Chapter Three
MIGUEL
We rode the elevator up to the twentieth floor of a gleaming marble and glass building in downtown L.A. just before one o’clock. The suites of Brown, Butterfield, and Spaulding Insurance encompassed the entire top floor. When we walked through the glass double doors and strolled up to the smiling receptionist sitting behind a curving, rose-colored, marble desk, I gave our names. We were directed to take seats in the lobby.
“By the way, who is Brian Leopard?” Raven asked while we sat waiting for Tomlinson to come out of his office.
I glanced over. “I left a message. I thought I told you that.”
“I probably wasn’t listening,” Raven said, looking slightly awkward. “Sorry. I can’t get my brain wrapped around this new development.” He waved around the expensive lobby with the smooth marble walls, Persian rug covered floors, and pricey vases of fresh flowers on glass tables. He’d just opened his mouth to say something when a man suddenly appeared.
Tomlinson was exactly the kind of man I expected. He was short and slightly bald with a comb over and horn-rimmed glasses. He wore a business suit, black wingtips, and a wide smile as he walked over and reached out a hand to shake.
“Thank you for coming this afternoon. I know you’re busy but, in any case, my boss wants this necklace found as soon as possible,” he said as he led us back to a private, windowed office.
Raven sent me a secret smile then returned to taking in the place again. I noticed that all the recovery agents had richly appointed, private offices. Raven was probably comfortable in this setting since GMS was just the same. I’d been in a lot of insurance company offices including GMS, picking up checks for bounties I’d earned when their in-house recovery agents had failed at their jobs. But I was never greeted with anything other than curt nods and sneers as I walked into their offices. I felt a small stab of guilt. Raven had a really good job and made terrific money before deciding to leave a cushy office to go into business with me.
“We’d like to help any way we can,” I heard Raven saying. In Tomlinson’s plush office, we were waved to chairs in front of his desk. He sank into his own comfortable chair, immediately sliding a folder across the desk to us.
“Our client, Mrs. Bryant James, is the owner of the necklace and like I told you on the phone, she’s very anxious to get it back. In any case, I hope you don’t mind me picking your brains about your progress in finding the Flores ruby pendant, because I think the two recoveries might be connected.”
We suspected they were connected, but for many reasons, we couldn’t go into detail about how we knew that. For one thing, Sutter’s disappearance in a sandstorm and reappearance as a kidnapping victim was classified. We could only talk in generalities. We’d decided we had to probe Tomlinson for as much information as possible, while trying not to anger him that we didn’t have a whole lot either. We knew about the threatening letters Benedict Flores had received, and now, the murder of his attorney’s investigator but it was a bit of a balancing act.
I opened the file, holding it so that Raven could see. The first page was the BBS appraisal. It showed an enlarged picture of a massive diamond necklace with five nearly-perfect dark green, pear-shaped emeralds resembling teardrops. There were a multitude of baguette and marquise-shaped diamonds making up the neckline of the piece. The stones were set in either platinum or white gold, meaning if the emeralds were a part of the original cache of stones Filmore was trying to find, they’d been reset prior to the auction.
In the Middle East, the gold would have been almost coppery in color, either eighteen or twenty-two karat, not the standard fourteen karat found in most jewelry manufactured in the U.S. Fine jewelry makers rarely used white gold in that region. It was considered inferior because the gold content was usually 58.5 percent, versus 75 percent in eighteen karat gold. Platinum was almost unheard of in the Middle East. The total diamond weight was listed as ten carats, with a VVS1 clarity. The emeralds had the same clarity and were sixty-five carats in total.
I whistled. “That’s quite a piece,” I said as Raven flipped the page. The next page of the appraisal went into greater detail about each diamond, with pictures of other similar necklaces and their relative value. They ranged in price above and below the one Tomlinson’s client owned, with the most expensive being a Harry Winston showpiece, retailing for 350,000. The next page in Tomlinson’s folder listed other jewelry and unset stones of every variety, most of them very large diamonds. The corresponding owners and the companies they were insured by, were typed beside each one. I recognized a couple of the owners and wasn’t surprised to see that a large number of the pieces were insured by either GMS or BBS, the majority in fact.
Charlotte Mulberry and Tawny Flores were listed beside their respective missing gems. I wanted to clap at Tomlinson’s diligence. The man had been doing his homework. Clearly, the rest of the fine jewelry items had to be other high-value stolen items. I wondered how many of them might be connected to the cache of stolen jewels the rogue CIA cell claimed as their own. I scanned the list again, dragging my finger slowly down the page. When I got to one name I recognized, I stopped, swallowing hard as I glanced over at Raven with wide eyes. He had a surprised expression on his face too. Brian Leopard .
“Something interesting?” Tomlinson asked.
I cleared my throat as I tapped the page, hoping Raven would catch on. He gifted me with a minute nod in silent agreement. I instantly relaxed. My man was so perceptive. I loved him so much. “Oh, uh …I see that you’ve listed Charlotte Mulberry’s diamond here as well. We’re familiar with that recovery.” No way was I going to give away the fact that Brian Leopard was the name which really popped out at me or that his piece had also been insured by BBS.
