NINE
“This has been one mother of a week,” I complained, as I followed Jillian into one of our favorite restaurants in PV. Casa de Joe’s may not sound like a very authentic Mexican restaurant, but they had, hands down, the best carne asada burritos in town. And, as long as we’re at it, I should expand that to include Medford and Grants Pass, too. “I kid you not, it feels like last Monday happened several weeks ago.”
Jillian shrugged. “I didn’t think it was that bad. Aside from the difficulty of buying groceries, it hasn’t been too inconvenient.”
“That’s what I’m talking about,” I clarified. “After having experienced what an actual panic-buying session is all about, I can thank my lucky stars that I have never purchased an item just because someone else has. I mean, think about it. What if the people all decided that toilet paper would shortly be in demand? And what happens next? People start buying toilet paper, even if they didn’t need it. No, it’s not worth it.”
“Good for you, Zachary,” Jillian told me, as she navigated her way through the heavenly smells emanating from the kitchen. “Look. Harry and Julie are already here.”
“Hey, bro!” Harry exclaimed, as he stood up. He held out a clenched fist and waited for me to give it a bump. “How’s it goin’ with your case? Figured out who stole all the cranberries from Gary’s Grocery yet? Once you do, pop him a good one for me, will you? If I can’t get my spiked cranberry cider this year, then heads are gonna roll.”
“You’re not getting it this year,” Julie confirmed, as she gave me a smile. She looked back at her husband and shook her head. “If you’d like straight cranberry juice, then I can get on board. Otherwise, there’ll be no more booze for you.”
Harry sighed. “Yes, dear.”
“How’s the weight-loss going?” I asked, as Jillian and I took seats across from our friends at our table.
“Slow,” Harry glumly answered.
“And whose fault is that?” Julie asked. “Who keeps drinking a beer or two behind the house?”
“You know ’bout that?” Harry asked, amazed.
Julie nodded. “I do.”
“Uh, dare I ask how?”
Julie shook her head and laughed. “Because I can count, Harrison. I know when a beer goes missing. And if you try to blame this on Hardy again, then so help me, you’ll be the star of a video which will make Vance’s tap-dancing Peter Pan video look tame in comparison.”
“They were light beers!” Harry protested. “And I would never pin the blame on our son.”
“You already have,” Julie countered, as she took a sip of water and sat back in her chair. “You said Hardy must have found your stash and helped himself to a few.”
“Like father, like son,” I softly quipped.
Overhearing me, Julie nodded. “Sad, but true. I’d like to nip that in the bud as quickly as possible.”
“Don’t drag him into this,” Harry complained. “He’s just a kid.”
“A kid who has no business drinking,” Julie corrected. “But, you’re right. This is something we’ll talk about once we get home.”
Harry groaned softly and returned his attention to his beer. Just then, we heard a loud commotion. Looking up, we saw Vance, Tori, and their two daughters headed our way.
“Hi, girls!” Jillian said. “Are you two hungry?”
“Muy,” Victoria observed. She was wearing a thick, maroon sweatshirt, blue jeans with rips at the knees, and sparkling, and I do mean sparkling ruby red sneakers. Maybe she was going through a Judy Garland phase? “Yo tengo hambre.”
“What’d she say?” Harry asked, as he turned to me.
“She’s hungry,” Jillian translated, after I held my hands up in a helpless manner. “¿Que quieres comer anoche?”
The brunette teenager blinked a few times as she gaped at my fiancée. “Huh?”
Jillian giggled. “I asked what you want to eat tonight.”
The young teen was taken aback. “Oh. Umm …” Victoria looked at her father. “Did you know what she said?”
Vance nodded. “While not the first phrase I learned, it had to be in the top five. The girls are learning Spanish, in case you didn’t know.”
“We pieced it together,” I said, causing Harry to snort with laughter.
“What was the first phrase you learned?” Jillian curiously asked.
