Carat Capers

by Dan Kelly

  Mickey answers her with, “We don’t have the manpower or the funds for a three day operation, so if the people we’re after go to the trade show to reconnoiter beforehand there will be no way for us to know about it and possibly nail them while they’re looking around. The display area will be cordoned off until the last day anyway, so there won’t be much to see that will be of any significant help to them. They’d familiarize themselves with the general layout of the place, but they could do that on the day the ruby will be on display. I think they’ll wait until the last day to show up at the trade show.”

  Clancy stood up and said, “I have to attend another meeting now. You folks have done a splendid job and I can’t think of anything you’ve not addressed. When it comes time to press the pedal to the metal, let’s hope we can mow these creeps down once and for all time. Mickey, I want you to continue giving me daily briefings.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Clancy left the conference room, leaving the three of them to go over some logistic details such as means of transportation to Montreal, accommodations when they arrive, means of communication between personnel participating in the operation, etc. which only takes another half hour and then they call it a day.

  Mickey heads back to his desk to clean up some things he’s been putting off all day and make the phone calls to the Montreal police, the Montreal fire department and the security equipment retailer. Chuck and Vicki head for the parking lot. Vicki asks Chuck what plans he has for dinner and he smiles and says, “Probably a bachelor’s mainstay, a TV dinner and a beer, but I’m open to suggestions.”

  “What’s your favorite restaurant when you eat out?”

  “Well, I’ve become a fast food junkie and really don’t have a favorite restaurant. Mickey raves about a place called Luigi’s. He says it has a family style ambience and he claims they serve the best Italian food in Manhattan, bar none. It’s not Le Bernardin, but when an Italian recommends an Italian restaurant I’ve learned to listen.”

  “Okay then, how about you treat me to dinner at Luigi’s. You owe me one, remember?”

  “I can’t think of a better way to spend the evening and it sure beats a TV dinner and a beer.”

  Vicki goes with Chuck in his car and twenty minutes later they’re waiting at the bar to be seated at Luigi’s. The hostess said there would be a thirty minute wait as the restaurant is already jam packed to capacity with the early dinner crowd as people got off work.

  When Mickey finishes up at his office, he also decides to have dinner at Luigi’s and while Chuck and Vicki are enjoying a glass of wine and each other’s company he joins the group waiting to put their names on the waiting list at the hostess stand.

  Mickey sees no sign of Giuseppe which strikes Mickey as odd since Giuseppe works every night but Sunday. The mystery is soon solved when someone taps him on the shoulder. It’s his sister Cheryl accompanied by none other than Giuseppe. “Well, well, isn’t this an interesting development. I wonder who made the first move.”

  “Hello big brother. You know we eat here so often we should have a table permanently reserved for us.”

  “We are becoming permanent fixtures around here aren’t we? I was wondering where you were, Giuseppe.” Slyly looking at his sister he added, “You always work nights. What’s the occasion?”

  “I had some mid-term exams to take today and have more to take tomorrow, so Luigi gave me the night off to do some last minute studying. I’ve got to eat and Luigi gives his employees a break on the price of the meals so here I am. I just ran into Cheryl outside and she’s accepted my invitation to join me.”

  Again looking at his sister slyly he asks her, “What brings you here tonight, Cheryl, the lasagna or something else?”

  If looks could kill, Mickey would be headed for a slab in the morgue. “I had a long day and didn’t feel like cooking, even throwing something into the microwave.”

  “Uh, huh.”

  Before the exchange could escalate into something more revealing, the hostess brings Chuck and Vicki past them to seat them at their table. Mickey spots them and calls out to them. “Hey! How did you two medigans get in here?”

  Smiling, the two come over to him and Chuck says, “Careful how you talk to us, buddy, I know people in low places.”

  While all of them are laughing, the hostess interjects with. “Would you all like to sit together? I have a large round table in the center of the main dining area that is available.”

  They all glanced at each other for a sign of any objections to the suggestion and seeing or hearing none they all nod their heads and are escorted to their table. After the introductions are made, the ensuing two hours fly by in a blur. Everyone seems to click and they all have funny stories to share. The laughter and boisterous conversation with everybody trying to talk at once reminds Mickey of his family gatherings at his parents’ house. The topic of precious gem thefts never comes up.

  As the evening wears on, Mickey realizes that he is the odd man out so he passes on having some more wine and calls it an evening, giving Chuck what he thinks is his share of the bill and tip. “If I’m short, let me know and you can join the line of creditors at my front door.” This gets the chuckle he is looking for and then he splits.