“Oh?” Tomlinson turned in his desk chair and started tapping keys on his keyboard. He leaned forward reading the screen before glancing back at us with pen and paper in hand. “Indeed. Would you mind telling me something about it?”
I glanced at Raven. He cleared his throat and launched into the explanation about how we’d both been pursuing the recovery prior to opening our business and how he’d been working as a recovery agent for GMS, which had insured the diamond.
Tomlinson interrupted by raising his hand as he smiled. “So, you were rivals at the time?”
We both nodded and I smiled back, hoping it didn’t look as contrived as it was. Raven continued. “We’d both come to the same conclusion that the diamond had been stolen by Lyle Trench, a petty criminal, who’d been caught on traffic cameras and identified as the thief who’d accosted Charlotte Mulberry outside her bank. He snatched the bank bag she’d been carrying and had gotten away with her diamond.”
He looked up at me from his furious scribbling, gesturing me to continue. Most likely, this was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to the pencil pusher.
“Miguel and I both learned that Trench was scheduled to meet with a record producer at the Capitol Records building and we literally bumped into each other.” I glanced over at my beloved and he smiled at me before we turned back to Tomlinson. I shrugged. “The police arrested him since they knew he’d stolen the item. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the diamond on him at the time of arrest, and the LAPD couldn’t locate it anywhere in his home or possessions.”
Tomlinson’s eyes widened and he scribbled more notes. He looked up after a minute. “So, the diamond was never recovered?”
“No, we check GMS’ available online recoveries all the time. The bounty is still active.”
“And Trench? He’s not talking?”
“Lyle Trench was murdered in prison, so he won’t be talking to anyone,” I said. “At least…anymore.” I shook my head. “He never gave up the location of the diamond before his death.”
“This is very good information. Thank you,” Tomlinson said, looking almost breathless. I was sure the man had begun to sweat. “Now, I’d really like to know what you can tell me about Mr. Benedict Flores’ ruby. I know you said you haven’t been able to recover it so far, but I’d really like to know how far you’ve gotten. You see, BBS is very interested in that stone’s recovery as well. It was also insured by GMS, as I’m sure you know.”
That’s because the two companies seem to be at war in the same small pool of insanely wealthy clients . “Yes, we do.”
Finding out who’d insured the ruby had been the first thing Judy had checked on after our meeting with Tawny Flores and Greg Aston. We knew the insurer would have had a recovery agent working on it, and as soon as we learned who the insurer was, our first thought was for Raven to sit down and have a conversation with the agent. That was, until Raven learned who they’d given the job to. As it turned out, the recovery agent assigned by GMS, had been a bitter rival of Raven’s while he worked for the company. Raven said there was no way he would be willing to talk to us, and even less willing once he found out that we’d been retained by their client.
“What can you tell me about your investigation into the ruby?” Tomlinson asked.
“Well, that’s taken quite a morbid turn of events, Mr. Tomlinson,” Raven said.
I wanted to kiss him. He was really putting on a show for this guy who thought it was just fine to pick our brains about the two cases we were working on. Though he wasn’t to know it, the list of jewelry and names he’d shown us hadn’t given us anything…with the exception of Brian Leopard’s name. But there was no way we were going to tell him that. I didn’t even have to ask Raven to be silent about it.
I realized Tomlinson had stopped scribbling and turned fully to face us. His eyes were gleaming, filled with what I could only describe as lust. “Morbid? Oh, please tell me.”
The man was practically salivating. I deliberately turned my head to look back at his closed door, deciding that this poor guy deserved a little drama in his mundane day. When I turned around, he was watching me, convinced that I held the key to everything ever known in the universe. I leaned forward, lowering my voice, sotto voce.
“The widow Flores’ attorney was made aware that his client, Benedict Flores, had been receiving threatening letters, demanding that he give them the ruby or that he would be harmed.” I nodded for emphasis as the man across the desk seemed to vibrate in his seat. He made a small O with his mouth and leaned forward. “Whaaat?”
I nodded violently. “Yes!” I glanced back at the closed door before turning back to him with wide eyes.
“Oh…don’t worry,” he began. “No one can hear you.”
I went on.
“The notes got increasingly violent in nature and eventually, they stopped. Then—”
I let my statement hang for a few seconds as he squirmed. I shrugged and sat back. “I don’t know…well, I didn’t until Mr. Aston’s in-house investigator turned up murdered this morning.” I did my very best to show him scary eyes and when I looked over at Raven, he was doing the same scary eyes. I was so proud of him. I did a mental fist bump.
“Murdered?” Tomlinson’s eyes went even wider than they had before. “How? Why? Where?”
I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. “His body was found in a dilapidated, vacant building—” Checking the closed door again, I lowered my voice, leaning forward. “Right here in downtown L.A.”
“Nooo!” Tomlinson was practically vibrating.
I glanced over at Raven who was nodding before turning back to Tomlinson. His gaze ping-ponged back and forth between us.
