Chapter 11

Thirty minutes later, Emily and her new detective friends were in Control Center 2 in the San Diego Central Jail. Per her request, each of the five men who had been caught in the museum yesterday had been placed in separate rooms, usually reserved for when those who had been arrested met with their lawyers. Each room had a camera, and Emily's eyes were busy going from monitor to monitor, examining the men.

She supposed if she was straight she could see the appeal. They all had that rugged, don't fuck with me manliness straight women seemed to like, but the idea of letting any of their rough bodies touch her own made Emily shiver.

They were all handcuffed to the table in their rooms, and an armed corrections officer was standing in the corner, watching over each of his charges.

Four of the guys were simply sitting still, giving nothing away via body language or facial expressions. They gave the impression of men who were quite familiar with the prison system, and were ready to live out whatever sentence they got handed to them…and they weren't going to give the authorities the satisfaction of acting nervous or appearing anxious to cut a deal.

But the fifth guy…

He was fidgety. While his right leg bounced up and down as he sat, he was folding and unfolding his hands, running his fingers through his hair, or looking at his fingernails.

"That one," Emily said, pointing at the monitor. "Give me that one."

She heard papers rustling behind her…one of the detectives checking the guy's sheet.

"Jeff Lemke," Bernie said. "Two years in Rikers for armed robbery, three years in—"

Emily waved her hand.

"I don't need to know his history, Detective," she said. She turned away from the monitors. "Andie and I will talk to him."

Tom scoffed. Andie's eyes, meanwhile, widened. Clearly she wasn't expecting Emily's suggestion.

Emily decided to maintain control of the situation before Tom went off on one of his rants.

She approached Andie and stood in front of her. The young detective was wearing a suit: slacks that were easy to run in, a cream-colored button-up blouse with a collar, and a jacket to match the slacks.

"Take off your jacket, Detective," Emily instructed her, before immediately taking the jacket off her. "Also…"

She brought her fingers to Andie's hair, removing the pins that were keeping it controlled in a tight bun.

"Hey!" Andie exclaimed, but did nothing to stop Emily.

Andie's chestnut brown hair fell free, and Emily ran her fingers through it, fluffing it up and neatening it. Emily couldn't help but think the cop was quite cute, especially with her hair down now.

A cute cop with handcuffs…sounds like a splendid way to spend an evening.

"And finally…" she said.

"Hey!" Andie exclaimed again when, quick as a flash, Emily had unbuttoned two more buttons on her blouse.

"Relax, Detective," Emily purred. She quirked an eyebrow. "I know what I'm doing…"

She wanted to laugh at how brightly Andie blushed.

"Alright, let's go," she said.

But Tom stepped in front of her.

"You plan on going in there alone with him?" he asked.

"Not alone, Detective," Emily said. She put her arm around Andie. "I'll have Detective Fuller with me. And she's a trained killer." She looked at Andie. "Isn't that right, Detective?"

"I mean…I wouldn't put it exactly that way," Andie spluttered.

"Trust me, Tom," Emily said. "This requires a woman's touch. Just stay here and watch."

A prison guard escorted the two of them to the room where Jeff Lemke was waiting.

"When we get in," Emily said to Andie as they walked, "let me do the talking for the first few minutes. If I need you, I'll give you a look, and then you can just follow my lead."

At the room, the guard unlocked the reinforced steel door. Emily walked in, followed by Andie.

"You may leave," she said authoritatively to the other guard already in there. She waited until he had left, and then turned her attention to the prisoner. "Hello, Jeff," she said.

Jeff looked between her and Andie, who had taken up position in a corner behind him, watching him carefully.

"Who are you?" Jeff asked.

"She's a detective, Jeff," Emily answered, tilting her head towards Andie. "Careful, she may be very, very cute, but they call her The Terminator down at the station house."

Jeff looked at Andie.

Andie glared at Emily.

Emily winked at Andie.

"Now, Jeff…I'd like to have a chat with you about the robbery yesterday," Emily said in a soothing voice.

Jeff tried to put on a stoic face, but Emily could see what a struggle it was for him. He may be a veteran of prison, but he didn't want to go back, she knew.

She approached the table and then sat on the edge of it, with her left leg raised, and her right stretched out to its entire length, her high-heeled foot on the floor.

The hem of her dress rode up, and her thigh peeked through the slit of the garment.

Jeff's eyes immediately locked onto her thigh, as Emily knew they would. She could even hear his breathing now as he openly ogled her leg.

"You're very lucky, you know," Emily said, keeping her voice seductive. "Because of the value of the paintings you were trying to steal, if you had actually left the museum with them and then gotten caught, you would be looking at a life sentence."

That was enough to draw Jeff's attention away from her leg.

"Really?" he asked. "Just for a robbery?"

Emily nodded. She was lying, but knew Jeff didn't know that. He and his buddies were looking at twenty to twenty-five years—regardless of the fact that they had been caught while still in the museum.