  Driving home Mickey can’t help laughing to himself. “Chuck and Vicki, who’d a thunk. And Giuseppe and Cheryl. I never thought that pair would get off the tarmac.” His thoughts are interrupted by a call from his buddy, Tony Appecelli, in dispatch. “Mickey, we just got a call from the Montreal police. The two guys you’re looking for were just spotted crossing the border from Canada into upstate New York. One of the border patrol guys recognized them from the pictures he was given in conjunction with a BOLO they all were given at roll call. Unfortunately, he didn’t make the connection until five minutes after they had passed through and they were long gone.”

  “Thanks for the heads up, Tony. At least we now know the general area they’re in.”

  “If they stay in upstate New York until the publicity for the trade show hits the media and it reaches them, their nearness to its location could add to the attractiveness of the bait. Maybe Lady Luck has been saving her best for last. I hope. I hope. I hope.”

  Chapter 47

  Felix and Amos didn’t waste any time getting a move on and after spending less than seventy-two hours in Montreal they crossed the border into the U.S. and headed for Plattsburgh, NY totally unaware that they had been spotted. To save some money Felix insisted on using only one rental car and that led to both of them being spotted simultaneously where if they had used two rentals one of them might have avoided detection. They are completely oblivious to the fact that the authorities not only have their real names but have pictures of them as well, so they aren’t wearing any disguises but are using phony ID just to be on the safe side.

  They find an Econo Lodge in the center of the city and decide to hole up there while looking for a house to rent. After they check in using the same phony ID they used to rent the car to keep the blood hounds off their trail, Amos finds the phone directory and leafs through the classifieds to find a realtor to work with. “Here’s one that sounds promising and we can keep it in the family. ‘Goldberg Brothers Real Estate. Homes for sale or rent. Ezekiel and Ezra have lived in Plattsburgh for over twenty years. Any property worth knowing about, they know about it. If you’re in the market for a new home, give them a call today. You won’t regret it.

  Felix says, “Okay, give them a call. Before you do though, we better come up with a believable cover story as to why we want to rent by the month. We don’t want to bring any undue attention to ourselves.”

  “Well, let’s see now. Why don’t we pass ourselves off as two business men looking to get into the travel agency arena by offering unique packages to different places around the U. S? We can tell anyone who asks that we’re interested in Plattsburgh as a tourist attraction that we might want to promote in our packages as it sits on beautiful Lake Champlain. We can say that we plan
on staying at a lot of different locations around the country for a short while to familiarize ourselves with what each area has to offer its visitors and may have potential business partners joining us from time to time. A furnished house is more cost effective and provides a better atmosphere for what we’re trying to put together. How does Superior Sojourns sound as a potential name for a travel agency?”

  “It’s not something I would pick, but it’ll do for our purposes. Only use it if the subject comes up though. Go ahead, make the call.”

  Picking up the room phone, Amos taps in the number of the real estate office and ten minutes later they’re off and running to find their temporary hideout.

  They wind up working with Ezra in their search for a suitable furnished house to rent and it only takes him a few days to find something suitable. The owners are still living in it, but will be heading to Florida to spend the winter in their home in Sarasota at the end of next week. While waiting to move in, Amos starts to surf the internet for information on places in South or Central America that might offer the amenities they are looking for.

  Chile and Uruguay quickly jump to the top of their list of possibilities and Amos is now deeply engrossed in learning everything he can about the two countries. Felix, on the other hand, is bored stiff and getting antsier by the minute. Watching TV, listening to the radio and reading the local newspapers isn’t helping his mood any, so he decides to take a ride around the city while Amos is going bleary eyed staring at the computer monitor. They’re planning on staying in Plattsburg until March; figuring three months will be sufficient time for the search for them to die down enough for them to safely split the Red, White and Blue for good.

  Three days before the trade show opens Vicki’s ad agency friend launches the publicity campaign for the trade show and display of the ruby. It’s a real media blitz focused on the City of Plattsburg and the surrounding suburbs, TV, radio, newspapers and even a flashing billboard.

  However, Amos and Felix have become too preoccupied with other matters to pay much attention to the media. They have been working on developing new identities to assume when they move to their new homeland. They’ve decided on Chile, the Santiago area in particular, and are in the midst of applying for the appropriate visas to allow them to live there. Passports and other documents also have to be procured and new banking arrangements must be established.

  Lichtenstein offers the ideal safe haven for their funds and they have to attend to the opening of international bank accounts with a bank there, but first they must convert their real estate and other assets to cash. When this has been done, they will transfer all of their funds from the robberies currently in their Swiss bank accounts and the cash from the sale of their holdings in the States to their new accounts in Lichtenstein. The funds in Jacob’s Swiss bank account will also be divided and transferred to their accounts in Lichtenstein. Jacob, Felix and Amos have always had each other’s account IDs and passwords just in case a situation like what happened to Jacob arises.

