BILLIONAIRE ANGEL (Point St. Claire, where true love finds a way)

by Robyn Grady

  “That girl thinks my wife’s ruby ring and her own are the same?”

  “She does.”

  Garfield’s next words were measured. “I remember the day my wife came home with that ring. Not ten years ago. Perhaps eight. She’d always liked hunting around the country for hidden treasures, so to speak. The gold is twenty-four carat and the stone is exquisite. She was thrilled to have negotiated a very good deal. No appraisal certificate attached, but, in this instance, she wasn’t concerned.”

  Jax was filing information away. Eight years, not ten. An expensive piece that was acquired for a bargain price.

  “You wouldn’t happen to remember the name of the establishment that sold your wife the ring.”

  “Wouldn’t recall if you spelled it out for me. Wasn’t something I needed to file away for future reference.”

  Jax’s stomach dropped. “I see.”

  “But my wife’s memory is a steel trap.” Garfield drew out his cell phone. “I’ll ask her now.”

  Chapter 12

  There’d been a break in the case. One that might answer all the questions she and Jax had been asking.

  When he’d phoned earlier, Jax had told Billy that she needed to wear something dark, including gloves. Now, pulling his vehicle away from her curb, Jax explained how he’d spoken with Garfield. That he had the name of the establishment that had sold on her ruby ring eight years ago.

  Two hours later, Jax pulled up in front of a decrepit shop in a town Billy had barely known about. In the hazy light, she couldn’t make out the signage. All was quiet other than a couple of college-age guys dressed in hoodies eyeballing the activity from down the street.

  Jax shifted the vehicle into drive and cruised past the shop. “That place has been empty for years.”

  Billy deflated. “Which means another dead end.”

  “Not necessarily. Not if we go inside.”

  Right. “By breaking in the front door?”

  “No. Breaking in the back door.”

  Billy pressed back in her seat. “That’s against the law.”

  Jax flashed over a determined grin. “Only if we get caught.”

  A few moments later, they were parked in a back lot and exiting the car. A lonely streetlight smeared a hazy glow over the area. Edging forward, Jax surveyed the space, particularly the building’s eaves, Billy guessed for security cameras or alarms.

  The rear entrance was housed within an alcove and cloaked in darkness. Inching forward, Billy felt something sticky and light crackle over her face. Yelping, she jumped a mile into the air. Jax gripped her arm.

  “What are you doing?” he whispered. “We need to be quiet.”

  A violent shudder tore through her as she hissed through clenched teeth, “Spider web.”

  He crouched down to inspect the locks and then opened the bag he’d brought along. She heard a click and then a circle of light appeared on the door.

  He handed the flashlight over. “Keep the light on that spot.”

  A few minutes later, he’d cracked both locks. She darted a look around the darkened lot as he turned the tarnished knob and pushed the door open. Taking the flashlight, Jax entered first. Billy tiptoed in, close behind.

  The flashlight’s beam arced left, right, and then up and down the narrow, low-ceilinged corridor. She winced at the smell as stale air stuck in her throat.

  They walked past a couple of empty rooms. No furniture or shelves. Then the corridor seemed to narrow; probably imagination but this place made Billy’s skin crawl. She was about to tug the back of Jax’s shirt–tell him that she wanted to leave–when he turned right into a room and the light disappeared.

  She bolted in after him.

  There was a desk, a filing cabinet and packed boxes set into piles. Jax fished out and handed over a second flashlight before opening the cabinet’s squeaky top drawer. Billy moved to the desk, which was bare other than a layer of grime. She opened each desk drawer: an empty stationery tray, a blank notebook, more dust.

  Jax wasn’t having any more luck. As he swiped a palm beneath the files of the second cabinet drawer, Billy crouched down to pry open a mouldy cardboard box.

  “What precisely are you hoping to find?” Billy prayed there weren’t any creepy crawlies as her fingers dipped inside.

  “Any intel relating to the owners, suppliers, stock.”

  “Couldn’t we have done that without committing a crime?”