“And the nature of the murder? What can you tell me?”
“He was shot,” Raven said.
I was glad he hadn’t mentioned hearing about Dave Reynolds’ murder from Cassidy and Mike, not that I’d expected him to. I didn’t think our friends would appreciate anyone else knowing that little fact.
“That means the investigator must have found out something nefarious,” Tomlinson said, leaning back in his chair. “Oh, do you think the person who stole the ruby killed him?” His hand flew to his mouth. He was bright red above the collar and pulled his fogged glasses off to clean the moisture from the lenses. He was really freaking out, so I figured I’d played around with him long enough. I didn’t want to give the little guy a heart attack. I glanced at Raven, whose nod was almost imperceptible.
“There’s no way to know who killed the investigator or how far along he was in his investigation,” Raven said.
Tomlinson put his glasses back on his face, wiping perspiration off his forehead as he nodded. “Of course. Of course. Well, in any case, you’ve been a lot of help today, gentlemen.”
“And you’ve been of no help at all,” I wanted to say…but that really wasn’t true. He’d inadvertently given us more help than he knew by showing us Brian Leopard’s name beside the picture of a diamond pin set in coppery yellow gold. I had no idea what the diamond’s carat weight was, but it was sizeable.
“Is there anything you want to share about your search for the diamond and emerald necklace?” I asked.
“Me… uh… well, I haven’t gotten very far.” He waved his hand at the thin folder I’d put back on his desk. He was blatantly lying. There wasn’t even a copy of a police report in the file.
“What about a police report?” Raven asked, picking up my thoughts.
“Oh, that.” Tomlinson glanced around his immaculate office. “Now, where did I put that?” he muttered.
I followed his line of sight as it bounced from the couch against the wall, to the coffee table in front of it, to the thick rug beneath it, and then he turned back to us. He smiled, and it wasn’t a nice one. Gone was any pretense that this was going to be a fact-finding mission for both of us…fucker. “Unfortunately, I think you’re going to have to get a copy of that for yourself. After all, you have friends at the LAPD.”
“Friends at the LAPD?” Raven asked, playing dumb.
“Well certainly,” Tomlinson replied. “If you learned how GMS’s investigator died, surely you have friends who gave you that information.” He went from being weird to smug just like that.
I frowned and opened my mouth to say something nasty when Raven abruptly stood up. “I think we’re finished here.”
I closed my mouth and followed suit, turning my back on the guy, and following Raven to the closed door of Tomlinson’s office.
“Yes!” Tomlinson said loudly. “In any case, you’ve been a great help.”
As I started to turn and go back to punch the guy, Raven took my elbow. I stopped and glared at him. “Leave it,” he said, frowning.
I nodded and walked out the door with my beloved at my side. We didn’t stop walking until we were standing at the elevator. I turned to Raven. “Can you believe the nerve of that fucker?”
“I should have expected it. BBS is a bitter rival of GMS and they’re not known to play fair,” Raven said. “I should have known he wasn’t going to be of any help.”
“Except for the fact that by showing us that list, he answered the burning question about who Brian Leopard is,” I said as the elevator doors slid open. We stepped into the empty car, and I pushed the button for the subterranean parking garage. I took up a lean on the back railing and gazed at Raven’s reflection in the mirrored doors as they closed. He looked thoughtful as he stared at me.
“Well, it’s probably a good thing we found out about that before you were able to reach him. I wonder what he wants.”
I smirked. “Well, he either wants to hire us to find his missing diamond pin, or kill us because he’s somehow tied into this whole mess.”
His face conveyed his worry in the mirrored doors.
“What the fuck, Miguel? That’s all we need now.”
I reached out and put both hands on his shoulders, only to have to drop them as the elevator stopped halfway down to the garage. We both turned as two men in business suits stepped inside as soon as it stopped on the tenth floor. We remained quiet as it stopped three more times, picking up other people. Most of them got out in the lobby before we were finally able to step out in the garage with a few others.
When we got into the truck, Raven turned to me. “As I was about to say, I’m scared all over again.”
I reached across the console and took his hand, staring into his beautiful eyes. “Don’t worry. Yes, this case is turning out to be a fucking scary one, but we’ll figure this all out, Raven. We just have to remain vigilant and watch our backs, that’s all.”
“Oh, is that all?”
I shook my head and let go of his hand, turning it palm up. “Give me your keys.” He handed them over without question and I used them to open the glovebox. I pulled out both our guns and passed his to him along with the holster. “We’re gonna wear these at all times.”
He nodded slowly as I handed him back the keys. He opened his belt and secured the holster at his waist. I did the same, hating the weight of the thing. Though I’d carried a gun for half of my adult life between the military and my bounty hunting career, I’d gotten used to only wearing it regularly since this fucking recovery began. Knowing that I’d do everything in the world to protect the man at my side, however, made me push down my distaste.
Raven glanced back at me. “I guess we should get back to the office and find out why Brian Leopard is calling.”
I nodded. “Yeah, Sunshine, I guess we should.”