Chapter 24

 

I called Ron when I got outside to my Jeep and he informed me he’d left Bobby Lorrento in the care of the ER staff at the hospital, where Bobby was to stay overnight for observation. We had a short discussion about whether Bobby should go home once he was released. I felt Marcie was remorseful about the skillet incident, but there was no telling what Bobby might do when he saw her again.

“Does he have somewhere else he can go until things cool down?” I asked.

Ron said he would check, but he’d told me he was already back at the office and I got a feeling he didn’t want to go dashing back to the hospital for another talk with the client.

I drove down the Lorrento’s long driveway, waving goodbye to the horses as I passed. By the time I arrived at the RJP offices, the sun was low in the sky and I really only wanted to be home, but this day wasn’t over yet. I heard Ron on the phone when I climbed the stairs. I dropped my purse at my desk and tidied a few things I’d left undone earlier before he came across the hall to me.

“Okay, it’s set that Bobby Lorrento can come home with me tomorrow,” he said.

“Wow. That’s a generous offer.”

“I just talked to Vic and she’s fine with him being there a day or two—no more, she said. We have the boys this week and they’ll be thrilled. She says if we put Bobby on the basement pull-out sofa he won’t be inclined to stay very long.”

“Marcie’s feeling badly about what she did. I don’t think she’d give him any grief about coming home, but who knows what he might do. Those two are a pair, I’ll tell you.”

“So what’s the big story you promised me?”

“I know who has the missing Super Bowl ring.”

His jaw dropped. “And you found this out, how?”

“Marcie told me.”

“You’re right, it is a story.” He moved over to the small sofa near the bay window. “Tell me.”

“His name is Jay Livingston. Marcie met him at a charity fundraiser in Dallas where football was the theme and memorabilia was big among the auction items. Livingston was admiring Bobby’s newly won Super Bowl ring from the previous season, but he was also admiring Marcie. Bobby wasn’t willing to donate the ring to charity. Marcie, it turned out, had her head turned a bit more easily. Livingston went on an all-out campaign to get close to her—well, that’s how it sounded to me. She told me about the charming little gifts he began sending, and apparently he also started showing up at any event where he heard Lorrento would make an appearance. Eventually, drinks at the bar became clandestine little meetings and she confided her marriage wasn’t happy. Well, you know what a guy will do with that information.”

“I didn’t find any matching Livingstons in this area,” he said, apparently oblivious to most of what I’d said.

“Apparently, he travels the country for these events.”

“So, where does he live?”

“Marcie actually doesn’t know. They would meet up and spend an afternoon in a hotel—New York, St. Louis, Miami …”

He gave me a look.

“I got a phone number. It’s how she contacted Livingston to let him know when she’d be traveling. I was just about to look up the area code and find out where it is.” I held up the scrap of paper I’d written it on.

“So, Marcie planned all along to sell the rings and tell Livingston where to go buy them?”

“Essentially, but maybe ‘plan’ isn’t the word. She said it was after one especially bitter fight with Bobby that she took the rings. Later, she was feeling a little guilty about it and when Jay Livingston called she told him what she’d done. He acted like he sympathized but, unbeknownst to her, he went to the shop she’d named and bought the one ring. She wondered why he quizzed her about the store, but didn’t think much about it.”

“I wonder why he didn’t get all three?” Ron said.

I shrugged. “Maybe even a rich guy has his limitations when you’re talking in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“I did a little research, and there are a lot of factors that go into the values of these things—who the player or team member was, his role in the game, etcetera. Every team member, the coaches and the staff get rings, you know.”

I didn’t know that, had never actually cared before now.

“The pawnshop owner told me the one he sold was the most desirable of the three because Bobby threw the winning pass in that game.”

“So, maybe Livingston had a ready buyer for it, himself—someone ready to give him a tidy profit?”

“It’s anyone’s guess. Let me track that phone number and we’ll see what happens next.”

I handed over the information, more than a little eager to close up shop for the day and get home to my hubby and dog. By the time I’d shut down my computer, found my jacket and picked up my purse, Ron informed me the area code for Livingston’s phone was in El Paso, Texas.