Page 21 of Elusive Promise

"I'm going to run out for a few minutes," he said, surprising her with his words.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to make a call."

"And you can't make it here?"

"I can, but I thought you might want some privacy to make your own calls. I'm being thoughtful and considerate," he added with a smile.

"Or using this opportunity to pursue your own secret agenda." But since she did want some privacy, she let it go at that.

"I won't be long," he said, as he headed to the door.

After he left, she punched in Damon's number. "It's me, Parisa," she said, when he answered. "I picked up a new phone."

"Good. Are you safe?"

"I think so. What's happening? How is Officer Briggs?"

"He has a concussion and is fuming about getting jumped. Otherwise, he's fine. Unfortunately, he did not see his assailant."

"I figured. Any word from the kidnappers?"

"Not yet. We're going through security cameras in the area near the consulate, hoping we get lucky and can pick up the kidnappers somewhere near the exit to the tunnel, but so far nothing. We're also interviewing guests, staffers, servers, anyone who was at the party last night, who might have seen something."

"What about the missing guard, the one who should have been on the back staircase?"

"In the wind. I do have one interesting piece of information. The security company that the Larimers hired to protect Jasmine and the diamond has only been in business for two months. The owner lives in South Africa and the number listed on the website is disconnected. The men who died were paid a lump sum of five thousand dollars the day before the party. They were both American, both veterans, and both dishonorably discharged—one for theft, the other for assault on a fellow officer. One is survived by a sister, who said she hadn't seen her brother in fifteen years. The other had no relatives."

"Who hired the company?"

"Phillip Larimer said Tim Hutchinson, the director of his security team at Larimer Enterprises, hired the company. Mr. Hutchinson had worked for the company for nine years. Phillip had no reason to distrust him."

"You saidhadworked…"

"You probably won't be surprised to learn that Mr. Hutchinson quit the company last week and left the country after draining his bank account. Phillip Larimer said the departure hadn't made him suspicious, because Hutchinson had been talking about wanting to retire for a long time, and that the security for the party had been put into place days earlier."

"So, Hutchinson hired a shady security company to guard a fifty-million-dollar diamond, and no one questioned him about the firm's credentials?"

"They trusted Hutchinson to do his job."

"What does Westley have to say about all this?"

"He's distraught, angry, and feels guilty that he should have done his due diligence on the security. He also said that because the consulate had its own security, they thought their guys were just extra muscle. Their sole mission was to protect the diamond."

"Is there any chance Westley is involved?" she asked.

"There's always that chance, but he has been very cooperative. He willingly turned over his phone and computer and spent most of the night talking to detectives and agents. He's not acting like anyone who has something to hide."

"How are the Kumars holding up?"

"Mr. Kumar went back to the consulate this morning."

"Is it safe?"

"It appears to be. However, the rest of the family, as well as the consulate staff, are staying at the Clairmont Hotel until the building can be thoroughly cleaned. Mr. Kumar wanted to be there in case the kidnappers call that number with their demands. We have an agent with him. The police are also there, as well as the consulate security team."

"The kidnappers would be fools to believe that law enforcement wouldn't be listening in on any calls. I wonder if they'd reach out to someone else, someone not as visible, but who could pass the demands along to Mr. Kumar. The kidnappers might try to contact Westley. In fact, that makes more sense to me. The real money belongs to the Larimers."

---