by K. T. Tomb
“I know,” Carol said. “Please, come in. Have a seat. Help yourself to anything. ”
She motioned toward the couch, and then handed him another wine spritzer, swapping out the empty bottle in his hand. Carol walked behind the bar and brought out a black briefcase. Charlie noticed the combination lock at the top next to the handle, as well as a fingerprint recognition scanner beside the lock.
“I’m sure you are curious as to why I asked you here, Mr. Colton,” Carol said, placing the case on the small coffee table. “The truth is, I’d like to hire your services. I understand that you may have recently come into contact with Mr. Lee?”
She glanced at him, raising her eyebrows.
“I couldn’t confirm or deny having met with anyone regarding my professional services, Carol. I don’t discuss my cases with others,” Charlie said. “We have a strict confidentiality clause with all of our clients, whether potential or otherwise. I cannot and will not confirm if Mr. Lee is one of them.”
“That is what I thought you might say,” Carol said. “That is largely why I wanted to show you this; because of your discretion.”
Carol crouched on the opposite end of the table, placed her fingers gently on the number dial and spun each carefully into position. Then she placed her finger onto the scanner until she heard a faint click. She turned the case toward Charlie so he could see the contents as she raised the lid. The full moon floated down into the range of the sunroof, casting silver light on them as she opened the case. Charlie saw the creamy green glow of jade. The bejeweled necklace bore a striking resemblance to the one worn by the performer and then destroyed by Benjamin Lee that very morning. Only this one was authentic. This close to it, Charlie knew it right away as the real deal. His trained eye recognized the gleam on the surface in the moonlight, radiating a dim green light as if from within. Carol watched his face, seeing the rapture there.
“May I?” Charlie asked, as he hesitantly reached for the necklace.
Carol nodded. Charlie carefully reached for the necklace, lifting it out of the velvet enclosure within the case. He lifted it before his face, all else fading away as he became consumed with the magic of the cool, smooth item in his hand.
Without warning, he found he was being kissed. Carol had leaned across the table, taken his face in her hands in a gentle but firm grip and was kissing him full on the lips, dancing her tongue in a teasing way against his mouth. He pulled back instantly.
“What are you doing?” he asked coldly.
“I’m so sorry,” she gushed, placing her hands on her face.
Kneeling there in the moonlight, Charlie briefly thought she looked like a praying mantis.
“You just looked so... I mean, I could see it in your face. The way you looked at the jade. You were so overcome by it. You understand the magic of this piece. I thought that I was the only one to see these things in such a way. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I’m sorry.”
Charlie stood to leave and began walking toward the door.
“Wait,” Carol said. “I haven’t explained anything yet. What happened just now isn’t why I asked you here.”
“Go ahead then. Tell me why you have this necklace. Why do you have the authentic piece after having sold a very close likeness of it to Benjamin Lee?”
“That was an unfortunate necessity,” Carol said, standing to meet Charlie’s accusatory gaze. “What I am asking you to do is to take this one back to the States with you. You are very influential. I’m sure it would be easy to get it past security.”
Charlie crossed his arms.
“And then?”
“You would meet my contact there and deliver the necklace to him. Then you would receive your payment. That’s it. Simple, really.”
“Why would I do that? The piece belongs in a museum, not with some private collector, hidden away from the world.”
“You see,” Carol continued, stepping to the side, carefully circling toward the door. “It is precisely for that reason I wanted to speak to you. You, of all people, should understand the importance of how difficult it is to acquire these pieces and restore them to their proper place. This piece, this jade necklace, belongs to the descendants of an ancient Mayan tribe. My contact in the states has found one of the descendants.”
She walked toward him, still trying to position herself between Charlie and the door.
“Just think how much more satisfying it would be knowing that you have returned an artifact to the very family from which it came, rather than sitting on some cold shelf somewhere in a dusty glass box. This necklace is not a dead thing, Charlie. It was made by an artisan so many years ago. The blood that flowed in the veins of whoever made this necklace flows in the heart of the one to which it would be returned; life returning to life. Think about it, Charlie.”
“Why should I believe you?” Charlie said.
“Do you have a reason not to?” Carol demurred. “Besides, whatever Mr. Lee is paying you, I can pay you more.”
“I’m not for sale. I work on principle,” Charlie said.
He turned to walk out only to discover that Carol had placed herself firmly between him and the door.
“Really?” she said, placing her hands on either side of the door frame. “How much principle does a quarter of a million dollars buy?”
Charlie stopped in his tracks.
“A quarter of a million dollars,” Carol said, enunciating the syllables. “Think about how much that would fund future projects. How many artifacts you could find and restore, returning them to their rightful place. For that amount of money, you could open the Charles Colton Museum of Ancient History, right there in San Francisco.”
“Why can’t you take it back to the states?” Charlie asked. “Surely, you must travel quite a bit in your line of work.”
“Don’t be silly,” Carol said. “I’m not naïve. I know I’m being watched. I’m under suspicion for smuggling. If customs found this on me, I’d be finished. You, however, are squeaky clean. They won’t even glance in your direction.”
