Page 84 of Gem Warfare

Right after I got back from my trip with Garrett.

I returned Lily to her house so she could get her car, and passed her the camera with its fancy zoom lens that I’d stored in my trunk since I last used it, along with instructions of whom to look out for. By the time I pulled away from the curb, she was already on the phone, breaking the good news to my mom.

Garrett waited in his car outside the police station, the engine idling at the curb. He barely moved a muscle as I hopped in, only breaking away from staring at his phone screen for a moment.

“We need to get going,” he said, reaching for the parking brake. “Tell me your news.”

“Charlie Black’s son is probably, almost most definitely, in town,” I said, filling him in on Mom’s comment and my subsequent visit to the retirement village.

“Probably almost most definitely?”

“One of those. Let’s go withdefinitely. At least the man Bea met with is purporting to be he. I don’t have a recent photo of Ben/Gideon so I had nothing to show Bea. Bea used to live next door to the Dugans’ house but she says she doesn’t remember the boy even though he claims to remember her.”

“I feel like you told me that story back to front. Should we look at Bea for any of this? Perhaps as an accomplice?” asked Garrett.

“No, I’m sure of that. She’s got sore hips and memory issues but she doesn’t strike me as a mastermind jewel thief.”

Garrett raised his eyebrows. “Did you show her the high school photo?”

“No, I wouldn’t trust a recent identification from that. It’s too old and Bea’s memory is a little hazy.” I paused, thinking. “I keep wondering if Gideon knew about the jewels before the newspaper story was published, and, if so, does he want them? Bea made it sound like the police contacted him about the discovery but you didn’t mention anything. Has he come to see you?”

“No.”

“Made any kind of contact with you?”

“Also no.”

“If he were here purely for his dad, I would think he’d make contact with you,” I said.

“Not if he’s afraid we’d arrest him.”

“For you to arrest him, he would have to know that we know who he is, and that would mean he had insider info. I can’t see how he would have that connection.”

Garrett shook his head. “I can’t see him ever planning on coming back here after that case where you nearly caught him. I can’t rule it out but I can’t see it either. Even if we didn’t know a thing about Gideon Black, we do know about Ben Rafferty.”

“That’s fair,” I agreed, “but it’s still suspicious that his first action in town is to track down his father’s neighbor and not check in with the coroner or you. What kind of son doesn’t claim his missing father’s remains?”

“If it’s really him,” Garrett reminded me, “we need to get verification. I’ll alert my team to be extra cautious about any contact or tipoffs. The tip line has already been ringing off the hook since that newspaper article was published. We’ve had a few claims to be sons or siblings but when challenged, they didn’t even have the basic facts.”

“I guess people will always try. Garrett, I wonder how Gideon got here so fast. Even if he were tipped off, do you think he was nearby?”

“Could be. He might maintain ties to Boston. Maybe here too if this was the last place he knew his father lived before he disappeared. Or he could be in any number of cities within driving distance.” Garrett paused to navigate a turn, his fingers tapping the steering wheel in the way that told me he was thinking. “He might try and find out what we know before he dares to approach. I’m not entirely sure I know what to tell myteam to look for. A Caucasian male in his thirties or appearing to be in his forties, possibly dark hair, doesn’t narrow it down by much.”

“I have Lily and Mom parked outside the Dugans’ in case he goes there,” I said. “Bea told him everything was thrown away so he knows there’s nothing left there of his father’s.”

“Can’t imagine he will but at least we know where Mom and Lily are.” Garrett cracked a smile.

“He might suspect something else is hidden there. After all, his dad’s body was secretly buried there for years and the article revealed the jewels. I’m surprised we don’t have fortune hunters digging up the Dugans’ whole backyard.”

“We’ve had plenty of hopefuls call our tip line with descriptions of anything from a bag of diamonds of undetermined number to missing engagement rings. According to the tip line, this guy could have been responsible for every jewel theft across the state in the last fifty years.”

“He probably was responsible for some of them,” I decided. “Where are we headed anyway? You said we’re going to see Kelvin Huff?”

“I did. As we thought, he’s still serving time but officially only has a few months left to go. Since he’s been a model prisoner these past few years, he’s getting a few months shaved off and will be out next week. He got transferred to a facility closer to his girlfriend, preparing for release. Took me a while to find him as his name was spelled incorrectly in the system. Or we had it incorrect. I don’t know. Anyway, good news is it will only take us ninety minutes to get to Barnham Correctional Facility and the meeting has been cleared with the warden. I asked him not to give Huff a heads-up as I don’t want him over-thinking his answers before we get there.”

“Or lying.”

“That too. The warden says Huff’s not all that smartand mostly keeps his head down. He’s not violent and looking forward to getting out. I don’t think we’ll have any problem interviewing him. He’s probably been stewing on his misdemeanors for years so I hope we find him chatty about his life before. There’s a file on the backseat with his info. I didn’t turn up anything on Timothy Wright.” Garrett nodded over his shoulder without taking his gaze off the road. “And there’s an appraiser coming from Rachenstein in a couple days to take a look at the jewels to see if they’re the real deal.”

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