Chapter Six

“What’s the news?” I asked when Garrett picked up the phone.

“Hello to you too,” he said. “Let’s see now. Mom and Dad are okay so far as I know. Patrick is taking a class for extra credit. Sam and Chloe both got on soccer teams. Traci is going for a girl’s night out at the end of the month with her buddies and thinking of starting a book club, although I think it’s just a ruse for drinking…”

“Fascinating stuff,” I said, “but I’m calling about the case.”

“Any case in particular?” Garrett asked a smidge too brightly.

“Ha ha.”

Garrett turned serious. “I have fifteen homicides on my desk, which is kinda high. Three are slum dunks the spouses did it so I’m hoping for twelve by the end of the week, presuming no one else gets murderous,” he said.

“I meant last night’s case.” I drummed my fingers on the desk, trying not to fall for his attempt to wind me up. Delgado placed a second coffee in front of me and I gave him a thumbs up and mouthed “Thank you.” He nodded and sat down at his own desk, concentrating on his laptop screen where he appeared to be slowly typing a report.

“And that would be…” Garrett trailed off.

“The Dugans hired me,” I told him as I made a poor attempt at stifling a loud yawn. “I hope the case doesn’t run into my babysitting time. Gosh, that would be just terrible but you know how these things go.”

“Oh! The Dugans! Well, why didn’t you say so? Yeah, that’s an interesting case all right.”

“They told me the remains were removed but they’re concerned there might be more. Should they be worried?”

“Thankfully not. We had the cadaver dogs go over the site inside and out first thing this morning and they didn’t pick up anything. I’m confident the body was hanging out solo.”

“That’s good news,” I said, making a note.

“Unless you’re an extroverted ghost,” snorted Garrett.

I forced a laugh since buttering my brother up seemed in my best interests right now. “You’re hilarious! What about a cause of death?” I asked.

“Unknown, as of yet. The ME thinks she’ll get to preliminary findings tomorrow since they’re currently low on stiffs as she already dealt with most of my prior cases. She’ll need to clean the skeleton and…”

“Please don’t tell me,” I cut in, my stomach roiling at the thought of whatever gross things they had to do to a dirt-ridden, mostly-decomposed skeleton before they could examine it.

“I can tell you the driver’s license was fake,” said Garrett. “I took it over to a contact at the DMV. They said it was very good and suspect it was the work of a forger who was busted a few years ago.”

“So no ID.” My hopes dropped.

“Not yet but the ME intends to extract DNA from the bones and there’s always dental and other markers to look for when she gets to that. Her best guess so far is male, forty to sixty years old, six feet tall, Caucasian.”

“That fits with your estimate and the age on the driver’s license.”

“Which is still currently my best lead. I’m going to put in a request to interview the forger.”

“You’re being very forthcoming about all of this.”

“Yeah.” Garrett sighed. “I wasn’t kidding about all those other open cases. My team is slammed. I’m intrigued by this one for the obvious reasons but the brass say it’s not top priority given how long the body’s probably been in the ground. They don’t want to waste the manpower on a case as cold as this.”

“I understand.”

“So, with a whole bunch of enthusiasm…”

“I can hear it,” I scoffed.

“Work with me here! With a whole bunch of enthusiasm , I would welcome your input in the case. With the caveat that there’s no budget for this,” Garrett finished quickly.

“Deal,” I said. “How cold do you estimate the case to be?”

“I’m waiting on the ME for confirmation, but the remains indicate long past a decade to me. Perhaps two.”

“So you’re not looking at the Dugans as good for the crime?”

“Nope. It’s pretty unlikely they’re involved but I still need to run some checks on them. Unless something surprising comes up that narrows the death or the burial to the time frame of the period they owned the house, I’m not interested in them as my perps.”

“They’ll be pleased to hear that, but they would still like to be kept informed.”

“Of course, and I will do that, although that seems like your job too. Of course, there is a big obvious problem with this case.”

“That it’s so cold?”

“Yeah. I can’t say I remember much of ten-plus years ago beyond the big stuff. If that’s the time frame we’re looking at, it’s going to be hard to track down potential witnesses, and even if they can be found, the chances of them remembering anything is remote.”

“What about the jewels?” I asked.

“I showed them to the ME. She’s not an expert but she took a look under a microscope and thinks they’re real. She has no clue of the value other than, in her words, ‘a lot.’ Our listed consultant in Boston is away at a conference in California until next week.”

