Carat Capers

by Dan Kelly

  After a very long couple of minutes, once again greed rules the day as both of them synchronously take a coin form their pockets. Seeing this Jacob says, “Okay, odds or evens it is. Felix, you make the call and on my count of three you both flip your coin.”

  Felix calls odds, the coins are flipped and they both land on the office carpet with their heads looking at the ceiling. Jacob says, “Okay, Felix, you’re the man. There’s an empty warehouse on the corner of 27th Street and 5th Avenue. It’s been empty for months now and there’s only simple pad locks on the doors. I’ve recently checked the place out as a possible acquisition which we could use to store some of our inventory if we installed the proper security equipment. Nobody would suspect that valuable precious gems would be kept there. It has been used for years as a furniture warehouse. That’s where I’ll park the armored van after I’ve gotten my hands on one. If I’m not there, come into work and act normal because something will have gone terribly wrong.

  “I’ll meet you there at 9:30 tomorrow morning where we can change into the uniforms and get a feel for the traffic conditions along the various routes to Kennedy. If traffic is moderate, we can get there in twenty to thirty minutes. If it’s heavy or if there’s an accident, it could take a couple of hours. I don’t want to be conspicuous by showing up too early or too late.

  “After we intercept the shipment, we’ll return to the warehouse and transfer it to one of our cars and sometime after midnight we’ll ditch the armored van somewhere within Morretti’s precinct. That should rattle his cage.”

  Dumping the armored van in Morretti’s lap definitely appeals to Felix and Amos and even brings a smile to Felix’s face despite the fact he is still reeling from the loss of the coin toss.

  By eleven that evening, Jacob has the armored van and uniforms in the warehouse with no one at Brinks or the cleaner’s the wiser. Heading for home, Jacob’s thinking, “I hope I didn’t use up all my luck getting this stuff. I sure would like some leftovers for the big day tomorrow.”

  Chapter 25

  At 7:30 the next evening, Chuck knocks on Vicki’s door and when she opens it the phone in her room rings. They have dinner reservations for 7:45 and since the restaurant is only ten minutes away by cab they should get there in time. A lengthy phone conversation, however, would have them missing out on a fine meal as the establishment doesn’t hold reservations. She briefly thinks about not answering it, but her curiosity gets the better of her.

  “Hello.”

  She should have banked her curiosity because what she was hearing was completely decimating her appetite. Jacob’s luck has stayed the course and her office manager was giving her the bad news. “The collection you bought at the last estate auction was intercepted at the airport by phony Brinks people and they and the gems have disappeared. The shipment should have arrived here by 12:30 this afternoon and when no armored car showed up I called Wells Fargo to see what the delay was and was told that the pickup had been cancelled. I called the airport and was told that it was picked up by Brinks soon after the plane landed. The Brinks guards had all of the required documentation, so the shipment was released to them. I immediately notified Lt. Morretti, the insurance company and then called you.

  “I’m so sorry, Vicki. It sure looks like someone has it in for us. Obviously, the insurance company wasn’t overjoyed to hear the news and I wouldn’t be surprised to see our rates and deductible jump sky high if the policy isn’t cancelled outright.”

  Although she is shocked that she would be hit twice in such a short period of time, her shock is quickly replaced with an anger that has her face purple with rage which turns her beautiful face into a mask of pure hatred and lust for revenge. It was not a pretty sight to see and Chuck has a ring side seat. Fighting to get her temper under control, she looks at Chuck and tells her office manage to repeat what she has just told her to Chuck.

  Chuck said, “I’m on, go ahead.” When the office manager finishes he says, “Vicki and I will have to take a hard look at what has transpired over here and maybe we’ll come up with something that’ll give us a clue as to how this was made possible. She’ll get back to you when she decides what her/our next step will be. Bye.”

  Vicki’s face has somewhat returned to a normal shade, but she’s still one pissed off woman. “How in hell was anyone able to get the shipping information and appropriate documentation for the collection? These auction houses are handling these types of shipments all the time and are well aware of the need for secrecy and strict adherence to time tested procedures for moving valuables all over the world.”

  “Vicki, I don’t think the auction house is at fault here. The culprit or culprits will be found elsewhere. The only plausible explanation to me as to how the pertinent information and documentation was obtained is someone gained access to the auction house’s data base.”

  “You mean someone hacked their way into the auction house’s computer system?”

  “It’s the only feasible way this could have come about. Sure, there’s the possibility that there’s a paid snitch employed by the auction house, but employees of operations like these are vetted quite thoroughly, reducing that likelihood to almost nil.”

  “I would think an auction operation like this one would have the latest in firewalls and other software designed to prevent this kind of thing from happening.”