“Carol,” he said, “my answer is final. I’m not going to be helping you. I need you to step aside.”
“Hmm,” she said, still standing quite relaxed with her arms against the door frame. “I was afraid you might say that. Too bad. I like you, Charlie. It’s a real shame.”
Charlie sighed, tired of this charade.
“What is?” he asked. “What’s a real shame?”
“What happens next,” Carol said with a smile. “You see, I’m not going to move from this door. The only way out is for you to move me out of the way. If I were to sustain any injuries in the process, that would only further the evidence that you tried to take advantage of me on my own yacht.”
“What? I didn’t...”
“Of course not. Your wife is ill, is that correct? Is it chronic, what she suffers from? It’s so unfortunate. Tell me, Charlie. Have you been able to consummate your marriage on this trip?”
Charlie took a step toward her.
“How dare you!”
“If I am found, bloody and bruised on the floor, I could easily explain that I had to defend myself against you attacking me. Your reputation and career would be ruined, and quite possibly your marriage...”
“Ella would never believe...”
“You are probably right,” Carol said after a moment of consideration. “It is a bit farfetched, isn’t it? That is why it will be much simpler for me to just kill you instead.”
With those words, she produced a small pistol, a silver six-shooter, from behind the wall and pointed it at Charlie’s forehead.
“Okay, Carol,” Charlie said, holding his hands up to her. “Let’s talk about this. We can both still walk away from this.”
“I don’t see that happening. You know I have the authentic necklace. It’s only a matter of time before investigating the forgeries leads back to my source. Once that’s found out, I’m dead. They’ll kill me. These people don’t mess around; I have no choice. If I
want to live, I have to kill you.”
As she spoke, small tears began to form at the corners of her eyes, slowly they rolled down her cheeks. Charlie believed with some irony that this might be the first time he had ever seen her express a true emotion.
“If you want out, Carol. I can help you. You can get into witness protection. I know people who can help...”
Carol laughed loudly through her tears, her hand shaking slightly.
“Right,” she said. “Become another person? You see the problem there is that I like being Carol Chapman. I’m extremely successful and rich. Don’t you get it? Look around you, for Christ’s sake! I don’t want to give this up. I worked like hell to get to where I am today and I’ll do anything to keep it all! Even if it means I have to....” Her words dissolved as she broke into sobs and the arm holding the gun began to drop toward the floor.
Charlie took a step toward Carol. She raised the gun again, straightening her posture and strengthening her resolve. Her eyes went cold; the skin underneath them looked white.
“You’re not a killer, Carol. I can see it in your eyes.” Charlie took a breath and said, “I felt it when you kissed me.”
“Don’t question me, and don’t mock me.”
Without another moment’s hesitation, she pulled the trigger, firing a bullet directly at Charlie Colton. The sound of breaking glass echoed through the marina.
Chapter Seven
Ella stepped under the yellow police tape surrounding the crime scene in the sitting room of the yacht.
Suppressed panic raged inside her. Officers scurried here and there taking pictures and setting up numbered decals. The briefcase holding the jade necklace had been bagged and marked as evidence, along with the recording of the evening’s conversation between Carol and Charlie. The police had found the recording in Charlie’s pocket when they arrived on the scene. Ella saw Sergeant Laurent across the room taking notes on a large clipboard.
“Ella,” he greeted her as she approached. “Are you alright? You have been through a great deal this evening.”
“A bit shaken,” she replied, “But I’ll be fine, thank you.”
“You were right to call us when you did.”
“Most of it was Detective Yates’ idea,” Ella said. “He should be given some, if not all, of the credit.”
The Sergeant shuffled his feet and his eyes found an interesting spot over Ella’s head.
“Yes, yes, of course. Yates,” he muttered.
“Um...” Ella began. “I don’t mean to interrupt the investigation, but... may I see him? Are you finished with your questions?”
“Of course.”
The Sergeant led her to the door and gestured to the ambulance.
“He’s there. They should be finished with their questions now. I’ll walk you over.”
At the edge of the water sat two ambulances with their lights slowly revolving, casting dancing blue shadows over the hubbub. One had the back doors open with a collection of police surrounding the figure sitting with his back to her, wrapped in a brown blanket and holding a cup of hot coffee. Paramedics applied an oxygen mask to his face intermittently, and another just finished checking his blood pressure. Ella and Laurent approached.
“Gentlemen, I believe we are done here.” The sergeant spoke in an authoritative tone.
One officer glanced his way and he nodded toward Ella, who stood by watching. The officers drifted off and Ella approached the blanketed figure.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
Charlie turned toward her.
“I am now,” he said, dropping the blanket and wrapping his arms around Ella.
She fell into his embrace and for a moment neither of them spoke.
“You scared me to death!” she cried finally, her voice muffled by his shoulder.
“Shh, I’m alright. It’s alright...” Charlie said, in a reassuring tone. “If the police hadn’t shown up when they did, I might not be able to say so. You saved my life by calling them.”
