"You were supposed to be in Seattle!" Condor sputtered and leaned across the table. "Do you have a death wish or something?"
"Perhaps jail is looking like a better option," said Frank wryly.
"I'm here to get to the truth, and I'm not going to let you two idiots railroad an innocent person." He looked over at me.
"Yeah, right," snorted Condor. "You're here to protect your client and finish the job."
George's eyebrows lifted at the mention of Luke's client, and he threw me a look. I gave him a wink.
"So let's get back to our discussion," I said, standing up. My dress glittered and sparkled in the candlelight. I felt myself falling effortlessly into my role. Gone was Alex the Contractor. In her place was Nora Charles, amateur sleuth and woman of adventure. "Turns out, Luke is a private investigator. His client sent him to Danger Cove to keep an eye on someone." I turned to Condor. "Your mutual client. Which is why you gave him a place to stay and brought him up to speed on what was going on in town. My theory is that when the murder happened, your client called in a panic, and you hurried on down to try to buy Marlton House out from under me so a clean-up crew could be brought in to dispose of the body and any evidence. And then, of course, there were the diamonds. Your client was interested in recovering them as well as covering up the murder, but they were gone, and Reggie wasn't talking."
"Prove it," Condor shot back.
George whistled. "That must be one really good client for the both of you to risk so much."
"Diamonds are so pretty," Alice said drunkenly.
"Pretty bird," Smitty called.
"So let's hear your side of this, Luke. How about you start with your name," George challenged.
Luke sighed. "As Alex said, I'm a private investigator from Seattle. My name is Luke Carson, and my client hired me to keep tabs on a family member. I was referred to Mr. Condor as my local contact. As I understand, my client and Mr. Condor had done some real estate transactions, and Mr. Condor had assisted my client with keeping an eye on the family member for several years. What started as a simple assignment became complicated by the murder. You see, the diamonds, last in Reggie's possession and presumably taken from Marlton House, are the property of my client's relative. The family was not happy about them being up for sale in the first place, which is why I was hired. Then the murder occurred, and before I could start my investigation into that, I was attacked and left for dead on the rocks in the cove." I gasped. I looked up at George. He was staring hard at Luke. What if Luke was telling the truth and the diamonds weren't George's? Could George have attacked Luke?
Doubts swirled in my mind. I was the only one, other than Mr. VanSant, who knew about George's diamonds. What if they weren't his? What if he was the thief?
Luke turned to me and smiled. "Thankfully, Alex found me, but I had amnesia. I just recently recovered most of my memory."
I nodded and stared down at my plate. I glanced over at Condor. I could tell he was seething, but he didn't open his mouth. I couldn't meet George's look.
"Do you know who attacked you?" Frank asked.
Luke shook his head. "I still haven't recovered my memory from the morning of the attack. But I'm thinking it's the same person who murdered Reggie."
My mind was whirling, trying to process all the new information.
Smitty screamed, "Bad boy! Bad boy!"
"Why does that crazy bird hate you so much, Carson?" Condor asked, holding his ears to drown out the noise.
"I think I can answer that," George said casually. All eyes turned to him. "Someone retrieved the diamonds from their hiding place in Marlton House, and Luke, before his bout with amnesia, hid them in Smitty's cage."
"But why?" I cried, glancing at Luke, who was staring angrily at George.
George shrugged. "I would assume it was because he thought he'd have easy access to them once he faked his injury and ingratiated himself into your household."
"So the amnesia really was just an act." I turned on Luke. He poured himself a healthy glass of wine but said nothing. "But the doctors said—"
Frank interjected, "I've talked to the doctors, and what they said was that he appeared to have a brain injury. However, they couldn't confirm it was recent. Given the circumstances, amnesia was the most likely explanation."
Condor lifted his wineglass at me. "Don't feel bad—he fooled me too. I really thought the SOB had amnesia." Condor laughed. "He's a good PI, but he could've made it big in Hollywood."
"Well, if he lied about that, then he's lying about everything else," I said angrily. How could I have let myself doubt George? Even for a moment?
