Shiny Things

by Samantha Price

  “You admit you left me in the car to die and tried to run me down?”

  “I said that. Yes, and I am sorry. It wasn’t planned. Both were heat of the moment things.”

  “If I’d tried to kill you—”

  “Enough already!” he yelled showing the temper she knew had been bubbling under the surface. “This is about the diamonds. Stop trying to make it about you. It’s business. Yes, I love you, okay? What else do you want?”

  Police sirens sounded outside.

  He stared at her. “Babe, you didn’t, did you?”

  “Yes. I have your confession recorded. Now they’ll know who the real criminal is.”

  He took a millisecond to shoot her an evil glare before he turned and sprinted to a back door. Then it slammed shut behind him.

  She heard cars stop and the roller door opened.

  “Hands behind your head!” someone yelled.

  She did as directed and put her hands behind her head as four officers pointed guns at her. Jack raced to them.

  “You’re after Ryan Castle, not this woman.”

  “He ran out the back!” Gretel said.

  They lowered their weapons and hurried off, while Jack rushed to her. “Are you all right?”

  “I am.”

  “They surrounded the building. Don’t worry, he won’t get away.”

  He went to put his arm around her shoulders and stopped himself. “Sit in the car. I’ll be there in a minute.” She took the car keys he gave her before he rushed off.

  She walked to the car hoping they’d capture him. Minutes later, from inside the car, she watched as two officers escorted a handcuffed Ryan Castle to a police car. It was the best thing she’d ever seen.

  Jack slid into the front seat beside her. “We got him.”

  “Good.”

  “You sure you’re okay?”

  “Yes, I just want to go home.”

  He started the car and Gretel was glad to get away from the place. “I’ll get you home after you make a full report.”

  “Okay,” she said in a small voice. “Did you get my phone call? How did you know where I was?”

  “I have a tracker in your phone. Just as well you called me or I would’ve thought you were in on it with him, or not fully committed.”

  “I am committed. He called and wanted to meet me. I was going to call you then, but … I’m not sure why I didn’t.”

  Jack said, “He’s told us he doesn’t know anything about the diamonds. It seems he’s going to stick with his original story. I think we’ll be able to get him to talk once he’s interviewed. I’m not going to let up until I get the truth.”

  “He deserves to be behind bars after all that he’s done.”

  “I know. Sounds like he’s a narcissist for sure.” They pulled up at a red light and he stared at her. “Do you normally go for that kind of man?”

  Why was he asking? That was what she wanted to know. “Not usually. He wasn’t like that at the start.” When Jack looked away, a tear trickled down her cheek and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. In her life she’d had everything a girl could dream of, so why had love always eluded her?

  Jack brought Gretel to the police station where she waited alone in an interview room. Ten minutes later, an officer came in with a sandwich and a cup of coffee for her.

  She ate the sandwich, which was some kind of indistinguishable meat with pickles, and then drank the coffee. Neither were very good, but she was hungry enough not to care.

  After an hour that Gretel spent dreaming up all the horrible things she wanted to happen to Ryan Castle, Jack Fletcher finally walked in. She looked up at him. “What’s going on?”

  He sat down opposite her. “He still says he never had the diamonds. He claims he only said those things to you because that’s what you wanted to hear and he was trying to get back with you.”

  “Great. Can't anyone see that he's a pathological liar?” Now she knew he was going to be a free man. She drained the last of her coffee, which was now stone cold. “What’s going to happen to him?”

  “We’ve arrested him for obstruction of justice. His lawyer will get him out of that, no doubt. Without more proof of a crime, our hands are tied. He did give you up at the start, so that’s going to work in his favor by showing his intentions.”

  “Proof? I’m telling you he took all the diamonds. I was thrown into prison with no bail and you’re telling me he’s going to walk free? Walk free with the stolen diamonds?”

  “He might.”

  “What about how he tried to run me down in the street? You’ve got footage of that.”

  “That would involve you, put the spotlight on you. We’re trying to keep you out of the spotlight.”

  “Where’s the justice in the world? I’ll tell you, there is NONE!” She bounded to her feet and paced up and down. “I was arrested, because of him.”

  “Yes, but you had all the past crimes, which is why you were denied bail. Ryan Castle has done nothing that we can pin on him without involving you any further.”

  Gretel’s mind was racing so fast she wasn’t really listening to Jack. “What about the diamond heist we pulled?” She really did the crime. All Ryan did was sit in the car waiting for her.

  “He got off that when he gave you up.”

  Grrrr. She gritted her teeth and regretted asking Ryan about the loot from the Welch house. If he had been involved, now he’d make sure his tracks were better covered.

  “Hey, you’re not getting off too bad considering all you’ve done. If you weren’t helping us, you’d be back in prison right now.”

  She was so mad at this moment, she wouldn’t mind being back in jail if that meant that Ryan Castle also suffered.

  “We’ll put a tail on him and hopefully he’ll eventually lead us to the diamonds. Now, they’ll need your statement about today’s events.”

  “Is there really any point?”

  “For the record.”