“Do you remember I said we worked a case at a jeweler’s a few months back? Why don’t I ask the client to take a look? They could give you the information you need.”

“That would actually be helpful, thanks.”

“I’ll call you back.”

“Take your time. The body isn’t going anywhere.”

It took me a moment to find my jeweler contact’s details before I left a voicemail asking if they could consult on something urgently. I had barely set down the phone when it rang again.

“Hi, Lily.”

“I. Cannot. Believe. You. Didn’t. Call. Me,” she seethed.

“Sorry? I should have texted last night and…”

“You should be! I have to find out from my own husband that my best friend fell through a ceiling! After being attacked! With Maddox! What happened to you?”

“Well, I saw the thieves during surveillance. Maddox and I followed them into the crawl space and then we had to hide and…”

“No, I got all that, except the bit about Maddox being there. Why was he there? Anyway, I meant, where’s your girl code? Why didn’t you call me immediately and tell me everything? Why does my husband get the juicy deets before me?”

“I had to get cleaned up. I was covered in hair products and a jar of sun-dried tomatoes. I needed a shower. Plus, Jord was there. He made the arrests.”

“I bet you smelled nice. What a waste of a wash and cut.”

“True, but the case is successfully closed. I just have to fill out the paperwork and I’m done.”

“Do you think you’ll get salon vouchers as a bonus?”

“Probably not. The salon was a mess when I left. I’m sorry I didn’t call. I got preoccupied and…”

“I’m not done being mad at you yet!” snipped Lily.

“Oh. Sorry. Please continue,” I said, waiting for it.

“You. Found. A. Skeleton. In. The. Backyard.” Lily’s voice was low and staccato.

“Mom found it and it wasn’t my backyard or hers,” I clarified. “But yes, a skeleton was discovered. Mom called me and said it was an emergency. There wasn’t time…”

“Did you drive over?”

“Solomon drove.”

“Then you had time to call me! I would have ditched work for that! A body! And you left me out!”

“I was going to call you!”

“When?”

That was a good question. Technically, I hadn’t lied, but I had neglected to call Lily. “As soon as I had more news to share,” I said, skirting the truth. “I didn’t want to give you just the basics.”

“Your mom seems to have the basics.”

I cringed at that. “That’s right! I wanted to really clue you in beyond that.”

“So what do you have?”

“Nothing,” I admitted. “But Garrett is happy to officially work together so long as MPD don’t have to pay our fee. He says it looks like the body has been there a long time. More than a decade, maybe even two. I don’t remember anyone going missing from our street but I’m not sure I would remember. I’m not sure that the person would even be registered as missing if another occupant wanted to conceal the disappearance. Garrett’s checking that out too.”

“We’ve been friends for more than twenty years,” said Lily. “I’m sure one of us would remember a big event like a missing persons case from your street. I remember when the dog went missing on the next block, and I remember that afternoon when Caleb Telsey got off the school bus but didn’t go home and half the neighborhood went out searching for him.”

“And they found him in Johnny Lombardi’s basement eating ice cream and playing video games,” I said, nodding as I remembered.

“Yeah. Caleb didn’t even know he was missing! Imagine not knowing you’re missing!”

“To be fair, he did know where he was. Just no one else did.”

“You know what else I remember? When Mrs. Thurber threw all her husband’s clothes out the window when she caught him playing hide the sausage with her cousin that time she got home from work early.”

“I remember that too. She put all his books out on the lawn the next day and it rained. They all turned to mush and he cried.”

“She yelled at him to get a new library card to go with his new life.”

“We definitely would have remembered a man going missing,” I decided. “Do you remember any of the people who lived in the end house?”

“The one with all the renovations? That’s where they found it?”

“We’re calling the corpse Roger,” I said.

“Weird, but okay. No. I don’t remember anyone from there. I suppose there’s no reason for anyone to stand out unless we hung out at their house or they did something heinous. Did we ever hang out there as kids?”

“I’m pretty sure no, never.”

“Then no kids our age twenty years ago and we didn’t know anyone there when we became adults either,” said Lily as I made a note. “I do remember that house going up for sale a few years ago. I remembered thinking it would make a great family home one day. Glad I didn’t buy it! Who did?”

