Lying Eyes

by Amy Atwell

  And Cosmo had stolen them. But why? It still made no sense to her. Another question troubled her. “So, Cosmo removed the gems from here, but how did you get them?”

  “We had them made.”

  “Made?” Mickey rose to join them.

  Iris spread the necklace out across the table so he could see it. For his benefit, she traced the spots where the gems would have fitted.

  “How do you make alexandrite?” he asked.

  Tatiana sighed. “I do not understand it all, but it can be done in a laboratory.”

  Iris held up a hand. “In simple terms, you create a chamber and put in the chemical compounds necessary to make a stone or mineral, then create conditions that speed up the process. You can grow alexandrite in a lab in as little as two weeks.”

  She looked at her aunt. “But for the size of these gems, growing them would take a few months.”

  “Indeed. And it cost us much money over the years. For decades my grandfather and then my father continued to commission the growing of more stones, then they personally cut the gems to fit these settings.”

  Reality settled upon Iris’s shoulders like a cold, hard burden. The stones she’d thought were the Romanov alexandrite must be these grown copies. “I’m sorry Cosmo took them from you. I haven’t seen him since Thursday.” She tried to make it sound like no big deal—which it wouldn’t be under normal circumstances. “I’m sure he still has the stones.”

  “He said he gave them to you,” Tatiana said.

  “When did he say that?” Mickey interrupted.

  Though taken aback by his intense question, she grudgingly answered him. “An hour ago, maybe a bit more.”

  “He was here?” Iris tried to remain calm. She’d never wanted to see her father so desperately.

  Tatiana patted her hand. “Yes. So, he’s fooled all of us then. You truly don’t have them?”

  Iris’s suddenly dry tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She threw Mickey a look.

  Picking up on her silence, he came to her rescue. “I think it’s safe to say Cosmo didn’t give them to her. Did he, Iris?”

  She released her breath. “No, he didn’t give me the stones.” They were stretching the truth, but since she had no way of knowing for certain whether the stones on Edgar’s collar were what Tatiana sought, she couldn’t very well promise to return them. More than ever she needed to find Cosmo.

  “But if he didn’t take the stones to give them to Iris, then why did he take them?” Marko asked.

  Iris sighed, unable to defend his crazy actions. “I don’t think I’ve ever understood him.”

  Tatiana nodded sagely. “Of this I know—Cosmo never does anything by chance.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “So that’s that,” Mickey said. “Your father’s had us all running around with our heads up our asses.”

  “You don’t need to say it like you think I was in on it.” Any charity she’d been feeling toward him evaporated like dew under the desert sun.

  They waited in the elevator lobby, a cul-de-sac of six metal doors. Instead of making eye contact with Mickey, Iris watched his reflection in the mirror on the end wall. He was studying her profile.

  “No, you didn’t have a clue, did you? You never even knew you had relatives in Russia?”

  Iris turned on him. “Second cousins. How many of your second cousins do you keep track of in the United States?” She bit her lower lip—yelling at Mickey wasn’t going to change the fact that she hadn’t even known she had sisters until this weekend. “What do we do now?”

  “Only one thing we can do. Wait to hear what the lab discovered about the gems.”

  They looked at each other.

  “They’re going to be the Gorseyev alexandrite,” Iris said flatly. “I never thought the color was pure enough, but I so wanted them to be the Romanov stones.”

  “So, you don’t think Cosmo ever got the Romanov gems?”

  “That’s why he never wanted to hand them over. He knew someone would discover they were synthetic.”

  An elevator opened with a subtle ding, and they stepped inside.

  “But it doesn’t make any sense,” Mickey said. “I mean, what was the point? From what I gather, the Boss wired ten million dollars to someone for those gems. Your aunt didn’t get the money, and Cosmo swore he never had the money in his hands. Why would he take something she valued so highly, if he wasn’t going to give them to the Boss?”

  “You’d have to ask Cosmo that,” Iris said.

  “If I could just lay hands on him.”

  “I think he might be headed back to my store late tonight.” She admitted it grudgingly.

  “Why?”