  “I could’ve made phone calls, asked around town, but I didn’t want to throw up any red flags and give whoever enough time to clean up the place.”

  She held up her first find. “I guess old books are no good?”

  Its cover was a worn green-grey featuring a rudimentary gold-embossed sketch. Jax crossed over. As he knelt down, Billy carefully opened it. The smell of mildew wafted up.

  Shining her light on the page, Billy skimmed words in her head. It was a story about a rich man and his mistress. The accompanying black and white drawings were explicit.

  Edging closer, Jax flipped a couple of yellowed pages. “She was accommodating of her master in every sense. She relished the hours spent at the foot of his bed...” He grunted. “Sadomasochism is so retro.” He pulled a pair of cufflinks out of the box and rattled them. “Used for play, I assume.”

  Billy looked around the dingy room. “So this used to be an adult shop. How does my ruby ring fit in here?”

  She moved to a different box. More books. Some old comics. A few early ‘last century’ photos. And…

  She pulled out a long string of pearls. “You think these are real?”

  “Can’t say. Also can’t say where they’ve been.”

  Billy dropped them back into the box where they settled with an exotic rattle.

  Billy was going through a book shelf when Jax made an encouraging sound. Slapping the grit from her gloved hands, she joined him. He was pushing to his feet after retrieving papers from the bottom filing cabinet drawer.

  “A personal note,” he said, angling the torchlight closer to the paper. “I’m finished. Dump the rest. See you tonight.”

  Billy grabbed the note and her heartbeat began to thump. She wanted to laugh out loud, this was so ridiculous.

  So absolutely wrong.

  “This can’t be a coincidence,” she murmured, staring at the note. “I know this handwriting.” Feeling numb, she looked Jax in the eye. “And I know who took the ring.”

  Chapter 13

  When Billy buried her face in her hands, Jax brought her close.

  “Who, Billy? Who took the ring?”

  “My sister. Ann took it. She claimed the insurance money and, two years later, sold it on.” A dry breath hitched in her throat before her chest gave a sound that reminded Jax of an injured animal. “All those years she lied to me. She wanted me to drop it all now because she didn’t want to be caught.”

  She broke away. Her eyes were wide, filled with ghosts. Billy had chased an answer for a decade.

  She would’ve been better off never knowing.

  “This is fraud,” she told him as if he didn’t already know. “And they operated this shop together, didn’t they. I had no idea. None. As far as I ever knew, eight years ago Ann ran a cafe that sold low-fat pastries. What a con.” She shut her eyes and groaned. “What would Mom say?”

  “I’ll come when you speak to her.”

  “I don’t need you to do that,” she ground out.

  But he insisted. He knew firsthand.

  Criminals could be unpredictable when cornered.

  *

  Later, at his place, Jax poured them both a stiff drink. When he turned around, Billy had disappeared. But she’d only crossed over to that work table to study his stained glass piece.

  A nearby lamp recreated her as a misty silhouette. “You’re almost finished,” she said.

  He joined her then ran a fingertip over the two pieces he was yet to fit in. One said Jax’s, the other said Place.

  “You did a good job,” she
said. “You really did.”

  Was she talking about the glass or discovering the truth about her ring?

  “I did my best,” he said.

  She glanced around the naked beams and hanging electrical wiring. “When do you think you’ll be finished?”

  “I’m not in any hurry.”

  She pinned him with a look. “Why did you give up on that part of your life? What are you running from? Why were you so interested in David Green?”

  He saw it in her eyes.

  Why did you break down in that field?

  He took a mouthful of scotch and savoured the burn going down.

  “I knew a Hurly Green. No relation to David as it turns out.” When Jax had decided to dig deeper into that, it had taken no time to verify. “Hurly was in trouble his whole life. By the time he was eighteen, he’d progressed from using to cooking. To pushing and ruining lives. A boy overdosed on a batch of Hurly’s meth. Fourteen years old. A good kid who’d been destined for a good life. The boy’s father came to me. Hurly had slipped through the authorities’ radar a few times already. They couldn’t establish a direct link between the dealer and the death. The father wanted me to find evidence to help put that creep away.

