Dan waved away Mary’s offer of iced tea and opened the refrigerator door. He emerged with one of the beers she always kept for him.
‘Thank goodness this day is over.’ He pulled out the chair opposite her and pulled the tab. Foam lined the edge of the can and quickly the edges of his mustache. ‘That tastes wonderful.’
‘Bad day?’ Mary had replaced the pitcher of tea in the refrigerator and poured herself a glass of her favorite Chardonnay. She tasted it and smiled. ‘Did you get your dispute with Mr Wilson settled?’
‘It wasn’t exactly a dispute, more of a tactical disagreement which I was bound to lose. But I managed to delay everything long enough so my ballistics people got a good look at the bullet that killed Miller. The bullet, with Miller, will, of course, go to Sacramento for their people to do with it what they will. But at least I know what kind of gun I’m looking for.’
‘What kind?’
‘Some kind of high-powered rifle. Hit a deer or a man with that thing and they’re done for.’
Mary shuddered. She didn’t disapprove of hunting, if whatever was hunted was going to be used in some way, but the thought still made her squeamish. The idea of something being killed just because someone had a gun and could made her furious. The thought that someone with that kind of gun used it to shoot Mr Miller in the back made her a little faint. ‘They certainly identified the bullet fast.’
‘They only identified which kind of gun. It doesn’t tell us which gun. Big difference. But if we can find a suspect and he, or she, has such a gun, we can send it up to Sacramento and see if they can get a match. In truth, their lab is a lot more capable than ours. And, since Miller was one of their own, they might even put a rush on it.’ He took another long drink. ‘If we can find the gun.’
Mary took a small sip and let her eyes stay on the remains in her glass. ‘Tell me more about these robberies Miller was looking into.’
Dan laughed. ‘You mean you didn’t pry enough out of poor little Emma?’
Startled, she set her glass down quickly. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Yes, you do, but it’s fine. Did she tell you Wilson’s theory about the Lowell necklace? That the sapphire and diamonds might be from one of the robberies? There were at least two stores robbed that specialized in antique pieces.’
‘She never mentioned the necklace.’
‘Did she tell you that none of the stolen pieces have shown up? Not at any of the pawn shops known to accept stolen goods, nor on any of the black markets we know about. Not one piece?’
‘She might have mentioned something about that.’
Mary hoped Emma wouldn’t get in trouble for talking to her but, at least, she truly hadn’t broken her word.
‘Out of twelve robberies we are sure were committed by the same person or people, not one piece. So, when Wilson heard Miller had been looking at the necklace with such interest, he immediately decided those stones belonged to one of the robbed stores. If you think he was aggressive with you, you should have heard him with Marlene. Didn’t work out so well, though.’
‘What do you mean? What happened?’
Even Millie seemed interested. She left her bowl, which she had been sniffing hopefully, to sit beside Mary’s chair and stare at Dan. He laughed – at the remembrance of what had happened or at Millie’s expression, Mary wasn’t sure.
‘Wilson barged into the jewelry store and confronted Marlene, demanding to know where they got the sapphire and diamonds. At first, Marlene was speechless, but then she got mad. She said she didn’t know, that Jerry handled all of the custom jewelry buying and selling and she ran the store. He was next door at the gold shop but she’d call him and ask him to come over and talk to Mr Wilson. I could hear Jerry yelling over the phone. It wasn’t long before he stormed in, waving receipts in front of Wilson’s face, going on about who did he think he was, calling his wife a thief. Made quite a scene.’ Dan smiled a little broader then bent down and scratched Millie’s left ear.
Mary thought about it for a minute. That Jerry Lowell made a scene didn’t surprise her but it seemed a little excessive if he had receipts. Of course, Jerry would take it personally and he wasn’t the easiest person to be around. Poor Marlene. ‘Where did Jerry get the jewels?’
‘According to the receipts, the sapphire was in a gold brooch he bought a few months ago. He says he doesn’t usually keep those kinds of stones but the owner didn’t want it and he thought he might use it in a piece someday. I guess Tommy beat him to that. The diamonds were in another piece he bought. He says he pays for diamonds if the owner wants to sell them at the right price. Usually he has to recut them, but Tommy said the old cut was perfect for what he was doing so he let him use them. Says he buys gold pieces with gems in them all the time, that’s his business and where did Wilson get off … He went on for a while. Wilson asked if he could have copies of the receipts for his purchase of the pieces of jewelry he bought and Jerry threw him out. Said if he was under suspicion of something he could damn well come back with a warrant.’
‘Could he? Come back with a warrant?’
‘Oh, yes. Actually, he wouldn’t need one. The law states that resale shops have to produce receipts for the pieces they buy for three years. Also sworn statements from the sellers that they own the jewelry and have the right to sell it.’
‘That makes sense. So, what happened?’