  “He broke in last night, remember? This morning, I found this in the drawer where I originally found the alexandrite.” She withdrew the small paper from her jacket pocket and offered it to him.

  Mickey took the note and stared at the single question mark. “What’s he asking?”

  “I think he’s asking what I did with the alexandrite. When I found it yesterday morning, I had to make a quick decision.”

  “So you found it and acted. Why didn’t you tell me then?”

  “You were the one who told me not to trust you.”

  The elevator opened again, this time at lobby level. They turned the corner and were assaulted by casino noise and the hurried bustle of bodies. Mickey corralled her shoulders with one arm and protected her from the worst of the bumps as they moved among people trying to go in a dozen directions at once.

  When they arrived at the store, Iris wasn’t surprised to find Officer Foote standing outside the front door. He greeted her with a cursory salute while he managed to treat Mickey as if undercover meant invisible.

  The store itself was empty save for Ginny polishing glass countertops and a couple near the back. Iris recognized Hunter’s loosened tie and casual sport coat almost as quickly as she picked up the fragrance of mint from his cup of tea.

  But what the hell was Allie doing with him?

  Ginny hooked a thumb in the couple’s direction. “Who’s the guy with your sister?”

  Iris hated to admit Hunter was a cop. Wasn’t it bad enough that she had a uniform shadowing her without admitting she was surrounded by the law? When had she lost all control of her life?

  Mickey smiled easily at Ginny, all his usual charm returning. “That’s another of Iris’s cousins.”

  “Another—?”

  “Don’t ask,” Iris said to her. She glanced at Mickey. “Does he have it?”

  The two men had made eye contact, and she saw Hunter’s nod. She grabbed Mickey’s sleeve, eager to find out about the gems. “Come on. We can talk in the back.”

  “Iris, what’s going on?” Ginny trailed behind them.

  She paused to answer her assistant while Mickey ushered the others into the back. “I can’t tell you. Just…keep an eye on things out here, would you?”

  “What if David stops by?”

  “He won’t.” While she knew Ginny would celebrate the end of her engagement, Iris wasn’t ready to share it. Too many other things were at stake.

  She closed the door behind her and nailed Hunter with a look. “What’s she doing here?”

  “Iris—” Allie tried to interrupt, but Iris rolled over her verbally.

  “No, I mean if this is supposed to be some sort of professional investigation—”

  Hunter set his tea down on her worktable. “I ran into Allie at the UNLV campus, and she asked for a ride over here.”

  This made Iris consider Allie. She’d suspected her younger sister was stalking the detective. “Ran into?”

  Allie stuffed her hands into the front pocket of her hoodie and stared back. “I had a chemistry lab this morning.”

  “So Hunter’s become your own personal cab?”

  Anger flashed in Allie’s eyes. “Come off it, Iris, he’s my dad, too. He said you were the keeper of the gems. Then I find Justin at the geology lab—looking a little
chagrined to be discovered there. It doesn’t take much brains to add two and two together and come up with your stolen gems.” Her features softened as she expelled a breath. “I want to do what I can to help find Daddy. He’s in trouble, isn’t he?”

  “Yes,” Mickey answered. “But we’re all going to help him.”

  Allie tilted her head to study him, her eyes narrowed slightly. “You’re not just a thief, are you?”

  “I’m an undercover cop.”

  “He’s my partner,” Hunter verified.

  “Oh sure, when she asks, just come right out and tell her.” Iris found herself, as usual, moved to the edge of the group, and she resented it.

  “Don’t be angry,” Allie said. “I think you’re so lucky. You’ve been neck-deep in this adventure. Daddy trusted you to help him.”

  The wistfulness of her sister’s tone made Iris pause. She’d been so angry with Cosmo, she hadn’t looked at it this way before. He had trusted her. He’d left the gems in her safekeeping. What was so aggravating was not knowing why, and she was taking that aggravation out on her innocent sister.

  “I’m sorry, Allie. It’s been a rough morning.”

  “Cosmo’s in-laws from Russia are in town,” Mickey told the others. “Iris just discovered she’s got cousins.”

  Allie’s eyes lit with joy. “Oh, Iris, how wonderful!”

