Here Comes Trouble Read Online Free Page A

patience and veiled contempt between father and son. From what Malcolm and Ty had told her, it sounded like a typical Oliver family conversation.
    To be safe, and quiet, Sheila stepped out of her shoes and shivered as her bare feet settled on the stone floor. Finding that painting was worth the risk of being caught, but that didn’t stop her from keeping both ears open for any hint she’d been discovered. She did a quick inventory of the notations on the boxes, some dated by years, others by letters.
    In her rush to get to the information inside, she bumped against a stack of hollow frames and scrambled to keep them from toppling before setting her phone down on one of the shelves. With an almost reverent touch, she popped the lid off the first box marked “Art,” glancing at the screen and seeing Malcolm and his father still conferencing on the computer.
    She pulled a file entitled “Classics” free, flipped it open, and stared down at the scribbled notes on a copy of a report about the van Gogh whose provenance she knew to be in question—and had been for the better part of three decades before the work “disappeared.” Not surprising, but her heart did its skip version of a double take as her mind spun. She was on the right track. This proved her theory of Chadwick’s penchant for possessing stolen artwork. While she’d love to get Nemesis’ hands on the van Gogh, she couldn’t believe even Chadwick would be so bold as to include that piece in his auction. But if this file was here, surely there had to be proof about . . .
    Chadwick’s booming voice blasted through the intercom and made her jump even as she resisted the urge to snarl at her discovery. The level of coldness, the lack of empathy one had to possess to even consider keeping hold of works that clearly belonged to someone else was astounding, and yet Sheila had long ago learned that some people’s capacity for callous actions knew no depths.
    There was brazen and then there was arrogant. And then—she set the file down on the floor and pulled another, and then another file free—there were people like Chadwick Oliver.
    “Dad and Nathan are not going to believe this,” she breathed, and grabbed her phone to open the scanning app Nathan had created and installed in each of their phones. Chadwick’s voice continued as the soundtrack to her break-in, but it was his statement that emptied her mind.
    “I’ll be arriving in Switzerland by the end of the month,” Chadwick said with more than a tinge of temper. “I expect the arrangements we made with our friends in customs to be completed by the time my plane leaves Los Angeles. Get it done.” He slapped his laptop shut.
    Sheila’s entire body froze as if someone had dropped her in the middle of the Arctic. Chadwick was leaving town? Of course. Now the last-minute timing of his auction made sense.
    “You can’t be serious about leaving,” Malcolm said, and even after all these years, she recognized that angry tone in his voice. “What about Gran—”
    “How I deal with my mother isn’t any concern of yours,” Chadwick said.
    “As if you’ve ever concerned yourself with Gran’s well-being,” Malcolm spat, earning a silent cheer of support from Sheila. “Even now all you’re worried about is your precious collection and your so-called legacy.” Malcolm jerked his head toward the bookcase and Sheila gasped, feeling as exposed as if he’d ripped open a curtain.
    Their voices grew louder as they moved across the room toward the door. After another few seconds, she heard the decided slam as they vacated the office. Sheila continued scanning and replacing files, distracted when her phone buzzed and a text from Liza asked her if there was any more of the Starlight reserve wine they’d been serving upon request.
    Sheila texted an answer, but the bar froze halfway through sending. Nothing, not even a text, was getting out of this room until she opened that door again. But she hadn’t