Carat Capers

by Dan Kelly

  Mickey said, “I should be so lucky.”

  The line went dead and Chuck starts to wonder if a cravat and the beret would be a little too much.

  Chapter 19

  The next morning Felix faxes pictures of the collections of the three targeted collectors to Pierre Lavelle and follows that up with a phone call. He figures a fax will be safer than an email.

  “Pierre, I just faxed you some pictures and other information concerning some possible acquisitions and would like your opinion on their sales potential. If you feel they are worth the investment, we will proceed.” Felix and Pierre are always careful about what they say on the phone, on the internet, even face-to-face when they’re in unfamiliar places. Big brother has ears everywhere.

  “I will have a look at them as soon as I hang up.” Guardedly he asks, “What have you folks decided regarding my proposal for expanding our relationship?”

  “I’m happy to say we’re all in agreement and we would like to proceed.”

  “Fantastique! Magnifique! You will not regret it. I will get right on setting things up and get back to you when everything is arranged. As to your request, are you going to be in your office for a while?”

  “I should be here for the rest of the day.”

  “Good. Talk with you later. Au revoir mon ami."

  Felix goes out into the store to tell his partners about the phone call to Pierre. They are just finishing up with some customers in the store.

  “I just talked with Pierre and he’ll look over the collections and get back to me before the end of the day. I also told him it was a go regarding our participating in the acquisition of other items with an attractive price tag and he will get back to me when he has delivery options arranged.

  “By the way, what have you two found out about this PI, Chuck Ferguson? Is he approachable? Can he be manipulated? Does he have any chinks in his armor, personally or through his employees?”

  Amos shakes his head and says, “From what we’ve been able to learn about him, his reputation as a private investigator is beyond reproach. When he’s hired to do a job, he delivers in a timely fashion without padding the bill. His operation is international in scope and has been growing every year during the ten year period he’s been in business. Our sources tell us he has an exceptionally keen mind, he’s has no skeletons in his closet that any one knows of, he has built a proliferate network of informants all over the world and he hires only the best and treats his employees fairly, respectfully, with no qualms about sharing the wealth. Needless to say, he doesn’t have any employee loyalty issues. Felix, this guy makes Mr. Clean look like Pigpen and Honest Abe look like a habitual prevaricator. The guy is a straight arrow. One other thing we found out is he’s a former Green Beret and keeps himself in shape. He’s definitely not someone we should take lightly. He could be a big headache for us. If we have to take him on, we better make damn sure we have a big advantage.”

  Jake added, “Smart or dumb, Green Beret or not, he’s not bullet proof. If he gets in our way, we have no choice but to remove him, permanently.”

  Felix says, “You’ll get no argument from us, Jake, but we shouldn’t go looking for trouble either. If we can keep Mr. Ferguson in the dark about us, that’s the preferred course of action. I think we should keep him in our sights at all times until we’ve accomplished what we’ve set out to do. If we know where he is, we know where not to be. Perhaps we could provide him with some false but appealing leads to keep him occupied and out of our hair.”

  Both Amos and Jake nod in agreement, but have to refrain from further conversation to wait on two couples who have just entered the boutique.

  Felix returns to the office to think about possible phony clues they could leave at their next targets to lead both Ferguson and the cops down roads that will lead to nowhere, but take a while to get there.

  Chapter 20

  Five days have passed since Chuck left for Paris and Mickey and Chuck’s people have been relentlessly burning up the phone lines, pounding away at their computer keyboards and wearing out mouse pads. They’ve managed to eliminate a lot of possibles with respect to buyers of safe cracking and other security equipment, but there are still a lot of buyers to check out and they’re starting to think that this might not be the best way to be spending their time.

  Finding jewelers in New York City with the first names Mickey overheard in Antonelli’s is not proving to be much easier. If a business owner, whether the business is a sole proprietorship, a limited partnership or even a corporation, wants to keep his name out of the public eye, it’s fairly easy to do by using other people as fronts. Mickey’s thinking that the people they’re after would be independent jewelers, boutique owners who don’t have to answer to a lot of bosses and therefore can do their plotting without having to worry about raising suspicions. Even so, the list that has been assembled so far has over fifty names on it and it continues to grow. Mickey’s hoping that the people he’s trying to get in his sights are over confident enough in their ability to leave no clues at the scenes of their robberies and thereby elude authorities and therefore will have no concerns about using their true names when dealing with the public. However, even if they do find jewelers with these names there’s no guarantee that they’ll be the ones they’re after.

  Since no new employees were found at the companies that were hit that might have opened some doors for them, the only door left open to them is to locate jewelers with the right names and put them under close surveillance with the hope that something will pop.