  “No computer system, no matter how sophisticated, is completely immune to hackers if they have the time and determination to do so. It can be made extremely hard to do, but not impossible. There are some very smart people out there in the high tech world, some honorable, some not, and they are constantly butting heads to see who’s the smartest.

  “I think a good place to start looking for the information is Pierre Lavelle. He knows about the collection, he knows that you have bought it and he knows you had to ship it somewhere, probably back to the States since you’re an American. We have reason to believe he’s a player in these gem robberies from what we’ve heard about him and his social status, financial resources and contacts certainly would help him gain access to all kinds of information. I think we should put this dude under a lot closer scrutiny than just placing tails on him.”

  “How would we do that?”

  “Well, this is where things might get a little dicey. Pierre’s chateau is huge so it would be difficult if not impossible to plant a bug in every room in the place, but we could tap the main phone line into the chateau. The dicey part is that the French are just as touchy as the Americans about doing that sort of thing without a court order and if an American is caught doing it on their soil they just might throw away the key.”

  “What other options are there to invade the man’s space?”

  “Right now I can’t think of any.”

  “Do you know someone who can do that sort of thing?”

  With a villainous smirk on his face he said, “Ferguson Investigations strives to hire only the best of the best when it comes to sleuths and a prerequisite is that the individual be a multi–talented sneak. Getting a tap on the phone line won’t be a problem, hearing something that will help us nail these guys is another matter. These guys are far from stupid and will be very careful about what they say on the phone, but they’re human and can screw up just like the rest of us. If they do, we’ll hear it. I also want to place a tracking devise on Pierre’s car. This will take some of the pressure off my guys who are tailing him because they can hang further back and if they lose sight of him they’ll have him on the screen.”

  “Chuck there aren’t any words to adequately describe how much I want these people to pay for what they’re doing. They steal and kill without any conscience and they’re messing with my livelihood.”

  “Since you brought it up, I know you own a very successful business and have way more than a few bucks in your bank account, but even with insurance these hits have got to be putting big dents in your financial foundation. Will you be able to weather the storm?”

  “Until
the insurance company settles, my cash flow will be under a lot of strain and my purchases will have to be limited. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on whose looking glass you’re looking through, a good chunk of the acquisition capital for the shipments seized belonged to clients I was representing or I’d really be hurting.”

  “Well, we’ve got a lot more going for us than we did when you first were hit. It appears these people are going to continue with these robberies and in a way that’s a good thing. Too much cockiness often leads to getting coldcocked. These folks are really pushing their luck and it’s just a matter of time before that luck runs out. The harder they push it, the faster and harder they’ll crash into the wall of justice.”

  With a smile that manages to erase the last vestiges of her anger she says, “Well now, a snoop who indulges in the use of metaphors, similes? I always confuse the two. That’s got to be some kind of a rarity. Perhaps you’d let me auction your services off to recoup some of my losses.”

  “If you start the bidding at a buck, you might suck some suckers into action. I doubt the final bid would be enough to pay for a dinner for two at the local McDonald’s.”

  “There you go again with the metaphors. I sure hope it isn’t catching.”

  “I’m glad to see your sense of humor’s back. Hang in there, Vicki. These bastards are going to be caught. Don’t you doubt that for a minute.”

  “Do you always offer ironclad guarantees to your clients?”

  “Only to the pretty ones.”

  Before that comment can lead to other things, there’s a knock on the door. It is the concierge. “Madame Valance, I just received a call from the restaurant where I made reservations for you and your associate. They said that you had not arrived and want to know if they should hold the reservation or give the table to someone else.”

  Somewhat flabbergasted Vicki said, “They actually called you before they cancelled our reservations? What are you holding over the maître d’s head, life in prison?”

  With a polite laugh the concierge replied, “No, Madame. We refer a lot of business to them and it’s one way they can show us they appreciate it. What should I tell them?”

  Looking at Chuck for conformation with a raised eye brow and getting it with a nod of his head she says, “Tell them we’re on our way.”

  As she grabs her purse and heads for the door she adds, “Hell, you can’t fight bad guys on an empty stomach.”

  Chapter 26

  About mid-afternoon the next day, Chuck gets a call at the hotel from Mickey Morretti and they bring each other up to date with what has been going on in their neck of the woods. Mickey fills Chuck in on the latest round of robberies and the formation of the joint task force. Chuck tells him about tapping the phone line into the chateau and putting the tracking device on Pierre’s car.

  “Mickey, with all these robberies going down there’s bound to be increased phone traffic and meetings with prospective buyers. If Pierre is the conduit for these gems to be displayed for sale to select buyers who aren’t particular about the source of the stones, we’ll have a good chance of getting confirmation of our suspicions about him as well as the names and locations of some of the people he’s working with. Once these people are identified, you can then bring in the appropriate law enforcement officials both here in Europe and in the States and devise a plan to blow their entire operation sky high and bring them down.”