“¿Donde esta el baño?” Vance chuckled.
Tiffany, a young, blonde version of her mother, turned to her older sister. “What did he say?”
Victoria snickered. “Daddy asked, ‘where’s the bathroom’. I think that was the first question I was able to ask.”
“Smart kid,” I commented, earning me a smile from Vance’s oldest daughter.
Jillian turned to Julie. “So, when is your due date again?”
Julie sighed as she sat back in her chair. “December 11th, and let me tell you, it can’t get here quickly enough.”
“How’s this pregnancy going for you?” Tori wanted to know. “Easier or harder than the first two?”
“The first two were a breeze compared to this,” Julie miserably answered. “With Drew and Hardy, I didn’t have a single bit of morning sickness. I was up and moving around until the week before they were born. With this one? It’s all I can do to keep anything down and whenever I move, I hurt.”
“Well, what do you expect?” Harry said. “You’re having twins, babe.”
“We are having twins,” Julie corrected. She gave her husband a stern look. “And whose fault is that?”
“Don’t look at me,” Harry protested. “You’re the one with a history of twins in the family, Jules. There’s not one set of twins on my side.”
“Harrison, if you …”
“Are you going to be okay here?” I asked, cutting Harry’s wife off. “You must be uncomfortable as hell. If there’s someplace else we can go that works better for you, just say so, okay?”
“You’re very sweet, Zack,” Julie told me, as she shot a dark look at Harry. “Sitting, standing, walking, talking, it doesn’t matter. I’m miserable. Don’t worry about me. I’ll have my glass of water and maybe a few chips.”
“She hasn’t had much of an appetite in the last month or so,” Harry said, by way of explanation.
“But, do I still put on the weight?” Julie grumped. “Of course I do. I can’t even begin to imagine how much more weight I’m going to pack on.”
Eager to steer the conversation on to a safer subject, I hesitantly cleared my throat. “Do you know what you’re going to have? Boys? Girls? One of each? Do you guys have a preference?”
“What if it was three?” Vance sniggered, which earned him a thump in the gut from Tori.
“You shut your filthy little mouth!” Harry all but hissed out. A moment later, he grinned at Vance and then me. “Wouldn’t that be something? I think Julie would kill me if the doc announced there was another one in there.”
“True story,” Julie confirmed. “And, for the record, they are going to be girls.”
A round of congratulations erupted. Drinks were lifted, or, as was the case with Julie, glasses of water were lifted, toasts were made, and a few drinks were refilled. Once everyone had placed their orders, Vance clinked his glass a few times.
“No, I’m not giving a speech,” my friend began, as he stared at the multitude of eager faces. “I thought I could give an update on what I had found out today.”
“I want to know about the perp,” I began. “You announced last night that you knew who it was. I’ve been waiting all day for this, so, spill.”
“His name is Peter Grant,” Vance began.
“Peter Grant?” Harry repeated, as he frowned. “Not what I had pictured, bro.”
“You and me both,” I confirmed. “Well, what can you tell us about him?”
“He’s 24, and an intern at the laboratory.”
“Observatory,” Tori quietly corrected.
Vance frowned. “Whatever. Anyway, he’s a 4.0 GPA grad student with no criminal background whatsoever.”
“Then, what the hell possessed him to steal that diamond?” I wanted to know. “From the sounds of things, this is a good kid we’re talking about.”
“Was a good kid,” Harry corrected.
“Are you sure you have the right guy?” Jillian quietly asked. “How certain are you of your source?”
“100%,” Vance reported. “This info came straight from the guys at Jacobsen. They …”
“Jacobsen?” Harry interrupted, as he held up his hands in a time-out gesture.
“Sorry. It’s the name of the observatory. Now, as I was saying, Jacobsen is the one who provided the info. They checked their people and discovered one of them was missing.”
“This intern,” I guessed.
Vance nodded. “Right. He’s not answering his cell, he hasn’t shown up for work, and his family hasn’t heard from him in days.”