“Carrie and Pete Dugan. Carrie’s pregnant and they have a little girl. They’re in their thirties. She’s a doctor at Montgomery General. Pete is a…” I pulled out the paperwork and ran my finger down the page. “Marketing director.”

“I guess that rules them out. A doctor would dispose of a body better than that; plus, if it was buried during her medical boards, she’d be way too busy. Plus, I bet they have a five-year-plan. A plan that doesn’t include buying the house where they historically buried Roger.”

“I was ninety-five percent sure they didn’t do it but when I hear you say it all out loud, I shoot up to ninety-nine percent. I think I need to plunder my family’s memories and find out what everyone remembers. Between all of us, we should have all the decades covered although Garrett doesn’t remember anything distinctive about the house or its occupants ever.”

“Whoa! You’re calling family dinner.”

“I’ll even cater if it makes them say yes quicker.”

“I’ll supply the booze. Let’s get those lips loosened.”

“I’ll send out a message and get everyone together tonight. Your job is to accept and pressure everyone else too.”

“I don’t think it’ll be hard. Everyone wants to talk about Roger.”

My phone buzzed a message. Garrett was in touch with the forger’s parole officer and he invited me to join the meeting. Then another message pinged through in reply from the jeweler suggesting I drop by whenever I liked.

“I have to go,” I said, “I have leads to follow.”

“Anything I can do?”

“Not yet. Let’s talk later. I might need your help.”

“Yahoo!” said Lily and disconnected.

I texted Garrett asking him when we could meet at the jeweler’s and immediately the text bubble appeared. Now , was his brief message. I messaged the jeweler’s, then shot out a family group text suggesting dinner. As the yeses came in quickly from Lily, then my mom, who said we could barbecue at her house, then a long, irritated text from Serena reminding us she had a young child and a business to run and couldn’t drop everything on short notice — across the room Delgado sighed and put his phone down — but fine, they would make it but she wasn’t bringing a dish, and I grabbed my purse.

“Looking forward to dinner!” I said to Delgado.

“You know she’s just worried,” he said, pausing his slow finger-stabbing at the keyboard.

“Of course, totally read between the lines,” I agreed.

“And she’ll be chomping at the bit to find out everything everyone knows about the body,” he added.

This time, I grinned. Of course that was why she’d been so prompt in replying. “Then I’m sure she’ll want to help too,” I said.

Delgado paused. “Do you think she’ll have information?”

“Despite how terrifying Serena is, I doubt she had anything to do with it.”

Delgado breathed out a sigh of relief.

“You married her,” I pointed out. “She’s not all bad.”

“She’s wonderful,” he said, smiling now. “I’m not sure I’d put murder past her though.”

“Is her ex causing problems?” I wondered.

“A little. He didn’t turn up for two visitations in a row. Then Serena got a shirty email about how life doesn’t revolve around her and he’d take Victoria on Saturday instead. She reminded him that he was the one who pestered her for the last two date changes. He said she was being pissy because he’s getting married and she’s jealous. She had to lie on the floor for a full hour.”

I frowned. “Was she sad?”

Delgado shook his head. “No. She was laughing so hard she couldn’t get up.”

“The idea of anyone being jealous of Ted Whitman’s life is pretty funny.”

“Did you know Victoria isn’t invited to the wedding? They’re having it child-free apparently and then a two-week honeymoon in Bora Bora.”

“She was so cute at your wedding.”

“Wasn’t she?” Delgado smiled, his entire face lighting up. “Alongside your sister, that little girl is the light of my life.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

I headed out to my car, thinking how lucky we all were to get Tony Delgado married into the family. Plus, I was pleased that the family message group was now abuzz with dinner plans although tonight was apparently a no go so Mom had offered to host at the end of the week when everyone agreed they were free. Lily was right: the Roger gossip had spread like wildfire and everyone wanted an excuse to rubberneck. Fine by me. I was going to ride on their nosy coattails in search of answers.

~

The last time I’d seen Claudius Bridge, he’d been concerned about a light-fingered employee. Fortunately, after a week of undercover work, I’d solved his problem, much to his relief.

I’d found Claud to be warm and friendly, with a fine array of bow ties, and was happy that he’d agreed to help, not only on short notice but also with no information provided beyond requesting a valuation. By the time I got there, there was another message from Garrett to say he’d been briefly waylaid but was on his way so I headed inside the jewelry store to wait.