  “Yeah, great.” Iris sat on her stool, suddenly tired.

  “Are they tied in with this?” Hunter asked Mickey.

  “I think so. What did you find out about the gems?”

  Hunter withdrew the collar from his pocket. “The lab confirmed that these are alexandrite, but their value is much lower than we anticipated.”

  “Because they’re synthetic,” Iris said. Even though she’d expected this, disenchantment weighed heavily upon her.

  “How did you know?” Hunter handed her the collar.

  Mickey explained all they’d learned from the Gorseyevs about their missing gems. Allie listened with wide-eyed intensity while Hunter jotted notes in his little pad. Seated on her stool, Iris studied the collar beneath the desk’s bright light. Though these weren’t the Romanov alexandrite, the gems had been faceted by her great-grandfather and his father, each brilliant angle cut to perfection. Her mother had said their Gorseyev ancestors had been great jewelers, but Iris could now appreciate their superior craftsmanship firsthand.

  She held not history but her heritage, and it sparkled and dazzled its way into her heart.

  Hunter repocketed his pad. “Then these gems belong to the Gorseyev family from St. Petersburg, that’s what you’re telling me?”

  Mickey nodded. “At least that’s one question answered. What we still don’t know is who received the ten million for the Romanov gems, or if Cosmo ever received them.”

  “Or who hired Cosmo to get the gems in the first place,” Hunter added.

  “If someone hired him, then Daddy must have the real gems.” Allie looked from one to the other man. “That or he must know where they are. It’s not like he’d go all the way to Russia to bring back fakes.”

  Iris couldn’t muster a laugh at such devotion, though her lips drew back in a rueful smile. “Cosmo is a second-rate con artist who might do anything that comes to mind, including cheat his own mother, if he thought he could pull it off.”

  Instead of arguing, Allie considered her words. “Maybe, but he’d have good reason.”

  “Guess we’ll have to find out what that is.” Mickey shared a look with Iris.

  She knew he was hoping to track Cosmo down here at the shop tonight. “Is there any reason I can’t give these gems back to my great-aunt?”

  Hunter shook his head. “We’d be hard-pressed to call them stolen goods, and frankly they’re tainted as evidence.”

  Iris wasn’t sure what that all meant but assumed he didn’t want them anymore.

  “You might hang on to them, at least until we find your father.” Mickey came up behind her and laid a hand on her wrist.

  The gems moved beneath the light, casting a brilliant prism on the wall. Iris hated to admit it, but her stomach fluttered with the same rainbows at his touch.

  Mickey’s voice vibrated softly at her ear. “Cosmo’s still in deep trouble, and these might be useful.”

  Her mouth dry, she nodded. “I can wait until you find him.” She slid off the stool, though that brought more of her body in contact with his hard frame. “I’ll put this back on Edgar. Where is he?” She looked around the floor.

  “He’s not here,” Allie said. “I thought he was at your apartment.”

  “What do you mean he’s not here?” Iris asked sharply.

  Allie shrugged. “If he were in the shop somewhere, I’d feel his presence. Did you really bring him here this morning?”

  “Of course I did.”

  “Why?” Allie sounded almost as exasperated as Iris felt.

  “Because you told me he didn’t like to be left alone.”

  Her sister chuckled, and both men looked like Iris had lost her mind. Maybe she had.

  “That was yesterday,” Allie said. “Edgar’s a rabbit. Who knows what he’s thinking today.”

  If the rabbit’s thoughts were anything like Iris’s, he’d be out buying her sister a straitjacket. “Apparently, he’s thinking he’ll take a walk.” She jerked open the door and stalked out to the sales floor, her head bent to peer beneath the glass cases.

  The men followed, fanning out across the store to conduct a thorough search, while her sister hung back, her brow furrowed in concentration. What, was she trying to read the rabbit’s mind again?

  Iris discovered Ginny lost in discussion with a hot blond guy. “Pardon me, Ginny, but have you seen Edgar?”

  “Who? Oh, no. I thought he was in the back with you.”

  “He seems to have gotten out.” Iris glanced at the guy and was startled by the blue eyes, so pale and intense, and yet oddly familiar.