“Why reveal the name now?” Jillian asked. “This theft happened, what, over a week ago, right?”
Vance consulted his notebook. “That’s right. And, to answer your question, Jillian, this was at the University’s request. The captain managed to put me in touch with the head of their astronomy department. They didn’t want to air any of the university’s dirty laundry, if you catch my meaning. However, since no new leads were appearing, and they are now in danger of losing several grants if they don’t get that diamond back, they’re quickly becoming desperate.”
“Meaning, it’s time to appeal to the masses,” Julie observed.
“Exactly. They’re appealing to the public for information. Last I heard, they’re including free lifetime passes to the observatory if any tips are produced which lead to an arrest.”
Jillian started to raise a hand, and sensing an opportunity to give her some good-natured ribbing, I pushed it down.
“You’re not in school, dear.”
Jillian giggled and swatted my arm away. Then, she raised it again. “Vance? I have a question.”
“And Ms. Cooper has the floor,” Vance said, giving her a mock bow.
“Has the police department considered the possibility that Peter might have been blackmailed? What if he was forced to steal that diamond?”
“It was considered,” Vance admitted.
“And?” Jillian prompted.
“It was dismissed.”
“Why? How can they be so sure?”
“We have Zack to thank for that,” Vance announced. “I see a lot of blank faces, including Zack’s. All right, I’ll show you what I mean. Who has the largest phone?”
I looked over at Jillian before returning my gaze to Vance. “What was that?”
Vance held up his hands and created a rectangular shape with the thumb and index finger from each hand. “Who’s got the phone with the biggest screen?”
Julie, in the midst of drinking from her glass of water, snorted, which ended up causing her to make a mess down the front of her shirt. She reached for a napkin, but not before hooking a thumb in Harry’s direction.
“Him.”
“I do not,” Harry protested.
“Are you kidding?” Julie sputtered. “That screen is so big, it could be used as a tablet.”
“Well, I like watching videos on it,” Harry reluctantly admitted. “I have to be able to see it, don’t I?”
Vance nodded. “Perfect. Can I see it?”
“What for?” Harry suspiciously asked, as he pulled his cell from an inside jacket pocket.
Amazed whistles sounded from all around the table. Julie hadn’t been kidding. The screen on that monster had to be at least 7”, from corner to corner. The town vet looked lovingly down at his phone before reluctantly passing it over.
“Look, pal, I’m not gonna destroy it,” Vance grumbled. “I just want to show you something. Okay. Here’s the website that Zack pulled up yesterday. He’s the one who informed us that there had been a theft up in Washington State.”
“You want us to watch a news story?” Harry querulously asked.
“No. Well, yes. You’ll see what I mean. Here it is. Now, do you see this? These buildings back here?”
There was a chorus of acknowledgements from the table. I waited, as I knew which part of the video Vance wanted us to see. And there it was. In the background, a semi appeared, hauling a long, open trailer with a large red mound visible in the back.
Vance tapped the screen, which caused the video to pause itself. “Here it is. This truck? It’s hauling cranberries. Do you see those buildings back there? That’s the cranberry processing plant. Peter obviously knew it was over there, which suggests premeditation, so … Jillian? Do you have something you want to add?”
“What if this Peter Grant person is exactly like he seems? A good person who made a bad decision? He has the diamond …”
“… ET,” I quietly offered.
“Right,” Vance said. “He has ET in his possession, he knows he has to get rid of it should he be caught, but doesn’t know what to do with it. We know he’s smart, since we confirmed he has a 4.0 GPA. Do we know why he went over to the plant? Did he have an accomplice? I can’t imagine the plant would let a complete stranger have access to their machines.”
“Seems more spur of the moment to me,” Julie suggested.