  “In that line of business,” he went on, “whether you’re trying to locate a missing dog or this kind of sick shit, you always need to be careful. Be ready. One night I let my guard down. Someone close to me paid with her life. ”

  “Her life.”

  “Elise hated my job. She was worried that one day I wouldn’t come home. I told her that I’d quit. That I was looking for something else. And I was. But somehow I always got dragged back in. Like the Green case.”

  Billy eyes were filled with understanding. “You loved her.”

  Jax’s chest squeezed. “I loved the baby we were having together. I’d just found out that Elise was three months pregnant.”

  Billy withered in to a nearby chair. “Oh, Jax...”

  “That night, Elise wanted ice cream. Salted caramel. She said the baby had a sweet tooth.” His small smile faded as his heart squeezed more. “I purposely drove that way...past Hurly’s address. I had a lead I just had to chase. As we passed, I saw Hurly scurry inside. I wanted to nail that son-of-a-bitch so bad. So I parked over a block away, told Elise to stay put. That I’d only be a minute. Then I jogged up to Hurly’s place, crept around back. Something, I don’t know what, went down inside. Two guys, including Hurly, ran out. Shots were fired.”

  Jax’s throat convulsed.

  That decision, that one stupid choice...

  “Elise had followed me, wanting to catch me in the act, I suppose. In a lie. She would’ve told me again how dangerous that life was.”

  Jax wiped the damp from his brow.

  “They couldn’t link the bullet to a gun,” he said. “Hurly got away with it. Again.”

  Billy eased out that pent up breath. Now the way Jax had behaved in that field the other day―reacting to the sound of a backfiring car, pulling her down... It all made sense. He was haunted by a decision he’d made in the past. Billy identified with that a million times over.

  No words could describe how she felt about losing her mom. She’d been haunted, too, over losing that ring. All this time she just had to push ahead with finding the answers. And now, tomorrow, she would lose her sister, too.

  Chapter 14

  Around noon the following day, Jax pulled his vehicle into Ann and Rick’s driveway. When they found the door wide open, but no one around, a chill sped through Billy’s blood. Jax herded her behind him before he entered the foyer and scanned the scene.

  He called out, “Anyone home? Mrs. Hallows? I’m here with your sister, Belinda.”

  Billy stayed close. Was it possible that a gun was peeping around a corner? She knew that, under his jacket, Jax was packing.

  Billy wasn’t certain if Ann was aware that something was up. Whether somehow her sister had been forewarned. When she’d phoned to tell Ann to expect visitors, there was a different tone in her sister’s voice and no invitation for lunch.

  Billy touched Jax’s arm. “I know where she might be.”

  Taking his hand, she led him through the showcase house and out onto the back veranda. Sure enough, with a relaxed air, Ann was pruning her geraniums. When she turned to face her visitors, Billy saw the dull resignation in Ann eyes.

  “You’ve brought a guest.”

  “This is Jax Angel,” Billy said.

  “The private investigator helping you with the disappearance of your ruby ring.” Ann offered a thin smile and her hand. “Billy says you’re good at what you do.”

  “We seem to have got to the heart of it,” he replied.

  When he withdrew his hand, Ann’s fingers hovered mid-air before her smile tacked back up and she brushed a kiss on Billy’s cheek. “Anyone care for something to drink? Water? Freshly squeezed juice?”

  Billy exhaled. She’d been so angry. Now she just wanted to know.

  “Why did you do it, Ann? How could you lie to me all these years?”

  Ann’s head went back before a perfectly manicured eyebrow lifted and that thin smile returned. She looked Jax up and down. “You are good.”

  “You stole the ring,” Billy went on, struggling to keep her voice steady. “You stole it from me. And then you took the insurance money. That’s fraud, Ann.” She felt sick. “I looked up to you.”

  While Ann’s face was tight, a pulse popped madly at the side of her neck. Billy saw her sister’s throat convulse twice before she managed a reply.

  “I didn’t mean for it to turn out that way.”

  When Jax turned around, Billy realized that someone had joined them.