  “The way you’ll be getting this information will give us some legal headaches, but I have a sister who’s an Assistant DA here in Manhattan and she knows all kinds of remedies to make the pain go away when New York City is the patient. I’ve seen her come up with some amazing cures for the sicknesses that some of our citizens foist upon the Big Apple. Are the tap and tracking device in place yet?”

  “As of 10:30 this morning local time.” It would have been done earlier, but putting the tracking device on the car proved to be quite problematic. The guy drives a Bugatti EB 110 sport sports car. That sucker has a 60 valve four turbo V 12 engine that has a top speed of 213 mph and does 0 to 60 in 3.4 seconds. It’s really an attention grabber. That was the problem. Wherever Pierre parks it, it draws a crowd of people and my man couldn’t plant the tracking device without being seen. Pierre eventually pulled into an underground parking garage where there was a scarcity of admirers and my guy was able to do the deed.

  “Have any of the detectives in the other cities been able to come up with anything that might shed some light on who’s behind all of these robberies. Are they on the scent of anything?”

  “The joint task force has a conference call every day at 4:00 p.m. As of yesterday, all everybody has accomplished is to wear out some shoe leather walking the streets and beating the bushes for leads and getting sore eyes and ears from staring at computer screens and spending countless hours on the phone trying to find somebody that might know something.”

  “Have you got anything going on Vicki Valance’s latest nightmare?”

  “We found the armored car that was used three blocks from the station house a few hours ago. I’m sure it was left there to rub our noses in our failure to come up with anything to lead us to them. The techs are going over it as we speak.”

  “How’s your search of your data base of gun owners going?”

  “It isn’t. I’ve only managed to devote a couple of hours to searching the data base. It’s quite large and I have a lot more searching to do. It’s a great idea, Chuck, but I just haven’t had a chance to really pursue it. Since I’m the only one who’s seen these people, I can’t delegate the search to someone else and I can’t let anyone else know what I’m up to and how important it might be to the investigation to fend off interruptions because of the department leak. I’m planning to have a go at it again this afternoon. Hopefully, I’ll get to stay at it for a decent length of time.”

  After talking with Mickey, Chuck thinks it would be a good idea to give Jacques Prevot a call. He’s been in Paris for over a week now and this is the first time he’s had a chance to touch base with him. “Jacques? Chuck Ferguson. Where do you want to eat, my treat?”

  “Are you in Paris?”

  “I am and have been for over a week now. I’ll tell you all about it when we wine and dine.”

  “Do you remember where my office is?”

  “I do.”

  “Good, meet me here at seven tonight.”

  “I’ll have a lady client with me. Her name is Vicki Valance. She’s one of the victims of these recent robberies and we’ve been very busy trying to get a read on this Pierre Lavelle character. I’ll bring you up to date on everything tonight.”

  “Looking forward to it, Chuck.”

  At seven, Chuck and Vicki pull up to the curb in front of Jacques’ office building and Jacque is outside waiting for them. After Jacque climbs into the back seat, Chuck makes the introductions and then says, “Where to?”

  “There’s a nice little bistro about twenty minutes from here that serves delicious local fare, excellent wine and a chanteuse backed up by some terrific musicians is currently performing there who in my humble opinion is destined for the big time. I’ve made reservations for seven thirty.”

  “Show us the way and I’ll do my best to get us there in one piece. I forgot how congested the traffic is and aggressive the drivers are over here. Rome has nothing on Paris that’s for sure.”

  Laughing at Chuck’s discomfort with the traffic conditions in Paris Jacques says, “Mon ami, it’s not aggression you see, it’s a passion for life’s next adventure the drivers are eagerly searching for.”

  “Well, death due to collision is not the kind of adventure I’m looking for.”

  Laughing even more Jacques says, “”Continue on down this avenue for about 25 kilometers and then I’ll tell you when to make a right turn. The bistro is only three blocks in from this main thoroughfare.”

  True to his word, twenty minutes later they are pulling into the parking lot of a quaint cottage-like structure wi
th ivy covered walls, a beautiful water fountain in the front yard and flowers of all kinds and colors everywhere you look. On the outside, it doesn’t look like a nightclub at all, but once inside the ambience is one that can only belong to those who know how to cater to the five senses of folks who are willing to pay for the experience. The soft background music, the aromas of all kinds of food intermingling throughout the room, the sight of a beautiful décor, exquisite table linens and dinnerware, all of these things bombard your senses all at once and you immediately forget all about what the place looks like outside.