"How so, Ms. Jordan?" asked Mr. VanSant, who had been watching the proceedings without comment.
"Those diamonds weren't stolen from Luke's client who was trying to sell them. They were stolen from George. The diamonds are his."
All eyes turned to George. He shrugged elegantly and said, "I would've liked to keep our little mystery going a few minutes longer, but Alexandra is right. Those diamonds were stolen from my shop a week before the murder."
"What's a florist doing with a million bucks in uncut diamonds?" Frank asked suspiciously.
"I don't like banks," George said.
Frank locked eyes with George for a few seconds and then turned to Luke. "So who's this relative you've been keeping an eye on?"
Luke looked up and said, "I'm not at liberty to say." His tone implied he was just doing his job and protecting his client, but I saw a gleam in his eye.
Thunder cracked, and lightning flashed. Condor laid a restraining hand on Frank's arm. "Frank, let's save this for later. Wouldn't want to be airing the family laundry in public."
Frank shook off Condor's hand. "No," he said with the first ounce of professionalism I'd seen since running into him. "I don't have a problem helping out where I can, but I've got a murder to solve. I need an answer, Carson, or I'll have to reexamine your alibi."
Luke sighed, glanced at me, and said, "I was sent to keep an eye on Mr. Fontaine."
CHAPTER THIRTY
"That's a lie!" I yelled at Luke.
Luke shrugged and met George's stare. George smiled a slow catlike grin and raised his wineglass in salute.
"I know the truth when I hear it," blustered Condor, seeing a chance to save his own hide and playing along. "Fontaine showed up a year ago with no story. If the man's a florist, then I'm a monkey's uncle. His girlfriend's already said he has the diamonds. What more proof do you need? He's got the diamonds, and that makes him the murderer."
"I'm not his girlfriend," I ground out. "And he didn't murder anyone. The diamonds were stolen from his store, and whoever Luke is really watching was the thief. Obviously this same person brought in Reggie to sell them, and then something went wrong with the deal. Luke is just trying to cover up for his client, and so are you." I gave him a dirty look, which I knew wasn't as impressive in my girlie digs. "He's the one who found the diamonds and hid them in Smitty's cage while he was faking amnesia and taking advantage of our hospitality."
Luke looked at me with puppy-dog eyes. "You wound me, Alex." Again I itched to slap his face, but I was too far away. Instead, I lobbed a pear from the fancy fruit centerpiece in the middle of the table at his head.
It cracked him square in the forehead, and he gave a yelp of pain. Score! Ten years playing girls' softball finally paid off.
Alice cackled uproariously, her wig tilting even farther to one side.
"Be careful, Alex," George called from the head of the table. "You'll give him amnesia for real this time."
I giggled despite the seriousness of the situation. Even Mr. VanSant stifled a smile with his napkin.
"Enough!" Frank said in his best prosecutor voice. "If I don't get some answers and fast, we're all going back to the station." He turned to George. "Where are the diamonds, Mr. Fontaine?"
"Mr. Fontaine does not have to answer that question. Unless, of course, you're charging him with a crime?" Mr. VanSant interjected.
>
George raised his hand. "It's not a problem. They're right where Luke put them." George stood up and walked over to Smitty's cage. Smitty cooed appreciatively at him and stepped eagerly onto George's outstretched hand. Smitty pecked at George's sleeve and then waddled up to his shoulder. George reached into the bottom of Smitty's cage and lifted the grate. Underneath was a flattened Ziploc bag containing what looked like a couple dozen small rocks.
George opened the bag and shook out the contents onto the table in front of him. Everyone leaned over to get a better look.
Alice gasped, saying, "So pretty!" her words slow and slurred. Her hand reached across the table, and Smitty let out an earsplitting shriek.
"Shut that damn bird up, Fontaine," Condor yelled.
"Do you have anything that proves those are your diamonds?" Frank asked.
Mr. VanSant spoke up. "I did some consulting for Mr. Fontaine not so long ago, and I provided him a contact to assist him with converting his assets into the diamonds. I'm sure I can find some documentation to support my statement if Mr. Fontaine has lost the original paperwork."