“Me, too,” I decided. “What I’d like to know is, from the time this Peter fellow leaves the observatory, how soon before he’s at the processing plant? If it was almost immediately, then that would suggest it was part of his plan. If not, and let’s say he lingers outside while he’s trying to figure out what to do, then that would suggest there was no forethought into his visit to the plant.”
Vance handed Harry’s phone back before pulling out his own. “I’m sure I can find out. Give me a moment, okay?”
“You can do that later, pal,” I said. “You’re off duty. You don’t need to …”
“It’s okay,” Vance assured me. He started to dial when he noticed Tori nodding her head toward the front door. “I’ll be right back.”
“What’s with this plant, anyway?” Harry suddenly asked. “You guys have brought it up several times now. What’s the big deal?”
The entire table fell silent, and that included Victoria and Tiffany.
“What?” Harry demanded. “Did I miss something?”
“You do know that there’s been a rash of grocery store burglaries, right?” I asked my friend. He gave me a non-committal shrug, causing an evil thought to occur. Was he confused or was that the expression he typically wore? Deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt, I let the matter drop. “Someone has been stealing cranberries, of all things.”
“What?” Harry sputtered. “From other stores besides Gary’s? You’re kidding! I mean, I like a good cranberry cocktail, just like everyone else, but I don’t like it that much.”
“Don’t you read the newspaper?” I incredulously asked.
“Hey, I’ve been busy,” Harry sputtered. “I’ve been putting in long hours at the clinic and getting a nursery ready, bro. Cut me a little slack, all right?”
I had to give him that one. “Fine, you’re forgiven.”
“What other stores were hit?” Harry wanted to know.
“Grants Pass was burglarized first,” Tori reported. “Then Medford, and finally, PV.”
“Actually,” I slowly began, “three other stores were hit in rapid succession first. Gold Beach, Port Orford, and Klamath.”
“Klamath Falls,” Jillian corrected, “and I did not know that.”
“Right. Thanks. Those three were hit first, and then Vance figured out the perp probably had to expand his search when he couldn’t find his diamond.”
“Is that why Gary’s entire supply of baby formula was stolen?” Jillian asked. “We were made to think the thief was interested in something besides cranberries?”
I nodded. “We think they were nothing more than diversions. Formula here in PV, drugs in Grants Pass, and booze in Medford.”
Vance returned at that moment, and none of us could mistake the grin on his face.
“Good news?” I hopefully asked. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
My detective friend nodded. “You guys need to listen to this. Peter Grant? He has a roommate.”
“Most students living on campus do,” Jillian said.
Vance nodded. “Right, but how many of those roommates just so happen to have girlfriends who work at a cranberry processing plant?”
The table fell silent.
“That rules out blackmail,” I decided. “Peter obviously knew about the plant next door. He clearly knew his roommate’s girlfriend worked there, and therefore, had an ‘in’ at the plant. Let me guess. This girlfriend? Does she work in the area that handles the packaging?”
Vance nodded. “You’re close. She works in shipping. Well, at least, she did. Once the plant learned about their unauthorized visitor, it took them all of about five minutes to review the security footage and find out who allowed Peter inside the facility.”
“Did they say how long she has worked there?” I asked.
Vance consulted his notes. “Not long. Three months. She was hired, along with a number of other seasonal workers, to help during the harvest. They do it every year.”
Jillian had pulled out her phone and was studying it intently. After a few moments, she looked up and waggled her phone.
“In case anyone was wondering, mid-September through early November is when cranberries are harvested.”
“Here’s what I think happened,” Vance began. “This Peter fellow sees an opportunity to steal this special diamond …”
“… ET,” several voices interrupted.
“Yeah, right. ET. Phone home, right? Whatever. Now, Peter takes possession of ET but realizes he won’t be able to hold on to it long, so he tries to find a way to hide it. Officials at Jacobsen confirm the intern was only left alone for about 15 minutes, so during that time, Peter takes the diamond and flees outside.”
“Is there any security footage?” Jillian asked.
