by Olivia West
“Maybe didn’t find a buyer yet. Perhaps waiting to make sure no one missed them. No idea,” he replied.
“My lawyer says they are inadmissible as evidence because they were never reported stolen and no one can confirm that they were at this point. The only way to tie them to digs that either you or I were on is to have them authenticated and that will take time. My lawyer says he will have it tossed as illegal before then,” she said.
“Mine says pretty much the same thing. I feel pretty good about our chances of staying out of jail. I don’t feel as good about the odds of us remaining gainfully employed in our current fields,” he said.
“Same here. Okay, so Old Dan set this up. He got fired and decided he was due one of the statues as compensation, but why set us up?” she asked.
“Perhaps he didn’t. He doesn’t know me and unless you haven’t told me something, he has no grievance with you. Maybe we were just collateral damage that he couldn’t help,” he said.
“Could be. The big question is where is he and does he still have the statue?” she asked.
“That is the big question. With our arrests, I would think he feels pretty secure in getting away with it all. So, no reason to run and bring suspicion upon himself somehow. Then again, I can’t imagine that he just has a multimillion-dollar statue hanging around the house either,” he told her.
“That’s something else I don’t get, Pete. It wasn’t a multimillion-dollar statue like you say. Why all this trouble and risk just to steal something worth a half million dollars? That really isn’t that much money,” she said.
“There is something we don’t know about that statue, Jana. I don’t know what it is, but Joe alluded to it in my initial conversation with him. It is a lot more valuable than we realize,” he said.
“I don’t know how. It’s just gold and alloy,” she replied.
“Are you sure about that?” he asked.
“Well, without testing, no. I just know what Hank told me,” she replied.
“There is something we aren’t getting here. I know that,” Pete said
“Well, we need to figure it out fast. What do we do to start with?” she asked.
“Let’s pay Old Dan a visit,” he replied.
“Just go knock on his door?” she said.
“Sure. Why not? He knows you. I’m just a friend that stopped by to visit. Does he live in this area too?” he asked.
“Yes. He moved here not long after we started working together. It’s a good central location for flying out to digs. I recommended it to him and he bought a house up in the hills,” she said.
“Expensive area to live in,” Pete observed.
“I suppose so. The kind of place a man would need a little extra money to hang on to if he were unemployed,” she replied.
“Precisely,” he agreed. “Let’s get out of here.”
Pete paid the check for the drinks they had been nursing and still hadn’t finished and then they left, taking her car up to the hills to see what they might learn from their visit. Pulling up to Dan’s house was an eye-opener in itself. There was no way he could pull down the capital to own a place like this doing the type of work he and Pete performed. It was good pay for a modest lifestyle, but his place looked like something from MTV’s Cribs.
“Did no one ever question how he could afford such a house?” Pete asked as they parked out front.
“Yes, I did once. He said he had invested in some stock way back in his twenties and it had been very good to him in later years,” she said.
“Stock in stolen artifacts, I’m guessing,” Pete replied.
“Sure seems like it,” she replied.
“Okay, well let’s do this,” he replied.
Chapter 14
Jana took a deep breath and rang the bell. No one answered. Ringing it again, she still got no response. She looked at Pete, who nodded toward the side of the house. They began walking around the edge and found an open gate that led into the backyard. As they approached the back patio, Pete saw something out of the corner of his eye. He motioned for her to hold up and took off toward it, winding his way through the garden behind the house. Jana watched for a moment and then turned her attention back toward the house. The sliding glass door was partially opened. Looking back toward where Pete had gone, she didn’t see any sign of him. She decided to go in, instead.
“Hello, Dan? Are you home?” she called out, planning to just tell him she had been concerned and that was why she had entered the house. There was no response.
Making her way through the kitchen, she headed into the living room. It was a disaster, looking like it had been searched just like hers had been when the police had gone in. Had the police gotten wind of his involvement and come in? If so, she might be walking through an active crime scene. She felt a bit of panic set in at the thought that she might be getting herself into even more hot water. A noise from down the hall caught her attention and she headed in that direction, finding the basement door open.
“Dan, are you down there?” she called out, feeling like she definitely shouldn’t be here, but unable to stop herself from checking it out anyway. She began making her way down the dark steps, feeling for a light switch on the sides as she went. Finally finding one, she flicked on the lights and made her way the rest of the way down. To one side, she noted an open floor safe, apparently exposed when the freezer that had been atop it was slid out into the middle of the floor.
