Page 37 of Nothing Left

"What do you think, Juliette? Could the killer have taken the pendant?"

"Yes. And I think we must treat it as a significant clue," she said. “The fact the box was empty, and it was so deliberately removed, is important.”

“And you don’t think someone else could have taken it?” Wyatt asked. “Not to cast doubt on your theory or on any of the hardworking officials, but there were a lot of people around and about in that apartment after the crime.”

“In that case, why didn’t they take money?” Juliette said. “There was a fair amount of cash in her wallet, and more of it loose in that drawer. It would have been very easy and very untraceable to grab up a few bills, but the money and the wallet looked untouched. And no crime scene worker would open a box, specifically to see what was inside, and then decide to steal a very distinctive piece of jewelry. No way. They’d know it would get traced back to them.” She shook her head, convinced that it couldn’t have happened that way. This pendant had been intentionally taken.

“I guess that was what Suzy has been saying, right from the start,” Wyatt remembered thoughtfully. “Remember, she asked if it couldn’t have been a staged scenario?”

“I think Suzy is absolutely right,” Juliette said.

It was time to alert the authorities to this new development. The police needed to put the word out that this piece was missing in case it had been sold.

Juliette hoped that they would accept this information because she had an uneasy feeling that they might want to keep the book closed on a case they had already considered solved.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

"No, Agent Hart, it is surely not possible!"

Juliette took a deep breath, trying her best to keep her temper. It was just as she'd suspected. The Spanish authorities, in the form of the station commander to whom she’d escalated the situation after being stonewalled by his assistant, were refusing to believe that this theft had any significance to the case.

Juliette was now in the station commander's office, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Wyatt and face-to-face with the irate commander. His subordinate was watching in the background, nodding whenever his boss spoke.

The man, Officer Delgado, had a short beard and an efficient but rather arrogant demeanor. He was clearly offended that they were questioning his judgment on the case.

His judgment was clearly that the American woman had killed her friend.

"It's extremely important that you consider this new development," Juliette stated, maintaining a calm demeanor but not being too polite. She had a feeling that the station commander would see politeness as deferring to his opinion. So she made sure to come back at him forcefully because she knew that the Spanish authorities were under pressure to close the case, and they weren't willing to entertain any new leads. "You can imagine the consequences if your department makes a mistake here, Officer Delgado. The bad press will be incredibly damaging."

Unfortunately for Wyatt, the conversation was taking place in Spanish. The commander could understand English, but he wasn't choosing to speak it. That meant Juliette was at a disadvantage, and Wyatt couldn't follow the conversation at all, although she was certain that he was getting the gist of the argument.

“We have strong evidence linking us to this suspect, the American woman,” he insisted. “We have her fingerprints on the murder weapon itself.” He folded his arms in a gesture of finality.

"But don't you see?" she insisted. "The pendant was a valuable piece of jewelry, and it was given to Samantha by her parents. There's no reason for it to be missing. It was accounted for the day before yesterday when she put it back in the box."

He shrugged. "Youngsters! Students! What do they know about what was seen when? Maybe she decided to wear it after all, and it got taken. And, of course, her friend will lie about it if she thinks it can be used to help her avoid the charges." He raised an eyebrow at Juliette as if implying she should have thought of that herself.

"It’s a theft. We need to put the word out and get people looking for it," Juliette insisted. "That is a must. Regardless of whether you feel the killer took it or how it was lost, the point is that it's missing, and it has been stolen one way or the other." She switched to English to allow Wyatt to keep up. "We need to have a list of the pawn shops, the second-hand stores, the online jewelry resellers."

"It’s a theft of a piece of jewelry that will be very valuable emotionally to the parents. I mean, they'll want it back!" Wyatt backed up her argument as best he could.

Delgado folded his arms tighter, shaking his head emphatically.

"Agent Hart, we have already solved the case. The evidence points to Heather as the killer. We cannot go chasing after a missing piece of jewelry, especially when we have no idea where it is or who may have taken it."

Juliette sighed.

"You're going to change your mind on this," she threatened. "And I'm going to make sure that you get the right killer in your jail."

He shook his head, now with a flash of sympathy in his eyes.

"Agent, I understand your wish to prove your own countrywoman innocent. It is natural. But we are making progress with this case, and most likely, we will be ready to charge Heather Andrew with this murder by tomorrow morning. There are only a few loose ends that we need to tie up. You are welcome to do more research." He spread his hands, glancing at his subordinate, who nodded supportively. "But you are on your own. You will receive no assistance from us. Our resources are limited."

Juliette shrugged. "Thank you for the update on the timing," she said, biting back an angry response using every shred of her self-control. "We'll make sure that we have found the right killer before tomorrow morning."

She turned and strode out of the office, feeling furious.

As soon as she had closed the door, she rushed over to Sierra, who'd stayed behind in the lobby.

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