She closed her eyes briefly as he took her hand and pulled her up the stairs. “Well, that certainly makes me feel better. A minute ago I was happy being furious at a shoplifter. Now you’ve got me worried that I had some cat burglar prowling around my apartment.”
    “Let’s just check it out. Got your keys?”
    “It’s not locked.” His look made her bristle. “Look, ace, the outside door’s locked, and I was right downstairs. Besides . . .” She shoved open the door. “Nobody’s been in here.”
    “Mmm-hmm.” He bent down to examine the lock, saw no obvious signs of tampering. “Did you leave this unlocked when you went out last night?”
    “Maybe.” She was beginning to sulk. “I don’t remember.”
    “Keep any cash in the house?”
    “Some.” She crossed to the kneehole desk and opened a drawer. “It’s right where it’s supposed to be. And so is everything else.”
    “You haven’t looked.”
    “I know what’s in here, Jed.”
    He scanned the room himself, skimming, identifying knickknacks as skillfully as he would faces in a mugbook. “What happened to the painting? The one over the couch?”
    “The abstract? My mother thought she liked it, so I took it over so she could live with it awhile.” She gestured to the two portraits that replaced it. “I thought I’d like having those two for company. But I was wrong. They’re entirely too somber and disapproving, but I haven’t had the chance to—”
    “Jewelry?”
    “Sure, I have jewelry. Okay, okay.” She rolled her eyes and headed back to the bedroom. She opened a camphorwood-and-ebony chest that sat on a lowboy. “It looks like it’s all here. It’s a little tougher to remember, because I lend Lea pieces, and she lends me . . .” She took out a velvet pouch and shook out a pair of emerald earrings. “If anybody was going to riffle through here, they’d go for these. They’re the real thing.”
    “Nice,” he said after a cursory glance. It didn’t surprise him that she had enough jewelry to adorn a dozen women. Dora enjoyed quantity. Nor did it surprise him that her bedroom was as crowded and homey as her living room. Or as subtly feminine. “Some bed.”
    “I like it. It’s a Louis the Fifteenth reproduction. I