The door was open and she peered into it. Sitting in the very center was the missing statue. Had she interrupted him while he was trying to get it out? Rather than touching it, she turned to go find Pete, but for some reason, the freezer caught her eye. There were small drops of red down one side of it. Opening the top, she looked inside and then, she screamed. It was the last thing she remembered before a blinding pain and then only darkness.
Chapter 15
“Jana? Jana?” Pete said, splashing cold water on her face after dialing 911. Her head was bleeding, no doubt a result of being hit by the metal object he saw lying nearby. The freezer door was open and the frozen corpse of an older man he was assuming might be Dan Towse looked out at him. His phone wasn’t ringing on the other end. Looking at it, he saw that he wasn’t getting any signal to dial out down here. He didn’t want to leave Jana, but he couldn’t let her lie here and bleed. He started toward the stairs when he heard steps coming down them.
“Get her out of here,” Joe barked at him.
“What? She’s hurt!” Pete said.
Joe checked her over very quickly and then shook his head.
“It’s just a bump on the head and a laceration. She will be fine. Get her out of here now. Take her to your house and I’ll send someone to tend to her,” he said as the bulldog joined him in the cellar.
“But we found the statue and I’m guessing Dan Towse. We need to call the police and report this so they’ll clear our names,” Pete said.
“You watch too many of those television cop shows, my friend. You are the prime suspects in a theft and now you are trespassing in a dead man’s home with the real evidence. Get out of here and let me handle this,” Joe said.
Pete didn’t have to be told twice. He didn’t know what was going on, but he did what Joe told him. Hefting Jana up into his arms, he carried her up the steps and down the hallway to put her in her car. He felt incredibly nervous as he drove across town with her still unconscious in the passenger seat, blood now covering one side of her face. Thank God it was dark outside so that people couldn’t see her well through the window. The last thing they needed was to get pulled over.
Chapter 16
Jana blinked and looked around. She had no idea where she was. Her head was pounding as she struggled to remember what happened. She turned to see Pete sitting there, slumped in a chair asleep. Her attempt to get out of bed resulted in her knocking off a glass of water on the bedside table. Pete was immediately awake and on his feet.
“Jana, you’re awake. Thank goodness,”
he said.
“What happened?” she asked.
“You don’t remember?” he said.
“I remember seeing Dan in a freezer and then nothing,” she told him.
“Someone hit you from behind. Joe turned up right after that and told me to get you out of there. He sent some army medic over here to tend to your head and make sure you were okay,” he said.
“What do you know, he has a heart of some sort,” Jana said, trying to manage a laugh through her pain. “Where am I, anyway?”
“You are at my house. My bed,” he said.
“Not how I imagined being in your bed,” she said.
“So, you did imagine it then?” he asked.
“Maybe,” she said with a slow smile.
“I’ll take that, for now,” he replied.
“What happens now, with Dan?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Joe said he would take care of it,” Pete replied.
“You trust him?” Jana asked.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” he replied.
They waited for the next few days to hear from Joe, but never did. Pete found the card Joe had given him, but there was no answer at that number. Just as they were deciding that he had not held up his end of the bargain and were waiting for more bad news, Joe called.
“Turn on the evening news,” Joe told him. “You’ll like it.”
Pete turned on the television and called Jana over. They sat there watching it as the reporter told a very interesting tale.
“Today, we are getting reports of the arrest of Jonas Newell, a local jeweler, for the theft of a rare gold statue from a dig sponsored by Hank Daltry, a prominent collector. The statue was found in Mr. Newell’s home after an anonymous tip led police there. Previously, two contractors employed by Mr. Daltry had been accused of the theft, but we are told significant evidence in addition to the statue was found in Mr. Newell’s home,” the reporter was saying.
“What? Who is Jonas Newell? What does this mean?” she said.
“I don’t know who he is or even if he is guilty, but it means we are off the hook,” Pete said.
“It doesn’t make any sense. That statue was in Dan’s house and why would Joe do this with it rather than taking it to sell?” she asked.
“I don’t have any of the answers either. We might just have to write this off as something we aren’t meant to understand and know that it might be best that way,” he said.
“Perhaps so,” Jana told him.
Chapter 17
Several weeks later, Pete and Jana were finally able to put it all behind them. There were still no answers for what had happened, but at least they were in the clear and their customer base was unaffected now that it was well known they had been falsely accused and there was a real villain to be held up before the masses. Hank Daltry had apologized profusely, but both of them had declined his offer to take back over at his dig site.
“The statues, some of them have a surprise inside,” he had said happily.
“What do you mean?” Jana had asked, putting him on speaker so that Pete could listen
“There is a hole in the back, covered by the alloy. Some are empty and some are full of diamonds,” he replied. Pete and Jana looked at each other, but said nothing.