Frank held up a hand. "I trust you, Mr. VanSant. Make sure I get a copy of that paperwork, Fontaine." He turned to Luke. "Well, it looks like it's time for you to come clean about your client. Unless, of course, you'd like to confess to the murder of Reginald Giordano."
Condor sighed heavily and shook his head. "Maybe you'd better get a lawyer, Carson."
Luke glared at him. "I've got nothing to hide, Jack. I was just doing my job. I'm not going to jail for a client, no matter how well they're connected. And those diamonds were not in the cage where I left them," Luke added with a glare at George. "I've got the scars to prove it from that stupid bird."
"He's right," George said. "I couldn't figure that out either until I happened to run into Dolly cleaning the cage today. She said she cleans it once a week. So I asked her if she'd found anything out of the ordinary the last time she'd cleaned. She went to the hall closet and handed me the bag. She said she'd thought it was some kind of new toy from Gram, but since it was in the bottom of the cage and Smitty didn't seem interested in it, she put it in the closet with his other discarded toys."
"Well, it looks like this party is coming to an end," said Alice in a surprisingly clear voice. "Always leave them wanting more, I say." She cackled and leaned over the table with a bony hand and scooped up a handful of diamonds.
We all stared in stunned silence as she raised a snub-nosed gun from under the table and slowly scanned the room with it. "No one looking to be a hero? Wouldn't want you to end up like that idiot Reggie the Fence. Back in my day, you could count on a fence to do his job and keep his mouth shut. But today"—she waved the gun and rolled her eyes—"you can't count on anything. Instead of just coming here and fencing the diamonds, he decides to let my thug brother-in-law know about my haul. That's were Mr. Amnesia came in." She nodded her head in Luke's direction. "Showed up to keep an eye on me like I'm some kind of feeble-brained old woman."
"He was concerned about your welfare," Luke said smoothly. "Your actions have been a bit irrational lately."
"How 'bout you shut your mouth before I blow a hole in it? My brother-in-law doesn't give a rat's ass about me. He just wanted to get his hands on the diamonds. They were my find—my score!" she shouted. "When I recognized those pretty little rocks just lying on the bottom of that display case, I thought Lady Luck had finally found me again. I used to take jewels right off the necks of the snotty society bitches. They never saw me coming. I'd kept myself amused lifting an item or two around town, but scoring uncut diamonds was a dream come true. I was back in the game like the old days, angling around cameras, creating distractions. It was like taking candy from a baby," she said with a glance at George, adding, "Your camera system is completely worthless, by the way."
We all turned to look at him. Keeping real diamonds in the display case was a stupid idea even if they did look like rocks.
George made a face. "Hey, I wasn't expecting a retired jewel thief to wander into my shop. Keeping the diamonds in plain sight seemed like a good idea at the time."
"He's right, you know," Alice said conversationally. "Plain sight is the best hiding place. But I spotted those beauties the first time I was in the store. I spent months planning every move. With those stones, I could've staked a claim back in Jersey. Taken up my place of honor in the family."
I could see tears pricking her eyes and felt a moment of sorrow for her lost life. No one wanted to be put out to pasture three thousand miles away from family, but stealing diamonds and murdering people was over the top.
I heard sirens piercing through the howling wind. "Who called the coppers?" she shrieked, waving the gun at us. "I've got enough bullets for each of you bastards."
Smitty shrieked and flapped his wings at her.
"I'm going to start with that stupid bird first," she said.
Smitty squawked and dove at her head. The gun fired. The slug thudded into the mantel above George's head. Smitty screamed "stupid wench!" over and over as he scratched at her wig and clawed her face. Luke leaned over and grabbed the gun from her hand.
I started to jump at him, but he laid it in the middle of the table and raised his hands. "Not a hero. Just a PI, remember?" he said.
The door burst open, and Detective Ohlsen was followed by four other police officers, Gram, Big Ron, and Tucker. "Everyone stop. Get that bird under control!"
George grabbed at Smitty, who had Alice huddled on the floor. He wrestled Smitty to his cage and shut the door.