  He took her to an interview room where she sat and recounted all the details that she remembered.

  Jack had waited for her to finish and then offered to drive her home.

  From the driver’s seat Jack turned to look at her. “Will you be okay?”

  “Yes. No. Not really. I’m trying to wrap my head around it all.”

  He stopped the car right outside her building. “I know how you feel. Justice often doesn’t get served the way I’d like it either, but as I said, you’ve just been handed a golden ticket, so I wouldn’t be feeling too down.”

  “I know. And I’ve got you to thank for that. It will be official soon, right?”

  He smiled. “We’re working on it. It’s as good as official. Stop worrying.”

  It was easy for him to say.

  She opened the door and was about to step out when he said, “Tomorrow, we’re focused back on the Glen Welch case.”

  “Okay.” She got out of the car and walked into her building. She hadn’t known this working with the FBI was going to be an everyday thing. Two or three times a year was what she’d envisioned. Never had she worked this hard.

  When Gretel got into her apartment, she pulled out one of her several disposable cell phones and called Kent and proceeded to tell him all that had just happened.

  “You’ve got to put that creep out of your mind,” Kent told her. “It doesn’t matter if he walks free and still has the diamonds. You’re out of jail. Your freedom is more important than a few lousy diamonds, don’t you think?”

  “I know. I know you’re right, but it bugs me. He’s outwitted and outsmarted the FBI and me. He’s so smug.”

  “He hasn’t outsmarted anyone. He’s just lied his way out of everything. You loved him and he threw it in your face. Walk away and take it as a lesson learned. Education is expensive, whichever way we get it.”

  “Yeah, I’ll never trust again. I’ve certainly learned that lesson the hard way.”

  “Just fall in love with someone worthy next time, okay?”


  “Okay, wise one.” She found it hard to believe Kent, a computer nerd, who rarely left his apartment, was giving her good advice.

  Kent chuckled. “Now, want to know what I’ve learned about the Welch family?”

  Chapter 26

  Gretel had spent the last ten minutes complaining about Ryan when all the while Kent had information about the Welch family. “Of course I want to know about it. I hope it’s something I don’t already know.”

  “You know they were in debt?” Kent asked.

  “Yes. I knew that.”

  “It’s not about the Welch family so much but Ryan and Gizelle. They were close.”

  “That’s interesting."

  "They shared the same father, different mothers, and Ryan is quite a bit older. I happened across her phone records and she and Ryan talk at least once a day, sometimes three times a day. What’s interesting is the day of Glen Welch’s death there were no phone calls between them.”

  “Because they were together that day and that night when they were killing him and emptying the safe. Wow. But it’s not something that we can prove and Jack keeps carrying on about needing proof. Ryan was in hospital at night and gone the next day. He was so bad he would’ve needed medical attention or at least someone to help him. Gizelle had to be the one to help him out of the hospital before they killed Glen, stole the jewelry and set up the crime scene.”

  “Ryan needed Gizelle’s help to get to the jewelry, she needed his help to get rid of the stepfather. Everybody wins. Every player wins a prize,” Kent said.

  “Except me who got the short straw, in life and in love. I can’t wait to tell Jack about this. It’s something to work with, something we can build on.”

  “Wait. How are you going to tell him exactly? You can’t tell him about me.”

  “He can subpoena their phone records if he hasn’t done so already. I’ll give him a hint what to look for. Thanks for finding that out.”

  “All in a day’s work.”

  “You’re nothing short of a genius, Kent.”

  “I have been called that in the past. I try my best.”

  She ended the call, changed phones and called Jack. Now she had that news, and she didn’t want to wait until morning to see Jack again. He’d be delighted with the valuable information.

  “Gretel, how can I help you?”

  “I have some interesting information.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Can we talk?”

  “Sure. I’m available to talk.”

  “No, I mean face-to-face.”

  “I’m just in the office doing paperwork. Do you want me to come and see you?”

  “That’s okay, I’ll come there.”

  Half an hour later, she was in his office.

  Jack Fletcher looked up from his desk and placed his pen down. “What is it that you have to tell me that couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

  “It’s not something to tell you as such. It’s an idea I’ve had. I was … in a deep meditative state when I was thinking about the relationship Gizelle might have had to her older half-brother. What if they were in it together? She gets rid of her stepfather who she never liked, she and her mother get the insurance money, and Ryan’s pay-off for pulling the trigger is the jewelry.”

  “What am I always telling you about proof?”

  “I knew you’d say that. I thought you might find something in their phone records. Do you have them?”

  “I can get them quick enough. Just a moment.” He tapped some keys on his computer keyboard. “Subpoena underway. Unfortunately, it’s not a quick process.”

  “Good. I’ll go home then.”

  “That was a quick visit.”

  She flashed him a smile as she walked out wondering how deep Gizelle’s involvement was. Could she be wrong about her? Even though she didn’t like Gizelle and never had, was she capable of murder? It was clear she was a liar since she’d told huge lies about the Cleopatra bracelet.

  If she got the truth out of Gizelle about that bracelet, she’d be closer to knowing what happened on the night that Glen Welch was killed.

