Ruby Red Herring

by Tracy Gardner

  “You don’t have to do that,” Avery said, surprised.

  “It’s no big deal. You and your family did most of it already.” He pushed the chairs in around the table opposite the fire pit area.

  She went over to him. “Really. Thank you for cleaning up, but you’re off duty.” She smiled. “From this and your real job.”

  “You throw a great party. I almost didn’t come.”

  “But you had to, to check out my people. Right?” She’d been reminding herself of his words all night. He was doing his job, even off duty.

  He frowned at her. “Well, sure. It was helpful in that respect.”

  She raised her eyebrows, curious. “Really? How so? What did you learn?”

  “Ah. I learned that your friends and family think very highly of the three of you. You’ve got a nice circle.”

  “That’s all?” She felt deflated. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but that wasn’t it. “No suspects, no thieves or murderers in the bunch?”

  Art sat back down by the fire, resting his elbows on his knees and turning to look at her as she joined him. “You make it sound as if I spent the evening studying each of them.”

  “You didn’t? I figured that’s why you stayed so long.”

  He stood abruptly. “Sorry. I’m, ah, not the best at reading social cues.”

  “Oh no. Please. Art, sit down. That’s not at all what I meant.” She looked worriedly up at him.

  He sat. “All right, maybe I came looking at this as an opportunity to flush out a suspect. But that’s not why I stayed.” He was staring straight ahead into the fire.

  “Oh,” Avery said, her voice quiet.

  “I don’t go to these things. I haven’t . . . in a long time. This was nice.”

  Feeling bold, Avery leaned toward him and bumped his shoulder with hers. “That’s nice to hear. I’m really glad you stayed.”

  He turned his face toward hers, his half hidden in shadow. Then he stood again. “I should go. It’s late.”

  She was trying to keep up. “Okay. I’ll walk with you to your car.” She suppressed her natural inquisitive urge for about as long as it took them to reach the lilac bushes at the side of the house. “Have you lived in Springfield County long? What made you leave the city?”

  Art let his breath out in a long exhale. He ran a hand back across the top of his head. “I had to.”

  Avery swallowed hard. “Why?” Oh, she hoped she wouldn’t regret asking that.

  “I made a critical error on a case, and it almost got my partner killed. I was put on leave, but when the suspension was over, I decided I’d be better at my job in a setting that wasn’t a pressure cooker.” He kept up his pace, not looking at her.

  “Oh. That’s awful. I’m sorry. But I’m glad your partner was okay.” His explanation had told her everything and nothing about why he’d left Manhattan. By now they’d reached his car.

  He rested a hand atop his car. “I appreciate that. Springfield County is a better fit.”

  Avery nodded. She couldn’t begin to know what it felt like to go through all of that. “Well, for my sake, I’m glad you chose Lilac Grove,” she said quietly.

  He started to speak but then stopped. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder to the midnight-shift patrol car that had replaced the afternoon officer. When he looked at Avery again, his guard was back up. She hadn’t realized it before, but now that she’d just experienced both versions of Art Smith in the space of a few seconds, she got it. For just a moment she’d been talking with the exposed, raw Art Smith. Now Detective Art Smith was back. He opened his car door. “You said earlier you had something to show me? What was it?”

  Avery sighed. She really liked this man. But she was totally in the dark about anything he thought or felt about her. No matter what he felt, she knew she was safer when he was around, and she’d enjoyed his company tonight. She’d kept the key all day today on a chain around her neck. She had been about to lock it back into her parents’ safe when she realized there was nowhere safer than right with her. She’d removed an old, costume-jewelry unicorn charm from a long silver chain she’d rummaged in Tilly’s jewelry box and threaded it through the key, throwing away the lavender scrap of paper. She’d memorized the inscription without even meaning to. Now she pulled the chain from inside her blouse and held out the key at the end of it.

  Art bent down to take a look, raising his gaze once to hers. He pulled out his phone and shined the light on it, narrowing his eyes.