“It was Yates who thought we should follow you. I’m glad we did. He had done some research this afternoon after I spoke with him and his suspicions pointed at Carol Chapman. It was his idea to have the recorder transmitting the conversation as well. That made me able to hear what was happening and I called the police as soon as she started threatening you.”
Charlie chuckled. “I’m surprised you didn’t call them sooner, all things considered.”
Ella smiled. “Believe me, I thought about it.”
“Where is Yates anyhow?”
“He should be at the hospital. He apparently sustained some injuries. Are you okay to walk?” Ella said.
“Yes, I’m fine. The bullet didn’t even graze me,” Charlie said.
“I don’t even know how that is possible but I’m glad you’re okay,” Ella said, placing her head on his chest as if to reassure herself with the feel of his heartbeat. “And what of Ms. Chapman?”
“She’s in custody,” Charlie answered. “Sergeant Laurent said they had plenty of evidence for an arrest.”
“Well, good riddance. Shall we head over to the hospital to see the detective who saved your life?”
“I would like that very much,” Charlie answered.
***
A half an hour later, Ella and Charlie walked through the swinging doors of the Cayman Island Hospital. Checking in with the front desk, they were directed to room 322, where Lander Yates was resting comfortably. After a short trip in the elevator and down the mint green antiseptic hallways, they found the room. Ella knocked lightly on the open door.
“Are you up for visitors?” she said.
A cheery Detective Yates sat up on the bed, eating what appeared to be a large meatball sandwich. He had several napkins draped around his torso over his blue hospital gown. His left foot was elevated with a large cast wrapped around it.
“Come in,” he cried out in a booming voice. When he spotted Charlie he added, “Well, there’s the man of the hour. I’m Detective Lander Yates; pleased to meet you.”
He wiped a hand on one of the napkins and extended it to Charlie.
“The pleasure is all mine,” Charlie said, returning a hearty handshake. “I can’t believe you came through the skylight like you did. You saved my life. I owe you a huge debt, sir.”
“Nonsense,” Yates replied, waving a hand away. “That’s the most fun I’ve had in years. I can say that now that it’s all over.” He punctuated his statement with a hearty laugh.
Ella interjected. “How is your foot, Detective?”
“Broken,” he said. “I’m out of commission for six to eight weeks. But boy, seeing the look on her face was worth it.”
“So let me get this straight,” Charlie said. “Everything is a bit of a blur after she pulled the gun on me. What happened, exactly?”
“Have a seat and Ella and I can recount our end of it.”
He motioned to the visitor’s chairs next to his bed, and Ella and Charlie pulled them up to sit next to the bed.
“As you already know, you had the recorder in your pocket the whole time documenting the conversation. The wireless transmitter allowed us to hear the conversation from our setup in my car.”
“In the parking lot of the marina?” Charlie asked. “It transmits that far?”
“Oh, yes,” Yates explained. “I still have most of my equipment from my days on the force. Anyhow, we were able to hear both ends of the conversation. We have her on record saying that she was involved in the smuggling ring, and that she wanted you to help her smuggle the necklace. When she started to threaten you, that’s when we called for backup. Unfortunately, they hadn’t arrived yet by the time she pulled her gun on you.”
Ella had pulled her lips into a thin line hearing the details of the evening recounted.
“I hate even hearing about it again,” she said.
Charlie had his arm resting on the back of the seat and gently rubbed her shoulder in comfort.
“Honey, I�
��m fine,” he said.
“I know,” Ella said. “But she could have...I just don’t know what I would have done.”
“But she didn’t,” Charlie interrupted. “Now, I believe he was just reaching the good part?”
He motioned for the detective to continue.
“I realized that someone needed to get in there right away, and the station hadn’t responded yet, so Ella and I decided to intercede. She came in the front door and I, well...as you know, I came in through the sunroof. Ella tackled her from behind, throwing off her aim and I pulled you aside, out of the line of fire. That’s about the time the police arrived and secured the situation.”
Charlie raised his eyebrows toward Ella with a small smirk.
“I see.”
Ella shrugged.
“We did what we had to do. You would have done the same for me.”
“So let me understand,” Charlie said. “While they were checking my vitals, I heard one of the paramedics say that Carol had sustained a black eye during the scuffle. Would you know anything about that, Ella?”
“She must have fallen on her face,” Ella responded looking down.
“I find it hard to believe that when you tackled her onto a luxury plush carpet and oriental rug, she landed on her face hard enough for it to bruise up like that.”
“I didn’t say she fell on the floor,” Ella insisted with a grin.
“But Mrs. Colton,” Detective Yates interjected with a thoughtful tone, “you said while we were still in the car, right around the time that she kissed Mr. Colton, you said you were going to punch her in the face. I remember that quite clearly, in fact.”
Charlie suppressed a laugh, as Ella glared at Yates.
“What will happen to her? To Ms. Chapman?” Ella asked. “What charges will be brought against her, I mean.”
Yates paused and thought.
“She will probably be able to cut a deal. If she rolls on her sources, she’ll get a reduced sentence.”
“Hmm,” Ella said. “Well, Detective. We should let you get your rest. You’ve had a big day and we need to start packing for our flight back.”