Vance nodded. “Thanks for bringing that up. Yeah, I was told the footage was reviewed, and security was able to follow Peter through the observatory, until he made it outside. Once there, they lost sight of him, but we’ve pretty much figured out where he went.”
“The cranberry plant,” Julie added.
“Right, he headed straight for the plant. Now, I’ve been in contact with the people who run the plant. They do have a few cameras in there, but not many. They can confirm Peter Grant arrived at the building about ten minutes after he left the observatory, but that’s it.
“Once inside the processing plant, Peter heads straight for the one person he knows: his roommate’s girlfriend, who conveniently enough, works in shipping. I figure Peter either saw the passing bags of cranberries and dropped the diamond in, or else added it to the bin of berries that were in the process of being bagged. Regardless of how he introduced the gem to the cranberries, ET was sealed up and shipped out. Now, what he did next was truly clever.”
“What was clever?” I wanted to know.
“I’m guessing, since Peter’s acquaintance worked in the shipping department, he had to have found out where that particular batch of berries was heading, namely MDC, which we know is in Medford.”
“And MDC happens to supply all the small stores in the southwestern section of the state,” I quietly added. “Once you add that in, it starts to make sense.”
“So,” Vance continued, “armed with the knowledge that his diamond was headed for MDC, Peter realizes he needs to find out which store will end up with his diamond.”
“The observatory’s diamond,” Jillian and I both corrected.
“Right, whatever. Now, this is where Peter is hit with the first flaw in his plan: MDC didn’t have specific boxes going to specific stores. Instead, they simply had a supply and demand system set up and filled orders as they were received.”
“That explains the number of stores that were hit,” Julie decided. “He didn’t know where ET was going to end up.”
“Right,” Vance confirmed. “I was able to call MDC and get someone from administration on the phone. The lady I talked to confirmed that someone called them last week and asked them about shipments of cranberries. Thinking nothing of it, she informed the person which stores were getting deliveries on which dates.”
“Have any other stores been hit since Gary’s?” I asked.
The table fell silent as everyone present considered the question.
“No,” Vance said, shaking his head. “Captain Nelson agrees with you, Zack. He thinks the diamond must have been in one of the bags that were destined for PV.”
“Then, it’s probably long gone,” Tori guessed.
There was a collective groan as the majority of the people at our table agreed. I, on the other hand, was shaking my head.
“I think it’s still here, in PV.”
Four different conversations came to an abrupt end.
“What was that, pal?” Vance asked.
“I think ET is still here, somewhere,” I repeated. “Or, at the very least, within our grasp to get it back.”
Suddenly, I had everyone’s attention. Vance gave me a hard look. “Explain that.”
Tori’s hand appeared, and was quickly slapped down, over Vance’s.
“Please,” Vance hastily amended, as he gave his wife an apologetic smile.
“Sherlock and Watson,” I announced. “They still think they’re working a case. Now, of all the cases we’ve worked together, after a case has been closed, have they ever kept looking at various things?”
“No,” Vance immediately answered. “What have they been looking at?”
Right then, the waitress was back, wheeling a cart piled high with steaming dishes of aromatic food. We all waited to be given our orders, and once the waitress had departed, I pulled out my phone. Opening my Photos app, I held it up for Vance to see.
“Well, there’s no time like the present to go over the Corgi Clues. Does anyone have any objections to listening to me prattle off what the dogs have been interested in this time around?” When no one said anything, I nodded appreciatively. “All righty, let’s see what we have. Here we go. This is the first picture I took. Can everyone see it?”
“What are we looking at?” Julie asked, from across the table. “Is that a dumpster? Did you take a picture of some trash?”
“Yes and no,” I explained. I zoomed in on the duffel bag. “See this bag? This was stuffed full of meds.”
“Taken from the first store to be hit?” Harry asked. “Was that Gold Beach, bro?”