  It’s pushing five o’clock on a Friday afternoon, so the usual stampede for cars, buses, subways and trains is just about to begin. In a few minutes, the streets will be jammed and the subways and trains packed with commuters as thousands flee the pressures of the work place and head for the suburbs for a weekend of fun and relaxation to siphon off the tension that has built up during the work week. During the week, the end of the business day traffic can be frustrating, but for some reason at the beginning of a weekend, especially a long holiday weekend, getting out of the city can become a nightmare in the making.

  Since Mickey and his sister Cheryl are single and aren’t challenged with the responsibility of raising a family, they both elected to live in the Big Apple and avoid the commuting hassles, even if doing so was considerably more expensive.

  Mickey’s just about to leave his office when his phone rings. It’s Cheryl, “Hi, sis, what’s up?”

  “What are your plans for dinner?”

  “I don’t have any. Putting a TV dinner in the microwave and opening a bottle of beer doesn’t require any planning.”

  “How about joining me at Elmer’s for his Friday Special fish fry?”

  Elmer’s is a family owned seafood restaurant around the corner from Cheryl’s apartment building and serves the best selection of fresh fish in the city. His homemade dipping sauces are the envy of his fellow restaurateurs because they would enhance any entrée, not just fish, and Elmer won’t sell a drop of it.

  “Sounds like a great way to start the weekend. When?”

  “How about I meet you there at six? That will gives us enough time to get home, freshen up, get into some more casual clothes and then hightail it over to Elmer’s to tantalize our taste buds before we overwhelm them with delight.”

  “Tantalize our taste buds before we overwhelm them with delight? Are you already a few drinks into the weekend? You know too much alcohol numbs the taste buds.”

  Laughing she said, “I haven’t had a sip, yet. I’m so glad this week is over. I want to find out if that old saying has any validity.”

  “What old saying?”

  “Drinking to forget. Have you ever tried it and if you did, did it work?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

  Laughing some more she said, “See you at six.” and then she hung up.

  “An evening with Cheryl couldn’t have come at a better time. Her sense of humor and insight could be just what
I need to get a new perspective on things. Hey, maybe I’ll have flounder tonight because it would be the perfect fish to symbolize my investigation’s progress to date, floundering all over the place. Funny man, Morretti. Look out, Rickles, I’m breathing down your neck.”

  At six o’clock, Mickey and Cheryl are ensconced in a corner booth facing the doorway to the restaurant waiting for the waitress to come over to take their order. Looking at her brother Cheryl says, “You look a little rough around the edges, Mickey. You’ve gotta be putting in a lot of hours on these gem robberies. Have you been able to uncover anything that might point you in the right direction?”

  Mickey brings her up to date on what has been discovered and expresses his frustration with the findings. “Everything we’ve come up with so far is proving of little value. Our efforts and sheer luck have opened avenues for investigation, but so far we’re coming up with nothing to hang our hats on. Chuck Ferguson is in Paris with one of the victims, Vicki Valance, trying to get a face-to-face with this Pierre Lavelle and see what develops. He’s got a 24/7 surveillance on the guy, but so far nothing has come from that either.

  “Another disheartening development has also come down the pike. We think we’ve got a mole in the department passing on information to these gem grabbers. Clancy has me reporting my progress to him verbally, leaving no written reports lying around the office.”

  Shaking his head he finishes up with, “On top of all this is the added anxiety of waiting for more shoes to drop, knowing that there could be more people dying yet wanting another shoe to drop because there’s a chance that finally a decent clue will drop along with it. How’s that for sick?”

  “That’s not sick, Mick. It’s just a good cop wanting to get his hands on some very bad scum. Hey, let’s not talk shop anymore. Let’s just enjoy the food and surroundings and each other’s company. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “How’s your love life?”

  “In the shitter just like this case.”

  “Mickey! Not another word about work for the rest of the evening or you’ll be wearing your food instead of eating it. Got it?”

  Smiling he said, “Oops. I’m glad we haven’t ordered yet. I don’t look my best in fish and chips.”

  The place is hopping and it takes another five minutes before the waitress takes their order, but only a minute to set a 16 oz. glass of Michelob Amber Boch for Mickey and a glass of the house pinot grigio for Cheryl before them. A restaurant frequently makes more money on the alcohol they provide than on the food from the kitchen, hence the better service where alcohol is concerned. Good food, however, often provides the stimulus for the pleasures offered by the bar, a winning combination that is hard to beat. Cheryl kids him with, “I swear you drink that stuff only because of its Mickey nickname, Mickey.”

