Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
The next guy pitched me a twenty percent discount on a fair-trade diamond if I bought it before I left.
This was a crapshoot. But investigations were like that sometimes. I tried a few more shops till I reached the end of the block and went into a place called Uncut. Behind the counter, a man with a thick beard and an eager grin spoke to another customer in rapid-fire Spanish, finishing the transaction quickly. When that customer thanked him and left, he strode up to me, shifting to English. “Greetings and welcome to Uncut, where we specialize in the best duty-free diamonds on the island.” His slight Cuban accent told me he was from the nearby island and his style said he was probably an excellent salesman, since he sounded like a TV commercial. “Are you looking for something for that special someone?”
“Potentially.”
“Ah, excellent. Someone you want to say I do to?”
I laughed and shook my head, sticking with the truth. “I don’t see that happening anytime in the near future. But my sister is graduating from college soon, so I thought I might get her a little something?”
He walked behind the counter, unlocked a glass case, and gestured to several diamonds that could be set into jewelry. “Surely, a lovely pair of simple diamond earrings would be a wonderful gift for your sister as she embarks on her first job after college. They say classy and elegant, and what employer wouldn’t want that?”
“Mmm. I like those—but these ones here are nice too.” I made a show of taking in the sea of sparkling gems that shimmered like brilliant reflections. “Business is good these days?” I asked casually. “I keep hearing all about diamonds.”
The man nodded vigorously and gestured to the door. More customers were streaming in. “Better than ever.”
“Sweet. Any chance you’d have one of those diamonds with a sort of bluish tint to it?”
The man shook his head. “One of my colleagues at International Diamonds has some from time to time. A few months ago, he handled a small batch of them for a new customer who brought them in. He might even have one or two left over.”
“Excellent,” I said, reining in a grin and extending a hand to shake. “I appreciate that. And I’ll be back to pick something up for my sister soon. What’s your name?”
“Montez.”
“Nice to meet you, Montez.”
With a friendly nod, he headed over to his new customers, and I took off.
The conversation had sparked a memory. The files that Andrew had sent over included a recovered email, and once I was away from the shop window, I pulled up the deleted thread. The messages referenced an amount and discussed safe transport of “luxury goods.” But there was no mention of paintings or art.
The art idea had been Andrew’s guess based on Eli’s affinity for it and the fiancée’s business venture. But how many five-thousand-dollar paintings did you have to move to equal ten million dollars? A fuck ton, that was how many. And paintings, which required safe transport, took up a helluva lot more space on a plane than gems did.
The details were adding up—the name of Eli’s nightclub, the bling on the woman, the tint of the diamonds, and the timing of the jewel trade.
Was Eli ferrying something else entirely?
As I walked down the street, I called Andrew and asked if his team had managed to recover any more documents. They were still working on it, he said, so I ran my idea past the client.
“I’m looking at the email now,” Andrew said in a focused tone. “This deleted one is from Eli to Constantine Trevino.”
I growled. That guy. Needed art moved illegally? You called Constantine. Hankered for some ivory tusks? Constantine was the middleman.
“The luxury-goods trafficker,” I bit out. “I know of him. He can move anything.”
“Like diamonds,” Andrew said. “And if that’s what he took, they’d be the rightful property of the Eli Fund.”
“Let’s get ’em back, then.”
“Let’s do it.”
I hung up then found the shop Montez mentioned. International Diamonds sprawled over a huge street corner. The sign said Open tomorrow.
Looked like my afternoon had opened up, leaving time for a rendezvous with a mermaid. And I planned to find out what the hell she was doing with the guy I was investigating. Starting now. I called Andrew back, but it went to voicemail, so I sent him a text asking if he knew about any blondes in Eli’s life who were having breakfast with him this morning.
10
ICE GIFT
Ruby
On the terrace, my stepfather held his arms out wide, and pulled me close as though I was precious to him. So many times growing up, he’d comforted me with a hug when I’d fallen, gotten hurt, or lost a game, and some kind of nostalgia stirred as he embraced me.
Family.
That was why it hurt me so much to think Eli was a con man, a thief, on top of how he’d treated my mother.