“The first three didn’t have diversions in place,” I explained, which drew a nod from Vance. “This is from Grants Pass. Their pharmacy was hit, and tons of prescription pills were taken, only Sherlock and Watson found them in a nearby dumpster. This is the first crime scene we were asked to visit.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, bro,” Harry said, confused. “Those drugs probably had a significant street value to them.”
“Which is how we knew it was a diversion,” Vance added. “Go on, Zack.
“Right. Okay, picture two is … the same thing. Moving on. So is picture three. Here we go. Pictures four and five show the freezer door at the Grants Pass grocery.”
“Why?” Julie asked.
I shrugged. “This was the first store to be hit. I can only assume the dogs were bringing our attention to the fact that something else was off.”
The next photograph appeared on my phone. I heard Victoria and Tiffany giggle as it became apparent I had taken a picture of a helium-filled mylar balloon. This one was flower-shaped, and had Happy 7th Birthday! festooned across the front. At a loss, I looked at Vance and helplessly held up my hands.
“I’m at a loss on this one. Thoughts?”
“Happy 7th Birthday,” Jillian read. “Was someone turning seven?”
“Not that I know of,” I said.
“Is the number seven relevant somehow?” Tori asked.
“We don’t know,” Vance confessed. “It’ll make sense eventually. Moving on, Zack.”
“Roger that. Okay, after the balloon, we have a picture of a kid wearing a backpack. What in the world?”
“Isn’t that Colin?” Jillian asked, as she leaned over my shoulder to look at the picture.
I snapped my fingers. “Right. I remember now. We were at the florist, and you and Hannah were talking about something flower-related. That’s when I saw Colin sitting by himself. That’s when I challenged him to a Robotron throw down.”
“Robotron, the arcade game?” Harry asked, interested. “Dude, I could take you down any day of the week.”
“Please,” I scoffed. “Robotron is my game. I’d dip your butt in Pine-Sol and wipe the floor with you.”
Harry’s eyes narrowed. “It’s on, bro.”
Vance held up his hands in a time-out gesture. “Guys? Focus. Now, Zack, do we know why you took a picture of Colin or his backpack?”
“No. Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Hmm. We’ll come back to that one. What’s next?”
“Let’s see. Ah, here we go. We have a picture of a rack full of numbers and letters.”
“Are they stencils?” Tori asked, as she leaned forward for a better look.
Vance shook his head. “No, I remember this now. These were adhesive numbers and letters, the kind you’d affix to a mailbox if you want to put your address on it.”
“Not all the numbers and letters are there,” Jillian pointed out. “Zachary? You appear to have zoomed in on the letter F. Do you remember what you were trying to capture?”
“Not a clue. They stopped and stared, I took a picture, and then we moved off. End of story. Do you see anything that stands out?”
“Well, there are some 7s, 9s, and Bs, Cs, and Fs. They’re out of 8s, As, and Es. How that helps us, I don’t know.”
“We’ll come back to that,” I announced, as I slid my finger across the screen and then showed everyone what appeared. “Here we have … swell. Here we have more trash. It looks like the inside of another trash can. Vance? Do you remember this one?”
I passed my phone to Vance, who studied the picture for so long that he had to tap the screen to prevent the smartphone from going to sleep. “Well, this could be … wait. This was taken in Medford.”
“How can you be sure?” I asked, as I took my phone back.
“Look at the picture, buddy. There are a few wrappers in there, and they’re all in Spanish.”
“El Gato,” I recalled, as I gave my friend a grin. “Got it.”
“El Gato?” Jillian repeated, puzzled.
“It’s the store that was hit in Medford.”
“Ah. Was there something about the trash you wanted to capture?”
“The corgis wouldn’t leave the trash can alone,” I recalled. “I took the photo just to shut them up.”
“Then, it has to be important,” Jillian decided. “Oh, look! Zachary? Do you see this, here? It’s a cranberry!”
“Coincidence?” I asked.