  As soon as she was on the sidewalk, she called Kent to get Gizelle’s address.

  An hour later, Gretel was driving slowly past Gizelle’s house in the suburbs. It was a low set house with a double garage attached, much the same as every house on the street. No cars sat in the driveway and there was no sign of life. As she drove to the end of the cul-de-sac to do another drive-by, she saw the garage had a window. If she peeped in, she’d know if anyone was home. If Gizelle wasn’t there, a search of her house might prove far more fruitful than a conversation with her.

  She parked her car a few houses up and walked back to the side of Gizelle’s house. When she looked in the window, she was surprised to see Ryan’s car. It was the same black car that had almost run her down.

  Footsteps sounded behind her. Before she had a chance to turn around, something struck her head.

  All went black.

  Chapter 27

  When Gretel opened her eyes, she winced with pain. She could smell blood and knew it was coming from the back of her head. When she tried to touch the part of her head that hurt, she couldn’t. Looking down, she saw why. Ropes wound around her body had her tied to a chair. She tried to move to free herself, but she couldn’t.

  “Help.” Her voice was croaky and not loud at all. After taking a deep breath and summoning all her strength she tried again. “Help!”

  Ryan walked in and pointed a gun at her. “Shut up!”

  “What are you doing?”

  He stepped forward and pointed the gun at her head. “What did you tell them about me?”

  “I told them you’d be here at Gizelle’s and they’re coming to get you.” Her words were spat out with venom.

  “Why aren’t they here already? You’ve been out cold all night and no one’s come to save you. If you knew I was here, you wouldn’t have been snooping around. Answer the question.”

  “I didn’t tell them anything. How could I? I know nothing about you.”

  He crouched down in front of her. “Why are you here?”

  “I came to see Gizelle. Find out how she was coping with her stepfather’s death, and to offer my condolences.”

  “How do you know Gizelle?”

  “You already know, and I know how you know her too.” She was so angry all she wanted was the truth. “Why did you kill Glen Welch?”

  “I’ll tell you because I know you’re not wearing a wire.” He sniggered. “I checked already. I was always going to kill Welch one day. I worked out a long time ago that he killed my father. He wanted the one thing my father had that he didn’t, my stepmother.”

  “So, Glen Welch killed your father so he could marry Josephine? You’re trying to tell me Glen hadn’t heard of divorce? He was a lawyer for Pete's sake.”

  “One of the men on the boat told me what really happened that night. He saw it with his own eyes and then had to pretend he was asleep. He was plagued with guilt for keeping quiet about it. He sought me out months ago to tell me. Absolve his conscience. It confirmed what I’d thought all along.”

  That added up with the boat story she’d read about from the files and from the news articles. “What have you done with the Welch jewels and my diamonds?”

  “Same old Gretel, only care about yourself. You couldn’t care less that my father was killed, could you?”

  “I didn’t know him. You and I are not friends. I don’t care about your life.”

  Anger hardened his chiseled features. “The diamonds are safe. Now you can tell me where to offload them.”

  “No. Figure it out for yourself. It’s really not that hard. Ask around.” He put the gun to her head and she closed her eyes tightly. She heard something click. Nothing. She was still alive. She quickly opened her eyes. “Jackson Forsitto,” rolled off her tongue.

  “Really?”

  “Yes.” She hated that she was so weak, but sh
e did want to stay alive.

  “Hardly seems he’d need the money.”

  “That’s his cover.”

  “I’ll be back and if I find out you're lying, I’m going to kill you.”

  “You’ll need to give him the password, though.”

  “What’s the password?”

  “Pink giraffes fly with umbrellas.”

  He repeated it and pulled out his phone and wrote it in his notes. Then he looked up at her and lowered his face until it was an inch away from hers. “I’m coming straight back.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. Obviously. Don’t forget my share.”

  “You won’t need it now that you’re working with the cops.”

  “FBI.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. Her life wasn’t supposed to turn out like this, wasn’t supposed to end like this. She knew she was going to die. Still strapped to the chair, he dragged her out of the garage and into the house, and then he smirked at her. “Don’t go anywhere.”

  He slammed the door closed behind him. A few seconds later, she heard the garage door go up and his car start.

  Her revenge had been giving him that ridiculous password. She couldn’t believe he swallowed it. Jackson would know something was amiss. Wriggling her legs about she knew she wasn’t going anywhere, but she could move the chair along the floor by shuffling her feet. That wasn’t going to help. Not with all the doors in the garage shut and her hands behind her back.

  It was a one-hour drive to where Jackson had his retail jewelry store, so that gave her two hours to get out of there. There was no way Jackson would deal with someone who hadn’t been given a recommendation.

  From within the garage, her cell phone rang. Her bag was in there but how was she going to get it?

  Just as she was thinking what to do, she heard a car.

  He was back.

  She froze in fear. He’d kill her for sure. He must’ve figured out that pink umbrella thing would’ve backfired for him. She couldn’t believe he didn’t question her about that. Maybe he was still suffering the after effects of the gunshot wound.