  “It says LEX1073,” Avery told him. “Yesterday on the way home I got an anonymous call that said, ‘Use the key.’ And this was in my parents’ office—it’s got to be the key the caller meant. I don’t know yet what it unlocks.”

  Art snapped a photo of it. “Let me work on it. The call came in yesterday? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Um. I don’t know, I didn’t really have anything to tell. I still don’t know anything.”

  Now he looked aggravated. “You’ve got to keep me in the loop. Otherwise I can’t help you. All right?”

  She nodded. “Yes. Sorry. I told you about Edward Johnstone, right?”

  He blinked once, slowly, and stared at her.

  “Oh. No?” She brought Art up to speed on the call from Johnstone as well. “I promise to let you know the very second anything else happens from now on,” she swore.

  “I’ll find you in a day or two, once I know something,” Art told her as he left.

  * * *

  Avery had never seen Tilly quite so animated. She and Micah watched from a distance at Armand and Sons while Noah modeled business attire. A football player in high school, nineteen-year-old Noah was the perfect menswear model size. The garments fit him well and would need no tailoring. The salesman stepped in every few minutes with a helpful word about shoulder room or inseam length, but it was clear that Tilly’s opinion was the only one that mattered.

  “They’re adorable,” Avery said quietly to Micah. “They’re both still about twelve in my head. I can’t believe he’s a sophomore and Tilly will be a freshman.”

  Micah nodded. “I’m sure the last couple years have felt like a long road for both of them.”

  Avery hadn’t thought about it much before, but she wondered if the shared experience of losing parents had brought Noah and Tilly a little closer. They seemed to have the sort of long-standing friendship that was easy and comfortable, no matter how infrequently they saw each other. She wasn’t sure if or how it might transition to anything more, as Tilly hoped, but perhaps it would.

  Avery called to make sure MOA had been reopened after being shut down Friday morning, and after a quick lunch, they found themselves in the Xiang dynasty exhibit. Aunt Midge had planned to take in the exhibit with them, but she’d changed her mind that morning, saying she needed a day of rest. Avery didn’t blame her a bit. The pace over the last several days had been tiring, even by Midge’s standards. Avery and Tilly had left her on the couch with her current book, a cup of tea, and Halston curled up on his new dog bed by her feet.

  The Emperor’s Twins medallion was the prized focal point of the exhibit, but the installation itself was much more than simply the medallion. Avery enjoyed being the tour guide as she walked Tilly, Micah, and Noah through each display, offering bits of information about the gold thread woven into the tapestries during that period, the meaning behind the ceremonial garb worn by Chinese royalty, and the techniques used to create a piece as intricate as the medallion.

  She let the trio drift away toward the next exhibit, staying behind to scrutinize the dragon and his striking ruby eye. The piece sat under a spotlight in a display case. The jewels and pearls surrounding the dragon’s head looked just as genuine as the eye itself. She bent closer, pulling her pocket loupe out and peering through it. It didn’t give the same view as having the medallion free from the case, but even up close, Avery couldn’t say that this enormous, sparkling ruby wasn’t the natural Burmese ruby it was purported to be. It was stunning. And
at this level of magnification, there was nothing to tell her it wasn’t real. She couldn’t wait to get back into the lab tomorrow. She and Micah would know before the day was out whether MOA had acquired a fake.

  Avery and Tilly dropped Micah and Noah off at their Harlem brownstone before dinnertime. Micah had to get Noah on the train back to school later that night. They climbed the steps to the porch, Avery handing over the bags she’d helped carry up. Besides Armand and Sons, they’d hit a few other stores, finding shoes and other necessities for Noah. Tilly had come away with a new luggage set for her London adventure this fall. Avery hugged Noah good-bye, suddenly overcome with emotion at the thought of doing the same in August for Tilly.

  “Your mom would be so proud of you, Noah,” she told him. “I know we are. You’ll do great.” She smiled, swallowing hard. She let go and trotted down the steps, raising a hand to Micah. “See you in the morning!”

