Page 5 of Renegade

We ate quickly and headed home, collecting our weapons, checking in on Dolly and Angelica, petting Stanley’s sleeping head where he was curled up in her lap, before heading out to the meeting. As Raven drove, I stared out the window, feeling the weight of the Glock in my shoulder holster which was now covered by a jacket. Raven was still unaccustomed to wearing a piece and it was funny to see him reach into his own jacket more than once to ostensively make sure it was right where he’d put it. We were going to have to work on the whole incognito thing, although I was quietly proud of how good he’d become with his marksmanship over the last two months.

By the time he parked in the Sagebrush Cantina lot, I was sweating, unaccustomed to wearing a jacket, even in February. I glanced around as soon as we were out on the patio, immediately spotting a big guy hovering about fifteen feet from a back table where Tawny Flores sat with a guy dressed in a business suit. I dismissed the couple at the table and focused on the bodyguard who appeared to be watchful, unsurprised to see the bulge in his jacket. The moment he looked our way, he straightened. He wasas tall as me, but wider. I would have laughed at the glare he sent our way if I wasn’t trying to look menacing myself. He stepped forward, catching Tawny’s eye and nodding in our direction.

The moment she turned, she also sat up straighter, saying something to her companion that I couldn’t hear at this distance. He swiveled in his chair to look and stood, sliding manicured hands down his elegant suit as we approached. He smiled and held out his hand as soon as we walked over.

“Mr. Mathis…Mr. Huerta?”

“Yes,” Raven replied.

I didn’t reply, answering the greeting with a short nod. My better half was politer than me.

“Gregory Aston, at your service,” he said.

Raven took his hand first. “Raven Mathis.”

“Nice to meet you,” he replied, nodding pleasantly then turning to me. “Mr. Huerta.”

“Yes. Nice to meet you.”

“Let me introduce you to my client, Mrs. Tawny Flores.” He swept out a hand to her and she acknowledged us with a tiny nod. We politely nodded back. Aston pointed to the other two chairs, deciding the bodyguard didn’t need an introduction as he moved back into the shade where he’d been before. “Please, join us.”

“Thank you,” Raven said, taking a chair as I did the same. Our backs were to the busy restaurant, but I had the bodyguard in my direct line of sight. I knew if he was the least bit decent at his job, I’d spot anything happening behind us in his expression before we were caught off guard. It was simple to covertly watch him from behind my dark glasses.

Tawny Flores was beautiful, what I could see of her. She was blonde with skin so pale, it made her look fragile. She wore enormous, black-tinted sunglasses and oddly, hid her whole face behind black lace, which she’d pulled down from a pillbox hat, making it fall almost to her chin. Her lips were lush, her cheekbones high, and her slender neck disappeared into the high collar of a very expensive black dress. The only jewelry she wore was a strand of petite, white pearls and a very,verylarge diamond ring on her left hand. The round stone was at least five carats, perched like a beacon of sparkling light on her long, slender ring finger. While her attire was more suited to a funeral, she was the very picture of an elegant, young widow with her black dress and hat.

Mr. Aston wore expensive threads of his own. The bespoke black suit with subtle gray pinstripes, was beautifully tailored and I had to wonder at his hourly rate. Obviously, Mrs. Flores felt more comfortable with him at her side; but they were an odd pair sitting on this Mexican restaurant’s patio which was suited more for a Cinco de Mayo celebration or a girls’ night out with bottomless schooners of margaritas. I was glad we’d eaten at the office because the untouched tortilla chips and bowls of salsa in the center of the table were more tempting than I cared to admit.

“Thank you for coming so quickly,” Mr. Aston said. As I’d expected he would, he spoke in a strictly business-like tone. “As I briefly told you over the phone, after Mr. Flores’ death, I conducted an inventory of his papers as well as all of his earthly possessions. This undertaking was done in preparation for the division of assets in accordance with the wishes set forth in his will.”

“Yes,” I said. “And it was during this inventory that you found a piece of jewelry missing from his collection. Did I get that right?” I noticed her fingernails brush lightly over the strand ofpearls, and noted her exquisite manicure, equal to Mr. Aston’s own. I returned my eyes to the bodyguard behind them, noting how his gaze flitted between the table and the entrance to the patio, then scanned the crowd every five seconds or so. I had to admit he was good.

“Yes, that’s so,” Mr. Aston said. “The piece in question is a pendant—a rare pigeon’s blood ruby which is worth in excess of two million dollars. Mrs. Flores last saw it when she wore it to the opening of a Bel Air art gallery last summer with her husband.”

“Losing something like that must be terrible, Mrs. Flores,” Raven said.

“Yes, it’s been in my husband’s family for generations,” she said in a tremulous voice. She was either a fantastic actress or was genuinely distressed. “I do hope you can retrieve it, Mr. Mathis.”

“That’s what Mr. Huerta and I do, Mrs. Flores,” Raven replied. “You said you last saw it when you wore it to the art gallery. Where did you put it when you got home that evening?”

“Back in its box and locked in the vault in our house,” she replied.

“You put it in the vault yourself?” Raven asked.

“No. I gave the box to my husband and he locked it away along with a pair of diamond cufflinks he treasures…treasured,” she corrected shakily.

“So, when you inventoried the safe, that’s when you found the pendant missing,” Raven concluded.

“Yes,” Mr. Aston said.

“And where is the safe located in the house?”

“In our…my bedroom,” Mrs. Flores replied.

“Do you know who might have had access to it?” Raven asked.

Mrs. Flores dropped the pearls and lifted her dramatic veil high enough to remove her glasses. She had very beautiful blue eyes which tipped up at the corners. They were wet with tears. The mascara she’d put on for our meeting had run just a little, and she immediately reached for a small, black, satin clutch sitting on the table in front of her. She snapped it open and pulled out a monogramed handkerchief and compact to begin dabbing at her eyes. Raven and I patiently waited while she repaired her face before dropping her hands to her lap, cloth in hand.

“No one could access it but my husband.” At this pronouncement, she decided she needed to add to the statement. “The only way to open it was with his thumbprint, so I hardly gave it a second thought. I can’t imagine Benny would have removed the pendant. There’d be no reason to do so. The only conclusion I could come to was that we must have been burglarized.”

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