Vance shook his head. “With your dogs? I doubt it. What else do you got? What’s that?”
The next picture on my phone was of the handheld device the young son of Jillian’s landscaper had been holding. He had been playing it while Jillian’s yard was being serviced. That game, if memory served, had been available at the arcade where I grew up. It was a blow-em-up type of game, set in space, where the player is at the controls of a one-man fighter, and your only job is to stay alive. Stay alive long enough and you’ll join an assault on the bad guys’ home base.
“It’s the video game a boy was playing outside, at Jillian’s, while her yard was being cleaned. Sherlock and Watson had been staring at the boy, only it was revealed later that they were only interested in the game he had been holding. So, I took a picture.”
“What game is it?” Jillian wanted to know.
“An old space fighter game,” I explained. “The version I played, at the arcade back home, had this sit-down version where it replicated being in a cockpit, I guess. It cost two quarters to play, and I sucked at it.”
This brought a round of laughter.
“Another one we’ll come back to,” Vance decided. “Moving on. What’s next?”
I swiped a finger across the screen and shrugged. “Greeting cards, only they look like they’re for kids. I can see Darth Vader on one and Yoda on another.”
Vance nodded. “Star Wars. Okay. Does anyone know how that fits into the picture?”
The detective was met with silence.
“Moving on. What’s next, Zack?”
I stared at the next set of pictures for a few moments as I tried to figure out what I had been trying to take a picture of. Pages of text? Printed pages of text, if you want to get technical. What was … oh. That took a little longer than I would have liked to admit. This was back in Gary’s Grocery.
“Shipping invoices,” I announced, as I showed the picture to the group. “Why, or how, that’s important is beyond me, I’m sorry to say.”
“Shipping invoices,” Vance repeated, as he took my phone to study the images for himself. “This was, what, two days ago, wasn’t it?”
“Right. I figure the dogs perked up because it was yet another reference to a shipment of cranberries, and Gary told us that his entire order of the berries had been taken.”
Some soft ooohs and aaahs echoed throughout the room. After a few moments, when no more questions were forthcoming, I moved on to the next set. Looking down at the display, I broke out in a grin. They were the pictures I had taken of our excursion to pick out a Christmas tree yesterday. Surprisingly, the nighttime pictures had turned out quite well!
“Jillian and I headed out yesterday to …” I trailed off as I realized the amount of crap I was probably going to be given, especially by this particular group of friends, if I revealed what we had been doing. Steeling myself, I took a deep breath and just spit it out. “… pick out a Christmas tree.”
Harry snorted with surprise. “It’s not even Thanksgiving, bro.”
“I know, Harry. Jillian’s family is used to decorating early.”
“Now, that is a good idea,” Tori decided, as she looked over at her husband. A knowing smile appeared on her face, which had Vance groaning with dismay. Tori looked back at my fiancée and nodded. “Where did you guys go?”
“To the Mansons,” Jillian said, by way of explanation.
“I haven’t purchased a tree from them in a few years,” Tori said. “Neither of us have anything planned for Saturday. I think we’ll head up there and pick out a tree, too. Thanks for the idea, Jillian!”
“You’re more than welcome,” Jillian said.
“Yeah, thanks, pal,” Vance quietly grumbled.
I grinned at my detective friend and gave him a mock salute. I then held up my phone and waggled it.
“This last set of pictures are obviously from yesterday,” I said, as I rotated my phone so that the display was facing out. “I …”
“Are those shooting stars?” Tori asked, incredulous. “Zack, you should submit those to a magazine, or something. Those look really cool!”
“We lucked out, that’s for sure,” I recalled, as I gave Jillian’s hand a squeeze. “This happened near the end of the trip. We had selected a tree, arranged for the delivery, and then stepped back outside. Both dogs then stopped and looked up at the stars. When they didn’t budge, I decided to humor them, like I usually do, and took a picture, only I took it just as soon as the first shooting star appeared.”