“So, they are slightly more valuable then?” she asked.
“Slightly? Try ten times more valuable. The ones that have diamonds are worth closer to six million each,” he said.
“Is there any way to tell which is which without opening them up?” she asked.
“Actually, there is. It wasn’t very noticeable until they were compared side by side, but the ones with diamonds inside have a slight bump just over where the hole is because there was a wooden stopper put in to keep the alloy from filling the hole and covering the jewels,” he said.
Pete smiled at Jana. Finally, they had an answer. It still didn’t explain where Newell fit in the puzzle, but it could be assumed that he was just the next man up the chain, the one that crossed Joe and now would be going to prison. At least he would stay alive, as long as he was not a threat to Joe.
“Two weeks until our next dig. What do you propose we do?” Pete asked Jana, pulling her close to him as they sat side by side on the bench overlooking the lake at the center of his local park.
“I think we should take a little vacation,” she replied.
“Where should we go?” he asked.
“Someplace tropical, maybe Fiji or Bali,” she replied.
“Ooooh, I could get used to watching you run around in a skimpy little bikini,” he replied.
“I imagine that would be quite the sight,” a voice said from behind them.
The both turned to find themselves looking at Joe, who smiled at them as his associate stood nearby looking just as large and menacing as ever.
“What are you doing here?” Pete asked.
“Is that any way to great such a good friend?” Joe asked.
“How are you doing, Joe?” Jana said with a big, fake smile.
“Not entirely convincing, but I will take it,” Joe laughed. “I stopped by to give the two of you a present.”
“What’s that?” Pete said, unsure about accepting a gift from a man like him, but wary of turning it down.
“A pass. Under normal circumstances, I’d say that you two know way too much to be walking around on the streets, but I like you for some odd reason. You’ve nothing to fear from me, or more precisely, Hefty over there. I’m just a big ole pussycat,” Joe smiled.
“Um, thanks, I think,” Pete said. Jana laughed a little nervously and smiled at him.
“You two have a good life. If you are going on vacation, I recommend Fiji. I have quite a few friends there. If you have any trouble or need anything, just tell them Joe said to take good care of you,” he said with a wink.
“We appreciate that, Joe,” Jana told him. Pete nodded his agreement as the two men walked away.
“So, where were we? Fiji or Bali?” Pete asked Jana.
“How about a nice trip to the rolling hills of Ireland instead?” Jana laughed.
“Good idea. Hopefully, Joe doesn’t have any helpful friends there,” he said, smiling.
“I’d say that a man with over five million dollars’ worth of diamonds probably makes quick friends wherever he goes,” Jana said.
“Yeah, I guess that explains the final piece of the puzzle. He didn’t mind giving up the statue because he had opened it up and taken out the diamonds before he planted it in Mr. Newell’s home,” Pete replied.
“I don’t know. It still doesn’t answer the question of whether Mr. Newell is guilty,” Jana said.
“It would be my bet that he is. If not of taking the statue, then of something else that he made the mistake of crossing Joe to do,” Pete replied.
“Well, whatever he may or may not be, we are going to have to admit that Joe is our hero,” Jana replied.
“Life truly is stranger than fiction,” Pete told her.
“No doubt about that,” Jana laughed.
“You know what else there is no doubt about?” he asked.
“What’s that?” she said, looking over at him.
“How much I love you,” he replied.
“I love you too, Pete,” she said, leaning into him as he kissed her softly on the lips.
“Let’s get home before Joe decides to come back and ruin our day,” Pete said.
“That sounds like a grand idea,” Jana replied.
They walked hand in hand back to his house, already undressing one another as they closed the front door. Pete took his time, kissing every inch of her heated skin. Their lovemaking was slow, deliberate, as they enjoyed just being together and at peace with their lives once again. This was the beginning of what they hoped would be a great life as they once again became one in mind, body and spirit, their bodies intertwined in that way that only a pair of finely tuned lovers ever come to know.
“I love the way you taste,” Pete breathe
d as he drank her in, exploring her with his tongue as she moaned beneath him.
“Don’t stop,” she breathed, panting beneath him, his head buried between her legs.
“I never will,” he breathed against her thigh, kissing it before moving back to tease her clit as she tangled her fingers in his hair, pulling him into her as her body responded to his, shattering into what felt like a million pieces as she came.
Pete kissed his way up her center, taking time to nibble at the hard pink buds of her breasts before slipping inside her, filling her with his hardness as she reached for him, caressing his face in her hands. Their bodies glided back and forth against one another as they locked eyes, gazing softly at one another as they enjoyed the way they made each other feel.
