Page 74 of Gem Warfare

“You’re sure?” I asked. Waiting overnight in a hideout was one level of patience. Waiting out an investigation for two months was a whole other level. Not only that, it would be ballsy to hang out right under the police’s noses, but then who searched for a person who hadn’t attracted any attention?

“Not a hundred percent but the eyes and the nose look the same. Our guy’s name was Timothy Wright. We would have run everybody at the time and nothing was flagged. Everything must have come back verified but our systems weren’t as sophisticated back then. All the same, if that were an alias, it was good enough that no one took a second look. If Wright had jumped out on work the next day or something, then of course, we would have had our suspicions.” Exasperation oozed from his voice.

“What do you remember about him?” asked Garrett.

“Not much. The case, I remember. The individuals less so, but I do remember he was good buddies with one of the other guys on the crew. Kelvin Huff. Huff was on the crew first and he put Wright on when they were hiring after getting the museum contract. That was a couple months before the exhibition. Oh, man! Could the perp have been planning the heist for that long?”

“It’s likely,” said Garrett. “He could have been planning the heist as soon as the exhibition tour was announced and the venues were confirmed. It would have given him plenty of time to put everything in place. Maintenance work prior to the jewels’arrival would be the perfect window in. Can you send me the particulars of these two guys? Photos, interviews, whatever you have on them?”

“Sure, I’ll scan and email them.”

“What else can you tell us about them?” I asked.

“Nothing much about Wright. I made a note that he was a congenial sort. Moderately interested in the theft, didn’t offer up any explanations or theories. Said he knew about the exhibition but was strictly a sports fan so museums were not his sort of thing. Says here he went to the movies on the night of the theft, then home to bed,” said Detective Phipps, reading from his notes. “Nothing we could verify but nothing we couldn’t either. The theater was showing the movie at the time he said he was there, he had a ticket stub, paid cash, and we can’t ask everyone on the planet for an alibi every time they go to bed alone. Said he went to the bodega down the street for milk for his cereal in the morning. The bodega owner did verify that. Work history was all drywall and decorating. Not married, no kids. Parents passed on.”

“The ideal kind of background for an alias,” said Garrett.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking as I read it aloud to you,” said Detective Phipps. “The other guy wasn’t much more interesting. Kelvin Huff. He lived alone too. Just down the block from Wright, as it happens. Pretty down on his luck. Divorced the previous year, wife got the lot, not that the lot was very much. She was a nurse and seems to have funded everything while he was in and out of low paid work. One kid, a girl, and a bunch of unpaid child support payments. Yeah, that’s right. I remember he was real bitter about it too. Said he was dreaming of a lottery win so he could get out of the city, buy a place on the coast, get a boat, spend his life fishing, and flip his middle finger at the ex-wife. He was pretty adamant that was what he was going to do. No mention of a new teddy bear for the kid. He was on his finalwarning with the contractors last I heard and that’s all I have. I can send a picture of him too, but obviously, it’s from twenty years ago.”

“I’d appreciate it. I’ll run some checks on them and see where they are now,” said Garrett. “How did the case go cold?”

“Between what I remember and from flipping through the file, I stayed on the case another four months before all my leads went stone cold. We were working with the Feds by that point too. Decent guys, keen to work together, but I don’t think they got a whole lot further than I did. We ran down every angle but there was nothing.”

“Do you have their contacts?”

“I wish I did. One got killed on the job ten years ago. The other died from cancer last year. Rough luck.”

“Sorry to hear that,” said Garrett.”

“Thanks. They were good guys. I can tell you we all came to the same conclusion. The thief was damn smart. Everything must’ve been planned to a tee because not a single trace was left behind. Hey, you really think it might be one of those guys? Did we miss him?” asked Detective Phipps.

Garrett made a non-committal noise, then said, “Our only indicator so far is your possible identification of our dead guy as one of your guys. It’s a long shot, but then it was only a passing comment that connected us to your jewel heist. I’ll take the odds.”

“I’d like to know if you come up with anything.”

“Give me the rundown on Wright and Huff,” said Garrett, making notes as Detective Phipps read out the information. “I’ll keep you looped in. If the ruby and the other jewels are verified as those in the robbery, that confirms our guy was involved. It’s possible the case will unravel from there.”

“You could talk to the museum curator or someone from Rachenstein. I’ll send the contacts I have but obviously they’reold news. People move on.”

“Appreciate it,” said Garrett and after a minute of shooting the breeze about retirement, they disconnected. What do you make of all that?” he asked me.

“Detective Phipps seemed sincere.”

“I thought so too. I bet this case has been sitting rent-free in his head all this time. His identification could be pivotal,” he said, already turning to his computer. “Let me make some checks, and see if these guys are in the system at all.”

I chewed my donut while I waited, wondering when I would get a turn to stick my nose into his computer and maybe search for a few people I knew too. My neighbors, perhaps, or people I didn’t like from high school.

“Okay,” said Garrett, a few minutes later. “Nothing on Timothy Wright but I got something on Kelvin Huff. He went to prison around nineteen years ago for a grand larceny Class B only five months after the museum theft. He’s got a few months left to serve.”

“Grand larceny fits the profile.”

“Timeline fits too. He was a free man for the museum robbery and possibly Black’s death.”

“What did he steal? That’s a lot of time for theft.”

“Several paintings from a house his employers had him working on, to the tune of 1.2 million. He didn’t get further than the end of the street and was driving the van the paintings were stashed in. He tried to plead not guilty and the jury disagreed.”

“Not guilty? Really?”

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