Victoria held out her hand, hoping I’d give her the phone so she could have a better look. Once I did, and she and her sister fawned over them for a few minutes, she passed it back.
“How did you get so many shots of the shooting stars?” Tiffany quietly asked me.
“Those pictures don’t do it justice,” I told the girl. “There were so many stars shooting by us that it was rather hard to miss. It lasted about five minutes, and there had probably been at least a couple hundred shooting stars altogether.”
“Meteoroids,” Victoria proudly announced. “They’re not really shooting stars, but meteoroids.”
“Don’t you mean meteorites?” Vance hesitantly asked his oldest daughter.
“No, dad. Meteoroids are what you call objects falling through space. A meteorite is what they’re called if they strike the Earth.”
I had to admit, I had heard the term before, but I never thought I would have it explained to me by a 13-year-old teenager.
“Nicely done,” Tori praised. “Someone has been paying attention to her science class. I’m proud of you, Vicki.”
The teenager flushed with embarrassment. “Thanks, Mom.”
“Do you like astronomy?” Jillian asked the girl.
Victoria nodded. My fiancée then pointed at me. “So do I. So does Zachary. In fact, Zachary has a big, fancy telescope in his garage that he’s going to have reassembled. Once he does, I’m sure he’d love to show it to you.”
The girl brightened with interest.
“The telescope,” I quietly mused. “That reminds me of something.”
“What?” Jillian asked.
“I obviously go through the garage whenever I’m getting in or out of the Jeep,” I began. “On several occasions, I’ve noticed Sherlock and Watson staring at something in the garage, and I’m quite certain it’s the trunk where I’m storing that telescope. Coincidence?”
“That word doesn’t belong in your vocabulary,” Vance informed me. “At least, not where your dogs are concerned. They were interested in a telescope? That’s not too surprising. After all, we’re talking about an extraterrestrial diamond.”
I made a point of placing my cell back in my pocket. Because I knew it’d garner a few laughs, I adopted my ‘old British dude’ persona. “There you have it, ladies and gents. The evidence has been placed before you. What do you make of it?”
Vance snorted with laughter. “Well, we can easily see the references to the cranberries. And the telescope? Obviously meant to refer to outer space.”
“Colin’s backpack?” I pressed. “The gardener’s kid? Or, more specifically, his game?”
“That game is set in outer space,” Vance pointed out. “No big surprise there.” His cell started to ring. “Hang on a sec. Hello? Yes, this is Detective Vance Samuelson. I … what’s that? You found what? Well, it’s a start, I guess. Thank you for letting me know. I’ll run it by my consultants and see what … yes, those consultants. Yes, I’ll give Sherlock and Watson a pat for you. Thank you. You have yourself a good evening.”
“A fan of the dogs?” I guessed.
“That was Brigitte,” Vance explained. “She’s new, and has only been manning the front desk for a few weeks now. She was told to pass on a message to me. Zack? They dug into Peter Grant’s life and found what they’re calling a ‘faint’ connection to PV.”
This got everyone’s attention, including myself.
“Oh? Whatcha got, buddy?”
“Peter Grant has a former classmate who is currently living here, in Pomme Valley.”
“Where?” Harry wanted to know.
“On G Street,” Vance reported.
Right about then, I noticed my fiancée reach for my phone. Having long since programmed one of her fingerprints into my phone’s memory, she unlocked it and brought up the pictures. Silently, she flipped through the last two dozen or so before she stopped. Studying the image intently, she then moved to a different image. After a few moments of silence, Jillian excitedly turned to me, and then reached across the table to tap Vance’s hand.
“Vance? I think you’d better get out to that former classmate’s house, on the double. You are probably going to want to hurry!”
Vance stared at her for a few seconds. “Why?”
“Because Zachary is right. Peter Grant is still in PV, and I’m pretty sure he’s currently hiding at his classmate’s house!”