“We didn’t think we’d see you again so soon,” said Claud as he buzzed me into the shop.

“Me neither. How’s Poppins?” I asked, looking around for the big red parrot that usually occupied a perch behind the counter.

Claud pointed and I glanced upwards just in time to see Poppins swoop from the ceiling fan, circle the room, then descend to land on my shoulder. She bobbed her head and Claud passed me a snack to feed her from a box he kept under the table.

“I’m intrigued about your case,” he said. “Not least because I’m hoping it’ll help me finish my career on a high note.”

“Finish your career?”

“It’s about time I retired. I’m seventy-two and my daughter has been talking about it for two years straight,” he said. “My sister’s husband just passed away and she’s living a nice, albeit lonely, life in Florida. She suggested Poppins and I go join her. There’s an apartment above her garage that I can stay in until I find a place of my own. My daughter is already out there with her husband and my nieces and nephews too. I don’t see any of them coming back here so I thought I’d chase them and the weather. The sun, anyway. We’ll see about the hurricanes.”

“What happens to the shop now?”

“I’ll put it up for sale at the end of the month. I own it outright and the apartments above, so, together with my house, I should get a nice sum to relocate with.”

“I hope you have a wonderful new life.”

“Thank you, dear. Now, my assistant is due back from her break any moment so when she gets here, we can go back to my office and you can tell me all about your case. It is a case, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“How thrilling!”

Claud’s assistant, Joanne, joined us, and after a minute of exchanging pleasantries, we headed into his office. The room was dark and cozy with a desk I knew had been inherited from Claud’s father many years before, and a new ergonomic chair that he settled in, apologizing that any creaking came from him and not the chair.

On top of the filing cabinets was a small security system and a large monitor showing the shop front, the rear, and two angles of the shop. I’d barely gotten comfortable when a buzz sounded and we both turned our attention to the monitor playing in real time. “That’s Garrett,” I said, seeing my brother at the door. He flashed his badge before he was buzzed in. For Claud’s benefit, I added, “Garrett is also known as Lieutenant Graves. We’re working together on an unusual case and we need help with a valuation.”

“And you thought of me? Well, I’m honored. Let me get my microscope and loupe,” he added, drawing the microscope that sat on his desk closer before he reached into his drawer and pulled out a magnifying glass. As he laid it on his leather desk pad, Garrett appeared in the doorway.

“Lieutenant Graves,” said Garrett, holding out his hand as he crossed the room. “Thanks for your help, Mr. Bridge. Has Lexi filled you in?”

“Only that you’d like a valuation as part of a case. I can assure you of the utmost discretion.”

“I appreciate that,” said Garrett. “It’s an ongoing case. I also realize it’s short notice so I appreciate you finding the time to assist here.”

Claud turned on his desk lamp and indicated Garrett should take a seat. “I’m intrigued,” he said. “Let’s see what you have.”

Garrett pulled the plastic bag from his pocket, the cloth package inside. He laid the bag on the desk, extracted the cloth wrap, then unwrapped it in his palm. The jewels spilled delightfully onto the desk pad. “The crime scene techs gave them a light scrub,” he said as Claud plucked one of the small gems and held it under his magnifying glass. He placed it on the pad, picking up a second, then a third stone, lining them up as he went. Then he reached for a small blue stone, then a green, setting them all in a row, and finally the large ruby. “You scrubbed these?” he asked, gazing at it before looking up from the microscope, a trace of worry on his face for the first time.

“Not me, personally. The techs did,” said Garrett.

“They didn’t leave any scratches. That’s fortunate.” Claud rested back in his chair, looking between us.

“Oh? Why’s that? Are they real gemstones?” asked Garrett. “Are they worth anything?”

“I can confirm all those I picked up are real,” said Claud, nodding. “I’d like to take a look at the rest but so far there are diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and this ruby. They’ve been cut and polished.” He pointed to each with his forefinger as he spoke.

Garrett whistled. “Well, that’s quite a find. What do you think they’re worth?”

“I can’t give you an absolutely accurate value just yet. I’d like to take a longer look, and call an associate whom I consider an expert, but so far, I’m going to estimate ten.”

“Ten thousand dollars?” asked Garrett, his eyebrows rising. “Wow.”

Claud shook his head slowly, then lifted his gaze to look across us before fixing it on Garrett. “Ten million dollars,” he said.