  Avery waited in the car, buckling and looking down at her phone, trying to give Noah and Tilly a moment to say good-bye. She peeked through her hair up at the house and saw that Micah had had the same thought; he’d gone inside.

  Tilly was quiet most of the drive home to Lilac Grove. Avery put music on, and Tilly finally opened up when they were approaching town, just a few minutes away from home.

  “I’m really going to miss him. Everyone. I’m gonna miss everyone!”

  Avery looked sharply at her sister; her tone was so forlorn. Tilly met her gaze with tears in her eyes. “Oh, Tilly.” Avery took her hand, squeezing it.

  “What if I don’t want to go to London? What if Noah meets someone at his fancy internship? What if she’s this badass engineering intern like him but with stilettos and big boobs and a genius IQ and he totally forgets about me?”

  Avery laughed and then stifled it, trying not to smile at the image. “I think that’s highly unlikely. Noah’s known you since you were tiny. He loves you. And he doesn’t strike me as the kind of kid to be wowed by stilettos and, uh, all that.”

  Tilly shook her head, looking out the window. “Maybe he just loves me like a sister. I mean, he hugged me good-bye, and he said he’d miss me. But it doesn’t even matter, because we’ll be a million miles apart, and I know this is stupid, but I’ve crushed on him forever, and it’s not fair—”

  Avery lifted her sister’s hand, squeezing it harder. “Hey! It’s going to be okay. Really. I promise. Noah’s doing what he needs to do for now, for the future, and so are you.” She paused. “And you know, if you really decided you truly didn’t want to go to London, no one is going to make you. It’s your future. It’s all up to you.”

  Avery took a deep breath, taken aback by her own little speech. She felt so out of her depth in trying to give parental advice. She had this deeply ingrained memory of sitting down and talking things over with their parents. Anne and William would help lead Avery and her sister to the answers. But Avery was supposed to know the answers now. She hoped she’d given her sister the right one.

  Tilly sniffled. “You mean it?”

  “Um. Which part?” She glanced at her sister from the corner of her eye.

  “The part where you said I don’t have to go to London?”

  Avery clenched her jaw, pushing away the fish-out-of-water feeling. There was no one to answer to now but themselves—and Aunt Midge. “I mean it.”

  Tilly was quiet.

  They turned onto the road to their house. Avery spoke. “I do think you should wait a while before making any firm decision on it. Sleep on it, talk it through a little more. But it’s always up to you.”

  Her younger sister drew in a hitching breath. “Well, I don’t want to miss out on London,” she said softly.

  There it was. Maybe she just needed to know the choice was hers. “I don’t blame you there.” Avery pulled into their driveway, now accustomed to seeing the patrol car sitting there. Art expected to have answers this week, between getting a look at the original copy of the Emperor’s Twins certification from the MOA records department, tracking down the collector Edward Johnstone, and also finally learning if the DNA from the blood outside the office doorway was a match for anyone in the system. She was sure Springfield County didn’t have the budget to cover twenty-four-hour surveillance much longer.

  The aroma of pot roast and fresh biscuits assaulted them in the foyer along with Halston, almost back to his usual happy, waggy self, only slightly hindered by the cast. They found Midge setting plates at the island, where they normally ate only breakfast. Dinner was almost always at the big dining table between the kitchen and family room in the open floor plan. But the dining table was covered with a map.

  Avery went to the table and saw that it was a map of Manhattan, a pink highlighter line drawn down the middle of it. She peered more closely, squinting to read the street name: Lexington Avenue. “Of course!” She grabbed Aunt Midge and pulled her into a hug. “The key. It opens something on Lexington Avenue.”

  “I got a little farther than that,” Midge said. She tapped the screen on her tablet on the adjacent countertop. “One-oh-seven-three Lexington Avenue was the home of Bennington Bank. The branch closed for renovations”—she consulted a yellow scrap of paper—“it closed in November of last year for renovations. Then I had to quit and get the roast out of the oven.”

