The next morning, promptly at ten o’clock, Roxy Rhinestone pulled her powder blue Mustang convertible into the parking space behind The World of Fire and Ice. She put her key in the back door, but was shocked to discover it was unlocked. As she pushed the door open and peeked in, her eyes widened and she gasped in disbelief. She muttered to no one in particular, “Oh no! We’ve been robbed!”
Walking around in a daze, she lifted an overturned chair, scooped up a few papers from the floor, righted a spilled waste basket and checked the safe where the most valuable stock was stored after hours. The door hung open. Even without close inspection, she could see that the shelf with the most expensive pieces was empty and the velvet boxes with more modest items were still there. When Roxy reached for the phone to call Dexter and the police, she saw the envelope in the middle of her boss’ desk with her name written on it in bold marker. The handwriting was Dexter’s. She read:
Roxy,
I know you are surprised to find this and I’m sorry I can’t explain things right now, but I am leaving town and will not be returning. You have been a wonderful employee and, as a token of my appreciation, I have made arrangements to transfer ownership of the shop to you. I’ve made it look like a sale, so take the enclosed key to our bank. It fits a safe deposit box which I took out in your name. In it you will find all of the legal papers and some cash to help you in the beginning. The transfer is already in effect. Please call my lawyer, Ben Dover, to confirm this transaction and inform him of the robbery. Then contact the police and report a break-in. Don’t worry, everything that is missing is insured. As a last request, burn this letter. Fondly, Dexter
She fell back into the closest chair, her hand shaking as she reread the letter. Holding out the neatly folded paper, she spoke to it as if it were the personification of her boss. “Dexter, what have you done? You acted so strange after that woman came in yesterday. Did you leave Godiva and run off with her? She was much too young for you—” Roxy stopped and stared at the mysterious letter, realizing she was talking to herself.
After much soul searching, Roxy thought about this unexpected windfall and decided to do exactly as Dexter had requested. After all, she had bent over backward to help Dexter run the business and although she wasn’t struggling financially, this felt like winning the lottery. She went out the back door, found a tin can in the dumpster, crumpled the letter and stuffed it in the can. Fishing around in her handbag she located a book of matches. As the fire swept away her last communication from Dexter Diamond she felt a little twinge of guilt, but the feeling soon passed. She went back inside and called the lawyer. After a brief conversation she hung up, took a deep breath, and dialed the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Roxy was in for a surprise. When the police came they saw no evidence of forced entry, and concluded the safe had been opened by someone who must have known the combination. The officer turned to her and said, “Ms Rhinestone, it’s not unusual for the perpetrator of a crime to be the one who reports it. The idea is to throw suspicion off themselves. That’s what this looks like to me, so I’m afraid we are going to have to take you into custody. We’ll have a nice little chat back at headquarters, and see if we can discover what really happened here.”
Roxy was dumbfounded. When she got to police headquarters she insisted upon calling Dexter’s lawyer.
She said, “This is preposterous! Mr. Diamond just sold me the jewelry shop. Why would I rob myself? I know when our lawyer gets here he will explain everything.”
Roxy fidgeted in the austere interview room for almost an hour until a very dapper Ben Dover, Esq. arrived carrying a shiny black alligator skin briefcase. He shook hands with the officer in charge, smoothed the wrinkles on his pinstriped suit jacket and took a seat.
“Frankly Officer, I’m shocked to see you treating Ms Rhinestone like a common criminal. I recently handled the sale of the jewelry boutique for my client, Dexter Diamond. He sold the business to Ms Rhinestone—on very favorable terms, I might add—so that he could retire with the assurance that the reputation of his shop would be well maintained. He said he was quite burned out and intended to take a long vacation on some tropical island.”
The lawyer reached into his briefcase and took out a copy of the Bill of Sale and Title papers. When he held them out to one of the officers, he said, “I can assure you Ms Rhinestone did not rob herself. But, I must admit, from what you’ve described it does look like a pretty slick job.”
Roxy turned to Mr. Dover, “I tried to tell them about a mysterious woman who visited the shop yesterday. She was very beautiful, but something about her gave me the creeps. It seemed like Dexter knew her and somehow she must have gotten the key and combination from him.”
Her hand flew up to her mouth in mock alarm as if a terrible thought had just occurred to her. “Omigod, that woman might have kidnapped him, or blackmailed him, or even killed him.”