‘Jerry finally let Wilson look at the receipts. Wilson grumbled but there wasn’t much he could do, so we left. I’ll go back and apologize to Marlene tomorrow, when Wilson isn’t around, but the Lowells are off the hook.’ All trace of amusement was gone. He swallowed the last of his beer, got up and put the can in Mary’s recycle trash can, turned and leaned back against the sink. ‘That whole scene could have been avoided. If he’d let me do it my way, we’d have still gotten the information we wanted and probably more, and no hard feelings. Now, if we need to ask either of the Lowells anything else, ever, we’ll have a hard time getting an answer.’
‘What more can you ask them?’
‘Beats me. Marlene says she never saw Miller or his dog. Jerry says he noticed a man and a dog looking at the necklace in the window, but he didn’t speak to him and had no idea who he was. I’m not sure what they could tell us.’
Maybe some general information about jewelry stores, how their security worked, how and where they bought their inventory – that kind of thing – but then, Mary decided the police probably already had that information. ‘What do you do now?’
‘Good question. We have no physical evidence at the murder scene. There are tons of footprints all over that grove of oaks, a trillion cigarette butts and even more candy wrappers, papers that held hotdogs, empty cups, all kinds of trash, but nothing that could reasonably be tied to the shooter. There was one bullet and that went right through him and ended up in the oak tree he was under. The blood you saw came from the exit wound, not the entrance. We don’t have any leads on who committed the store robberies, either, and although we think it’s the same person or persons, at this stage it’s nothing but conjecture. Wilson’s tearing his hair out and I don’t blame him. After all, Miller was his partner.’
Mary nodded and took another sip. Should she tell Dan what Emma had said? Might as well. Dan was aware they’d already talked about all this. ‘Emma didn’t seem to think they were all that close – Miller and Wilson.’
Dan straightened a little and there was definite interest in his eyes. ‘Elaborate.’
‘She didn’t say much. Only, they’re supposed to be mentoring her, I guess that’s what you’d call it, and she said Miller had been the one who made the connection between all those robberies, did all the work contacting people from different states, putting it all together. He didn’t tell anyone what he was doing until he had all the information, not even Mr Wilson, who was evidently miffed.’
‘From what I’ve seen of Wilson, miffed would be mild. I wonder what else Miller didn’t tell him.’
‘I wonder why he didn’t. Partners don’t usually act that way, do they?’
‘No, they don’t.’ There was a thoughtful look on Dan’s face. He gave Mary a hug.
‘Dan, wait. How is Ranger?’
His smile was the first genuine one she’d seen all day. ‘He’s doing fine. Susannah and Neil take both dogs everywhere. Ranger seems to love it. Don’t forget to lock your door.’ And he was gone.
Mary ignored the door. Instead, she sat and thought. Millie lay beside her chair, her head on Mary’s foot.
She’d forgotten to ask Dan if the necklace was still at Lowell’s. He hadn’t mentioned that it was gone. Did that mean the tourists hadn’t bought it? That wouldn’t surprise her. She didn’t think she and Samuel had paid as much for this house as the Lowell’s were asking for the necklace. Of course, they’d bought the house many years ago. Still … had Tommy somehow squelched the sale? Why? That would have been a nice one. Why did Eric Wilson think the stones were stolen? The only thing he had to go on was Ian Miller looking at the necklace in the window. He was knowledgeable about jewelry. Maybe he was only admiring it.
Mary sighed, removed her foot from under Millie’s chin and stood. It was time she thought about dinner. Millie’s first. Millie agreed. Mary filled her dish and watched while she devoured it. Maybe she’d make a salad. It was hot and she didn’t want to cook. She walked over to the refrigerator and looked in but she didn’t actually see anything. The thoughts that kept rolling around in her head wouldn’t let her. Where was all the stolen jewelry? Dan said none of it had shown up at the usual places. She wasn’t sure where the usual places were but obviously the police did. Why hadn’t it? She didn’t believe the thieves would wait a year and a half to turn all the jewelry into cash. How did you do something like that? She shut the refrigerator door and stood in front of it, empty-handed.
She assumed they’d take the expensive jewels out of the setting, probably the not-so-valuable ones as well. Could you identify loose diamonds and other jewels? She had no idea. Emma had said they mainly took gold pieces. There must be a reason for that. What did they do with them? How did you go about finding out? The Internet? Ellen claimed you could find out anything on the Internet but she didn’t have a computer. Could she get that kind of information on her phone? Maybe someone could but she couldn’t. She’d learned how to do a lot of things, but after she’d figured out how to access her bank account and to use the GPS she’d gone no further. So, how … The library. They had computers and a head librarian who knew how to use them. Luke would get a visit from her first thing in the morning. Humming a little under her breath, she opened the refrigerator door once more but removed nothing. Had one of the thieves really killed Ian Miller? Had he gotten a clue as to their identity? If that was true, were the thieves people who lived in this town? People she knew? Was that why Miller was here? She was certain he hadn’t come to see the dog costume parade or the fireworks. He had suspected someone of something, either the robberies or something connected to them, and that someone had killed him. It was the only thing that made sense. She looked at the bag of spinach she held and put it back. Somehow, she’d lost her appetite.