"Alice Sweeney, I have a warrant for your arrest," said Detective Ohlsen.
"How did you get here so fast?" I asked.
"Yeah, Ohlsen. We only just found out she was the murderer," Frank said. Detective Ohlsen looked confused. "I'm here to arrest her for attempted murder. Larry Tuttle woke up this evening and said Alice pushed him down her staircase."
I looked over at the disheveled woman in the corner. She rose unsteadily to her feet, but her angry face was still in place. "He never understood me. He heard me talking in my sleep about that idiot Reggie and was going to turn me in like the stool pigeon he was. Never let a man spend the night, I always say," she cackled.
"Oh, Alice, how could you?" Gram cried. "Larry was your friend. He worshiped you. I just don't understand." I put my arm around Gram, and she cried softly into my shoulder.
"Well, I certainly couldn't have him blabbing my story, could I?" she asked. "Besides, he wasn't much fun. Not that I could have much fun in this town. It wasn't enough that I had Condor keeping tabs on me and reporting back to my brother-in-law. No, he had to send Mr. PI too," she cried in exasperation. "All they had to do was just stay out of my way. The police never would've connected me to Reggie's murder."
As the police led Alice out, she continued to yell about making one more score to get back in the game.
Another officer took pictures and collected the gun from the table, which I now strongly suspected was the murder weapon.
"I'll still need to speak to you all. Especially you, Carson," Frank said as he left with the police.
"Well, I gotta admit," Condor said, standing and stretching. "You folks sure know how to throw an interesting party. Good food and not a dull moment to boot." He grinned at Gram. She glared back.
"Guess you wouldn't still be wanting to talk about selling Rockgrove, Mrs. Jordan."
"Not a chance," I growled.
Gram pursed her lips and shook her head.
"Guess that was all part of this little performance," Condor said, waving a hand around the room.
"You got it," Gram said icily. "As if I'd ever sell Rockgrove to the likes of you, Jack Condor. And don't think for a minute that I'll forget your antics in this case got Alexandra arrested." Gram drew herself up, saying, "Now get out of my house and take your partner with you, you old rooster!"
"Bad boy!" Smitty screeched.
Condor put on his hat and nodded to Luke. Luke shrugged.
He turned to me as he was leaving. "For what it's worth, Alex. I really do like you. And I'm sorry for involving you and your family in all of this. It was just part of the job."
"Maybe you need to look into a new line of work," I snapped.
"Maybe so," he said with a sad smile. "But it's what I'm good at."
I couldn't argue with that. He'd certainly fooled me. "So how'd you know where Reggie hid the diamonds? And why hide them in Smitty's cage, of all places?"
Luke smiled. "Still on the case?"
I shrugged. "I'd just like to know what really happened."
"I was tracking Reggie's every move. He was the reason I was in town. Once he'd contacted Alice's brother-in-law and told him what she was up to, he'd decided the diamonds were fair game."
"He was going to keep them for himself?" I asked.
"That's what Alice's brother-in-law thought. So my job was to tail him, keep an eye on Alice, and get the diamonds."
"Giving them back to George wasn't an option?"
"I didn't know they were his until tonight. Alice wouldn't say where she got them from, and no one had come forward looking for them. As far as putting the diamonds in the bird cage, I admit that was a stupid move. After Reggie's murder I had to find a way to work the case without ending up a suspect. I couldn't just walk around town asking questions about the dead guy, so I hatched the amnesia plan. I thought targeting you would give me an in into what was going on with the investigation since you were the new owner of Marlton House, and since your grandmother was Alice's best friend, I could keep an eye on her as well. So I staked out the house, listened in on some conversations, and waited for my opportunity to be found on the rocks. Can't believe that worked as well as it did," he said almost to himself. "But putting the diamonds in the bird cage was a bonehead move. I could've stashed them anywhere. Imagine my surprise when they disappeared from the bottom of the cage." He shook his head ruefully. "Now I have a question for you. Why didn't you tell me the diamonds were Fontaine's when we were upstairs?"
Secret of the Painted Lady Page 21