  “Iris, this is Sergei…”

  “Gorseyev,” he finished with a smile at the assistant.

  Ginny blushed. “He says he’s your cousin,” she whispered with a sidelong look. “Is he?”

  “I believe it’s second cousin,” Sergei corrected in his accented English as he shook Iris’s hand.

  “I’ll vouch for this one,” Iris said.

  His eyes were a younger version of Tatiana’s, and he’d inherited Viktor’s height and build. He appeared to be a few years younger than her own twenty-eight, and he’d clearly made an impression on Ginny.

  Mickey appeared at her elbow. “Find anything?” He placed a proprietary hand on her back.

  “This is Iris’s Russian cousin, Sergei,” Ginny gushed.

  Iris raised a brow. Ginny never gushed. But she was definitely making eyes at Sergei.

  “This is Iris’s other cousin, Mickey.”

  Mickey offered his hand. “Michael Kincaid.”

  “Funny, Aunt Tatiana told me you were Iris’s fiancé,” Sergei said as they shook.

  Ginny’s mouth fell open as she turned to stare at Iris.

  Iris wished she could melt into the floor. This was the problem with lying—she always got caught. She saw Mickey’s hand tighten its grip on her cousin’s fingers.

  “Can you keep a secret, Sergei?” he whispered. “I’m neither.”

  Sergei leaned in. “If that is so, what are you?”

  “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.” Mickey winked.

  Ginny barely repressed a squeal of delight. “I knew something was going on!”

  “Oh, stop it, all of you,” Iris said testily. Mickey had made it sound like this was just one big joke to him. He probably couldn’t wait to be done with this case. To be done with her.

  Allie joined their little group with a brief wave to Ginny before turning to Iris. “He’s not here. I mean, we can look in every corner and under every piece of furniture, but I can tell you, Edgar’s gone.”

  “Who is this Edgar?” Sergei asked.

&n
bsp; “Our dad’s rabbit,” Allie answered.

  This made no sense to the Russian. “Rabbit? As in, hip hop, hip hop?”

  Ginny and Allie both giggled. Even Iris had to admit, with the accent and all, Sergei was pretty damn hot.

  But she saw no humor in losing Edgar. It would have been easier if he were still wearing the collar. Then she could pretend she was worried about the missing gems. Instead, she had to admit she’d developed a bond with that overweight rabbit. If he’d left the store, he was out there in the casino somewhere, and that thought terrified her. Heavy money carts, tourists with rolling luggage, security guards with guns—Edgar could be injured or killed out there. Just her luck that they were on the verge of finding Cosmo, and she’d have to tell him she’d lost his favorite pet.

  She looked at Mickey. Why she automatically turned to him for help after all he’d done, she didn’t know. She didn’t question it. Instinctively, she knew she could count on him. “We have to find him.”

  But instead of promising everything would be fine, he returned her look with a doubtful frown. “We can’t tear the whole casino apart looking for one rabbit.”

  “We don’t have to tear anything apart,” Allie said with confidence. “If you want to find a rabbit, you just have to think like a rabbit. Come on.”

  ***

  Robert Donovan rarely set foot in the Bellagio, mostly because he hated to admit anyone in Vegas had bigger holdings than he did. Today he should have achieved a major victory by signing that real estate deal and buying that piece of Moscow property from the Bellagio’s owners. But thanks to Cosmo Fortune’s treachery, Jock’s ineptitude and Mickey Kincaid’s lies, the deal was on hold.

  Goddammit, he wanted that alexandrite in his hands.

  Marshalling his features into a businesslike smile, he turned and waved goodbye to the men who’d shared lunch with him. SOBs, all of them. He smiled and winked as they waved back. Yeah, they’d be stabbing knives in his back if they could. He straightened his cuffs and departed the restaurant.

  Grudgingly, he admitted Jack Vados had suggested a good plan. Since delaying the contract would look weak, Vados had recommended they blame the postponement on health issues. Nothing too serious—a flu bug, perhaps. If Donovan were laid up for a few days, no one would blame him for the delay.