  “Well, you’re swearing in vain because I enjoy other boch beers as well. Boch beers are for the discriminating suds sipper. That other stuff calling itself beer is for ignoramuses.” Holding up his glass he finishes with, “Cheers, skal, prost, Sláinte, Salute, Noroc, etc. etc.”

  “Show off. You’re just letting everyone within earshot know that you’re a beer boozer.”

  “Yeah, but a discriminating one.”

  Laughing, they settle in for an enjoyable evening, something they both need to recharge their emotional batteries. The delicious meal and light conversation are just what the doctor ordered. While waiting for the dessert menu, Mickey’s cell phone vibrates in his pocket. It’s dispatch and his buddy, Tony Appecelli. “Mickey, I don’t know what kind of weekend you are planning, but whatever it is you can forget about it. You’ve become a real popular guy. I’ve got calls coming in from detectives and their higher ups in Palm Beach, Florida, Kenilworth, Illinois and Nashville, Tennessee and they all want to speak with you.”

  “What about?”

  “Record setting precious gem heists that have just gone down in their cities, all within minutes of each other. I figured you’d want to know right away.”

  You were right and thanks, Tony. Does Clancy know?”

  “Not yet. I figured when I called him it would best if I could tell him you were already on it. He’s my next call.”

  “Good thinking my friend. The drinks are on me the next time we get the chance to imbibe.”

  When he hung up Cheryl said, “No dessert, huh?”

  “I’m afraid not, sis. Those other shoes I’ve been waiting for have just dropped big time and have made a lot of noise.”

  He fills her in as he waves to the waitress to bring them their bill. “I’m going to head back to the office and also put in a call to Chuck so he can put feelers out to his network for anything that might help us nab these guys. Thanks for the invite, sis. It was nice to think and talk about something else other than these robberies for a while.”

  “I enjoyed it too, Mickey. The only thing I could enjoy more would be to have the opportunity to prosecute these creeps.”

  “I’ll do my best to give you the chance, Madam Prosecutor.”

  Cheryl pays the bill over the usual objections of her brother whenever she does so. “You were my guest tonight. The next one is on you, okay?”

  “Okay, but it doesn’t do my masculine suds sipping reputation any good.”

  She laughs, but the concern she has about the danger her brother might be confronting takes a lot of the fun out of it.

  Chapter 21

  When Mickey gets back to his office, his phone is ringing. It’s Clancy.

  “Mickey, these gem robberies are getting out of hand. The people behind them are not your run of the mill thieves that’s for sure. They have extensive knowledge of the precious gem arena, they have exceptional expertise in separating the wheat from the chaff when it comes to deciding what stones to take, they’re very intelligent and do their homework before moving in on a target and they’re not afraid to kill if the situation requires it. They are well organized and there has to be more than three people involved to pull off so many robberies so close together all over the globe.

  “I’m thinking that perhaps the way we should proceed is to form a task force made up of law enforcement personnel from all the cities where these robberies have taken place. Pooling our resources and sharing our findings and ideas may be the most effective way to go. When you talk with the detectives from Palm Beach, Kenilworth and Nashville run the idea by them and get back to me with their response. Also, run the idea by that Captain you know in the Greenwich, Conn police department who contacted you about the gem robberies in his city. I believe you said his name was Roy Conklin. Maybe he might want to get involved too.”

  “Will do sir. Should I call you at home or on your cell when I have some feedback?”

  “Call me on my cell anytime you have something for me.”

  It takes Mickey over an hour and a half to get in touch with the people who have called him and get their stories. The MOs are identical to what Mickey is dealing with in Manhattan, down to the way premises were accessed, the way the safes were opened and, unfortunately, the way lives were taken without any hesitancy. All of the robberies took place at midnight, local times, and the robbers were again picky as to what they took.

  In Palm Beach, a variety of rubies and sapphires were taken while other beautiful and valuable gems were left untouched. In Kenilworth, diamonds and emeralds were snatched and other gems were ignored. In Nashville, only one exquisite tourmaline was taken, a fortune in other precious stones left behind. In the Palm Beach robbery, two security guards were gassed, but one regained consciousness before the robbers left and was shot. He’s in the hospital in intensive care. In the Kenilworth robbery, there were no security people present as the gems were kept in a safe at the owner’s home. He awoke during the robbery and when he went to investigate with a hand gun for protection, he never got the chance to defend himself as he was shot and killed from behind. In the Nashville robbery, the lone security guard was gassed and got some cuts and a severe concussion when he fe
ll and hit his head on the edge of a jewelry case. He’s also in the hospital under observation.