"Those weren't six packs of beer you were trying to steal from Seven-Eleven," she said. "That Rembrandt is priceless. They throw away the key for things like that."

Jeff swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

Emily ran her left hand up her left leg, from the knee, along the length of her thigh. Jeff's eyes followed the movement.

"Do you find me attractive?" Emily asked, putting a note of amusement in her voice.

Jeff nodded.

"Of course I do," he said.

"See, that's why it's good you hadn't left the museum with those paintings, Jeff," Emily cooed. "Because not only will you not get life behind bars, but if you help us out…you'll be able to get out of prison while you're still young enough to have fun with a woman like me."

She gently took hold of his chin, turning his head towards Andie.

"Or with someone very, very cute like The Terminator over there," she added.

"However…" she said, turning his head back to face her, "…if you don't…by the time you walk out of prison, your little pecker will have shriveled back up inside your body. So…we already know somebody put you guys up to doing the robbery. We just need to know who it was."

Jeff took another long look at Emily's leg and licked his lips.

Finally, he turned his eyes up to hers.

"We never met her," he said.

***

In Control Center 2, Tom's mouth dropped open at the words Jeff Lemke had just spoken.

"Son of a bitch!" he muttered.

"She was right?" Bernie asked.

"Guys," Vinnie began, "I gotta tell you that if I was busted for a crime, and she came in to interrogate me with legs like those, I'd give up my own mother."

"Son of a bitch!" Tom muttered again.

***

Emily was in Tom's unmarked police car. At her suggestion, they were heading back to the San Diego Museum of Art. She wanted to look carefully at the security camera footage from yesterday, and the equipment at the station house wasn't adequate enough. Andie, Bernie, and Vinnie had remained at the jail to continue talking to Jeff, although Emily knew they had gotten about as much out of him as they were going to get.

But what they had gotten out of him was an interesting story…

"You're feeling pretty good about yourself, aren't you?" Tom asked dryly, making a left turn.

Emily looked at him and smiled.

"Why shouldn't I, Detective?" she asked.

"You know, you can call me Tom," he replied. "Also, I haven't seen you eat anything yet. I…uh…know a place nearby that serves breakfast all day."

It was a very blue collar attempt to get her alone, having a meal with him, Emily considered. Very blue collar and very high school. Kind of cute in a way, actually, considering his age. What he didn't realize was that if she was straight, what would have worked better was him telling her they were going to stop for breakfast. Sometimes a girl liked being told what she was going to do.

She decided to let him down gently, the best way she could…

"Sorry, Detective," she began, "but although I often eat meals with men, I never do much else with them, so I'm afraid you'll be disappointed in the long run."

She waited for him to decipher what she had just told him.

"Wait…" he said after a few moments. "So, you're…"

Emily nodded.

"As a rainbow," she stated. "And if you make a single joke about where I keep my power tools, I will slap you."

"Well, the offer for breakfast still stands," Tom said gallantly.

"Thanks, but I'm anxious to get to the museum," Emily replied. "Besides, I have all the nutrients I need in here." She waggled her thermos, which she had brought with her.

"What's in there?" Tom asked.

"Coffee," Emily told him.

Tom sighed, but didn't say anything. Emily took that as a sign that he was learning which battles to fight with her.

"So…what kind of female art thief are we looking for?" he asked instead. "Other than rich."

"Someone unexpected," Emily answered.

"In other words, you don't know," Tom quipped.

She rolled her eyes at him, but the truth was…she didn't know who they were looking for. The fact that it was a woman didn't really change the original profile she had come up with when everyone had thought it was a man who had stolen the Shepherdess.

Wealthy.

Patient.

An elegant mind, capable of seeing all the details in the big picture.

She started thinking out loud…

"Jeff told us they never met her," she said. "He told us she provided them everything, including cash up front. He told us they never met to get instructions or equipment from her in the same place twice."

"Yeah, we're gonna be looking into those locations he gave us," Tom said. "See if we can trace ownership."

Emily shook her head.

"She's too smart for that," she warned.

"Well, do you mind if we at least try?" Tom asked.

"Knock yourself out, Detective," Emily said. "But it's a dead end."

"So what do you suggest?" Tom asked. "I mean, with all your vast experience as a law enforcement officer."

Emily ignored the dig.

"All I'm saying is, this woman has the money, the resources, and the connections to outthink the cops," she stated. "She knew those men were going to be caught, and so she knew you were going to eventually learn where she—quote-unquote—met them. Ergo, she knew she needed to make sure those locations couldn't be traced to her!" She paused. "Have you had any luck tracing the gadgets she provided them?"

Tom let out a heavy breath through his nostrils.

"We're still working on it," he said in a surly tone.

It was another dead end, but out of the kindness of her heart she decided not to tell him that.

"Let's just get back to the museum," Emily said. "We have a lot of video to watch."

She waited a couple of blocks before deciding to add one more item…

"Just a reminder…we're looking at the women this time."