  “I could kiss you. This is huge, Auntie. The key must be to a safe-deposit box. If that particular branch closed, they had to have relocated the boxes somewhere. I’ll take it from here, I know I can figure it out.”

  Aunt Midge appeared to have fully recovered from her fatigue, even though—judging by the delicious dinner and newly cleaned downstairs, no trace of the party present—she hadn’t rested much.

  “Did you get much reading done? Looks like someone spent the day cleaning. You didn’t have to do that. I’d planned to finish that tonight,” Avery said. She dipped her biscuit in gravy and took a bite.

  “I actually did get some reading in. And Halston and I caught up on our reality television too.” She smiled. “I enjoyed tidying up, my dear. It was a wonderful party, and I’m so glad you girls had a day in the city. Did Noah find some handsome business attire for DeSouza?”

  Tilly spoke. “We found three nice pairs of pants, two suit jackets, five shirts and ties, and a pair of dress shoes that Micah said better last Noah until he’s old and gray.”

  “It was not a cheap afternoon for the men,” Avery added. “But Noah contributed; he wanted to. He’ll definitely look the part now at DeSouza. He’ll stand out among all the dull, unattractive engineering interns,” she said, winking at Tilly.

  Midge frowned. “Well, that’s not very kind. I’m sure they’ll each have their positive qualities. Though none quite so much as our Noah.”

  Their aunt never failed to surprise Avery. Midge had caught on to the topic without any explanation. Avery would fill her in on the conversation with Tilly in the car; she wanted to make sure Aunt Midge felt she’d done all right with how she’d handled Tilly’s cold feet. They needed to prepare for the possibility that she might change her mind about voice school in London. There were plenty of great options in the States too.

  While Tilly and Aunt Midge settled in the family room to read, Midge with the paperback of one of her favorite Blue Ridge Library Mysteries and Tilly on her Apple Books app, Avery brought her laptop to the dining table where the map was. She searched through Bennington Bank’s website, eventually finding a page with customer notifications of changes happening. It was from seven or eight months ago, and there was a lot of rhetoric about maintaining the highest standards for clients as the bank went through reorganization and growing pains, information on whom to contact regarding unanswered questions, and assurances that Bennington’s mission statement remained the same, as they hoped to continue to inspire confidence in their banking solutions. Ugh.

  She found the contact information for some of the higher-ups in the system and sent a very sweet and polite but urgent email to the CEO, the CFO, and the assistant
CEO, inquiring how she might learn where her parents’ safe-deposit box had been relocated. Everything she could find on the website made reference to hard-copy letters that had been mailed to banking clients with details on the branch closing. Avery was mentally preparing for a deep dive into her parents’ personal and household files when she spotted it. Simple. At the very bottom of the webpage were the underlined words Find your new neighborhood branch here.

  She clicked the hyperlink, and the browser opened a new window with a short form to complete, reading:

  Enter current or former Bennington Bank address or branch number in the box below.

  So she did, typing in 1073 Lexington Avenue, NYC, NY, and hit the enter key.

  A pinpoint on a map of New York City appeared. Avery zoomed in. Oh for goodness’ sake. Her parents’ branch had moved three blocks south and one block over to Third Avenue, just a handful of blocks from the Museum of Antiquities. She’d go tomorrow and find out what the key opened.

  * * *

  Avery called Micah on her way in to the city Monday morning. She hoped he might know what her parents had stored in the safe-deposit box that was so secret. She’d never come across any record of it, not even in their Emperor’s Twins files where she had found the key. When she didn’t get him, she tried his house phone; Micah really hated cell phones. Half the time when she couldn’t get ahold of him it was because he’d silenced the ringer or his phone was turned off. She left a message on both phones and then tried Sir Robert, who picked up on the first ring.

  “Good Monday morning, Avery Ayers! What are you up to today?”