  Rick was edging out onto the veranda, his expression guarded, thinning hair lifting on a valley breeze. His eyes shifted between the three. “Everyone looks so serious.”

  Ann stepped forward. “She knows.”

  Rick’s complexion paled. He pulled out a chair and plonked down.

  “We tracked down your shop,” Jax said to Ann. “The drawers weren’t cleaned out properly.”

  “It was a legitimate business,” Rick said.

  “Which you used to palm off Billy’s ruby ring,” Jax added.

  “I hadn’t planned it that way,” Ann said.

  “You said that already,” Billy ground out. “How exactly did you plan it?”

  Her sister withered into a chair, too. “After Mom died, I got behind on the mortgage. I borrowed to pay the funeral expenses. You were so distant and angry. I was worried you might drop out of school.”

  “So, you set up the fraud,” Jax supplied.

  “I started packing,” Ann said. “I had to cut expenses.”

  “I told Ann,” Rick cut in, “that she could move in with me. Billy, too, of course. It wasn’t a palace but I couldn’t see another way.”

  Billy snapped. “Crap you couldn’t see another way.”

  Ann’s arm shot out, trying to calm her. “This isn’t Rick’s fault,” she said. “At the beginning, it wasn’t anybody’s fault.”

  “Stop lying,” Billy groaned. “It’s too late for that.”

  “I packed up my stuff,” Ann went on. “I was trying to find a way to tell you that we needed to move. I knew you didn’t like Rick.” Ann’s eyes glistened. “I just wanted Mom back. I was only twenty-one. It was hard. So very hard for me to know what to do.”

  “Well, it was hard on me, too.” When Billy’s voice cracked, she swallowed and toned it down. Losing it wouldn’t do any good. “Mom would never have wanted us to break the law.”

  “Billy, I lost the ring. When I was packing, I thought I’d put it in a safe place, hidden among some books. I was worried about Aunt Cathy dropping in and flat out taking it. But when I took those boxes to Rick’s, I couldn’t find it. I searched and searched. I couldn’t believe it.”

  Rick was still looking white. “We searched together. Everywhere. At my place and yours.”

  “I went to the aut
horities,” Ann said. “I told them it must have been stolen. I told them everything. I honestly believed it was taken. Obviously the insurance company believed that, too. They paid out.”

  Billy wanted to shake her. “But it wasn’t stolen. You sold it two years later.”

  Ann nodded. “I found it a week later. It just appeared again in a nook in my bedroom. I remember thinking that Mom had brought it back. That she might have taken it in the first place to help us out...”

  As Ann shrugged weakly, Billy glanced at Jax; he didn’t look convinced.

  “It just showed up?” he drawled.

  “I know how it sounds,” Ann said. “But hasn’t it happened to you? You can’t find something. You search every conceivable place ten times over. Then, out of the blue, it magically appears.”

  Billy wondered. Yes, that had happened to her, and more than once. But this all sounded too convenient.

  “By then,” Ann went on, “the wheels were turning. The police were investigating. Papers were with the insurance company. I made a decision. I kept quiet. Rick thought I was making a mistake.”

  “I told her we should come clean and go back to plan A,” Rick said. “Both of you moving in with me. We had a big argument about it.”

  Ann explained, “I was filled with guilt. Later, I was sure someone would turn us in.”

  “Not us, Ann,” Billy pointed out. “Turn you in.”

  But now...she was certain Ann was telling the truth. That didn’t excuse the fact that she had made that huge decision without her. She would have fought her on it, like Rick...who Billy suddenly had more respect for.

  “The insurance money went through,” Ann went on. “We paid out the mortgage. You had money for college. I started up a business.”

  “The cafe?” Billy asked. “Or the sex shop?”

  “You know I love health and cooking. From day one, I adored my cafe, but it was slow to kick off. After some research, I found out what others have known for centuries. What our courtesan ancestor must have known. Sex sells.” Ann’s expression changed. “You almost came across the ring one day,” she said. “You were looking through my jewelry box and I came in. The blood froze in my veins.”