46. Doubles Match
46
DOUBLES MATCH
Jake
“What did you find out?” I asked my sister, as I sat on a bench at the edge of Seven Mile Beach, getting her report over the phone and trying not to grind my teeth.
“Nuts.”
“Nuts?”
I didn’t know how Ruby was managing to keep it together over lunch with her stepfather.
My first reaction had been bafflement as to why anyone would smuggle ordinary cocktail mix inside framed art. Then I realized they must have been a decoy. Somebody wanted people to assume what Ruby had—that there were diamonds hidden safely away.
On my first visit to Sapphire, I’d spotted Nigel crunching on cashews as he left Eli’s office. Had he planted the nuts for Eli, or had he found the nuts the way Ruby had? Was the snake tattoo guy working for Eli or against him?
No idea, so I homed in on my sister as she began her debrief. “Nigel Harris has worked in the nightclub business for eight years. He managed that property under its previous owner, and when Eli bought the club and renamed it, he kept Nigel on to run things. He helped with the renovation, with hiring, and with lining up security.”
“Is he local?”
“No. Born in the UK. Oldest of six siblings. Looks like he sends money to support his widowed mom.”
I sympathized with the guy, but that was powerful motivation for supplementing his income with opportunistic theft. “What about the tattoo? Any significance there?”
“Apparently, he has pet snakes.”
My stomach curdled at the thought, and I moved to the next name I’d given Kate to check out. “What about Tristan O’Doole?” I asked. “Tell me about the restaurant guy.”
“Ah, Tristan. He’s from Boston, been on the island over fifteen years. His Boston restaurant had a big opening and early success, but failed due to debt. He started Tristan’s fifteen years ago and it’s been moderately successful. From my research, he’s considered a solid chef, but his Boston restaurant failed because he put his money in a house brand of coffee and liquor drinks that didn’t work out. Looks like a pattern. A year ago, he tried out some strange chocolate drinks at Tristan’s that didn’t quite win any fans.”
Interesting. Eli’s investment flop had been in cocoa beans. Maybe he could set Tristan up with whoever made the chocolate in his stash.
“How’s the restaurant doing now?” I asked Kate. “Any debt trouble?”
“None that I could find. Looks like he hit his stride with this one,” she said.
“So money troubles wouldn’t give him motivation.” Why would he do it then? I tapped my fingers on my thigh and watched the kiteboarders skim the small waves by the shore, searching for an answer. Farther out were Jet Ski riders, cutting through the blue water, and beyond them, fishing boats bobbed patiently, their occupants no doubt waiting for a catch.
Yeah, I was waiting too. For answers.
“What about International Diamonds?” I asked Kate. “Were you able to find an employee named Monica?”
While there was nothing wrong with a side hustle, nothing at all, running into Monica no longer seemed like a small island coincidence. Something was up with her.
“I called International Diamonds and asked for Monica, and they said she wasn’t in. Then I used my wits and wiles to get a last name to go with the first. Smith. Which doesn’t sound fake at all.”
I straightened up on alert. “The guy who broke into Ruby’s room gave the name Smith at the front desk.”
“Um…Jake, those don’t even need to be aliases to be within the realm of coincidence.” Kate sounded like she was trying to break bad news to me. “Especially since I could find zero info about a Monica Smith in Flamingo Key.”
But leaving the last name aside, Monica was one of the few people I could think of who knew I had a blue-tinted diamond worth ten grand, and she’d likely seen me with Ruby while she was skulking around the bar, no matter how real Monica’s laughter with her friend had seemed last night.
Just like I sensed danger, just like I knew how to find the stolen Strad, I was sure that Monica was onto us. Mr. Smith had to be her partner.
Monica and Nigel?
Monica and Tristan?
I wasn’t sure, but I did know there was another pair in this doubles match of stolen diamonds.