Page 72 of Gem Warfare

“I don’t know what you know already but the Queen’s Ruby was a big deal. It was one of those rare jewels that just had to be seen to be believed and it had all kinds of history attached to it.Anyone who was anyone rich wanted to buy it or borrow it. Even big Hollywood starlets wanted it to wear for the Oscars and the like but they were always turned down. The owners didn’t want a jewel like that set into jewelry. They wanted it admired for the stunning gem it was. Although there were photos from a time when the former Queen wore it, first at her wedding, then at her coronation. The pieces were dismantled after that since the ruby was too big to wear as a regular piece. Not that I would know. I wear my college ring and my wedding ring and I’m good. I’m not a tiara man.”

“Me neither, but Lexi might beg to differ,” said Garrett, grinning.

“It’s true,” I said. “I could handle a tiara.”

Detective Phipps chuckled. “This thing has weight to it. I doubt it was ever a comfortable piece to wear. Anyway, it was on its first official tour outside of Rachenstein, and New York was its penultimate stop in the States. It was due to have one more stop in Washington DC, if I recall, before it went to Europe for six months, then back to Rachenstein. I don’t follow fashion and that kind of thing, but I was told back then the exhibition was a big deal. This was the first time Rachenstein was putting its state jewels on tour in I don’t know how long, and who knows when it would happen again? However, after the theft, the tour was canceled, all the untouched jewels were returned, and none of them have toured again. It was a national embarrassment and caused a diplomatic nightmare.”

“How so?”

“Rachenstein weren’t happy with the security. They weren’t happy with the investigation. They brought their own people in but they couldn’t find anything either. There was a big reward too for information that led to the recovery but all that turned up were fortune hunters and liars. Last I heard, the reward was still active.” Detective Phipps paused as he took a breather, thesound of sipping reaching us. “The theft spawned all kinds of articles and was mentioned in books, and there was even a film a few years back. It’s often featured on those top ten heists TV shows and I heard a rumor there was going to be an investigative podcast, but I think that fell flat. Shame. I fancied myself a pundit, although I wish I could claim I’d recovered it. Now that would be a story, but I guess with no leads and no good ending, there’s nothing new to say about it. Unless…” He paused, waiting for us to fill in the blank.

“We’ll have to take a look at some of that media,” said Garrett. “Did you have any strong suspects?”

“No, that’s the thing. Rachenstein cleared all their employees from cleaning to freight to security, and we cleared everyone at the museum. The ruby was in situ in the museum but we still cleared everyone on transport either end too. The museum tech was top of the range for the time and the museum hired in extra security guards as per their agreement with Rachenstein.”

“Direct museum hires?” I asked.

“No, they were hired through a security contracting outfit. They went bust after. Although I gather they circled the wagons and started up again under a new name so the new company wasn’t associated with the bad press. The company went out of business when the owner died, oh, five years ago now. I never got any inkling of wrongdoing from them then or afterward. Meanwhile, the museum had a surge in infamy.”

“Did you take a look at known thieves in the city?” asked Garrett.

“Sure, but none of them were that caliber of thief. I’m telling you, whoever did it was real smart. There was no way they could have done it without casing the place, having the tech schematics, the security rotas, and the building plans. The heist was meticulous.”

“Did you ever figure out how it was done?” I asked.

“Yeah. It took me a week. I’d say I was embarrassed it took me that long but it was so clever, I’m just glad I discovered it at all. It was so simple, I laughed when I figured it out.”

“That so?” said Garrett, raising his eyebrows at me. “We’re all ears here.”

“Listen to this. The museum had a crew in for maintenance prior to the exhibition. Part of it was to repair a wall, paint, and refinish the floors. Only they didn’t just repair the wall, someone created a concealed room behind the paneling. It was big enough for one person to stand upright or sit. It wouldn’t have been super comfortable but it was enough to conceal someone. Get this… it was installed right under a camera, in the corner of the room, completely out of view. The camera was nudged up just a little, enough that the guard monitoring the camera in that room wouldn’t see the false door open or close.

“So what I think happened was the contractors finished up their work a week before and took off. No one noticed this little room since it was hidden in the paneling, in an unobtrusive corner. The exhibition pitches up and sets out the display. They host their party with the press and all the fancy people drinking champagne and getting a special talk and that kind of thing. I figured the thief got on the invite list somehow.

“Sometime late in the night, he gets into the room and conceals himself. I figure he put some supplies in there when it was made. Clothes, probably a bag with snacks and water, whatever he needed to get through the night and clean out easy. Anyway, sometime during the night, he gets into the room. He waits for the museum to empty out at closing time, then he leaves this little room and grabs the jewels. He’s able to override the security measures, take what he wants and gets back into the room unnoticed. The jewels don’t leave the museum for the first few hours after their theft.

“Since he left paste crap in their place and nothing about thedisplay was broken, no one notices at first, and the exhibition opens the next day to the public. It’s a Saturday, the exhibition is sold out for the month and it’s busy. People want to see this glamorous stuff owned by European royalty. At some point, the thief gets out of the room, dressed as just a regular person, mingles with the crowd, and walks out of the museum, the jewels in his pocket.”

Across the desk, Garrett raised his eyebrows.

“Wow,” I said. “That’s audacious.”

“He was a cool cat, all right.”

“Did you get a good look at him?” I asked.

Detective Phipps laughed mirthfully. “I wish. He knew where every camera was situated and he had a cap on too. We got a nice look at the back of his head. Figured his height was just shy of six feet. Average build. White guy.”

“How do you know it was him?”

“We don’t for sure but he when we cross-referenced the people who entered the museum that morning, we couldn’t spot him. He never entered. He only left.”

“And the night before?”

“There were an awful lot of men of average build, around six feet. Even when we got hold of the guest list, there were numerous men from overseas that we couldn’t track down, as well as unlisted plus-ones.”

“How about the contractors?” I asked. “You must have taken a look at them too? One of them had to have made the concealed room?”

“That’s what I figured and we did, but none of them were new hires or contractors and none of them disappeared afterward. Since there were plenty of them, I figured our guy pulled on overalls and just walked in and did his stuff like he was one of them. With everyone working in different rooms, on different jobs, no one questioned him.”

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