  The media blitz might never have reached them if it wasn’t for Amos getting a yen for a double Macallan’s 18 year single malt Scotch, neat, perhaps with another as a chaser. Amos isn’t a boozer, but he has his moments when it’s just what the doctor ordered to help him unwind. Addressing all of the things that must be done before they can get on with their lives has him wound tight as a Scotsman with his money and Felix has been no help at all. Felix’s contribution to the agenda has been to repeatedly complain about how long it’s taking to get things set up and making suggestions on how to speed things up by using outside sources which, of course, increases the risk of being found out and incarcerated for the rest of their lives or worse.

  It’s around six in the evening on the first day of the publicity campaign and Amos and Felix are sitting at a nearby hotel bar Felix came across on one of his excursions around the city quenching Amos’s thirst for some high end spirits when the commercial for the trade show and Lawrence Graff’s 8.62 ct. ruby display flashes on the TV screen behind the bar.

  Felix says, “I read about this ruby a while back. Some British guy paid over three and a half million bucks for the stone.” The commercial almost immediately confirms what Felix has just said. Whispering to Amos Felix adds, “Boy would I like to get my hands on that beauty. I bet Pierre could get at least four million for it.”

  “Felix, get your mind off that train of thought right now. We’ve left that life behind us remember?”

  “It does no harm to think about how we might go about absconding with that rare specimen of Mother Nature. It’s something to do to pass the time.”

  “Felix, I know that glint in your eye. It pops up every time you’re scheming to get your mitts on something with a high price tag that belongs to someone else. I’m telling you right now that whatever you come up with I don’t want to hear it. If you decide to go after this gem, you’re on your own. I want no part of it.”

  “Amos, don’t get your dandruff in a dither. I’m just going to engage in a little mental exercise to see how we might go about it and assess what the risks would be.”

  “Felix, I stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago. Shovel this manure someplace else.”

  Felix smiles, shakes his head, but says nothing. He’s doing a lot of thinking though. “If we could snatch that ruby, it sure would take some of the sting out of that Zurich debacle. If I can come up with a good plan, Amos will jump on board. His love of money and the good life will outweigh any fear of capture he has. When all is said and done, he’s just as greedy as I am.”

  Felix spends the rest of the evening and all of the next morning conjuring up all kinds of scenarios, weighing the pros and cons of each. He finally hatches a plan that has all the earmarks of a winner. However, it hinges on the acquisition of a special piece of equipment in less than 24 hours. If he can do that, he’ll have the entire day of the last day of the trade show to find the right place to hide it. If he can find that place, they could be millions of dollars richer. “Of course, Amos will have a key role to play and I’m going to have to make this look like a piece of cake to convince him to take a bite.”

  Felix has a friend in the entertainment business, a creative electronic guru who dreams up all kinds of things to be used as backdrops for the performers that appear at the major clubs in Las Vegas. He decides to tap this guy’s huge reservoir of knowledge and experience under the guise of playing a trick on some of his friends and gives him a call.

  He lucks out and reaches him on his first try. “Hi, Norm, Felix here. I need a favor. Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

  “Sure, Felix, what do you need?”

  Felix tells him and Norm says, “I have just what you need and I can ship it to you by FEDEX overnight and you should have it by eight tomorrow morning. It’s a new miniature hologram projector that’s just come on the market and all you have to do is feed it a picture you want to replicate. It’s six inches square and three inches high, so it will be easy to conceal. It has an adhesive backing which makes it easy to mount just about anywhere, but it’s not a permanent type of adhesive that will damage a surface. It has a swivel lens with an auto focus feature to make it easy to aim the image where you want it to appear and it’s battery operated and can be controlled remotely. I’ll include instructions on how to set it up.”

  “Thanks, buddy, I owe you one.”

  Breaking the connection he mumbles to himself, “That was easy. Now for the hard part, getting Amos to go along with me.”

  Amos has been gone for a couple of hours querying travel agents in the city about what they know about the Santiago area of Chile. He’s learned a lot from the internet, but wants confirmation from people who have spent some time in the area.

  When he returns, Felix lays his cards on the table regarding what he’s been contemplating. “Amos, they won’t know the ruby’s gone until long after we’ve left the building. The use of two different disguises, one to case the display area and one to carry o
ut the plan will provide the perfect subterfuge to ensure our getting away after the deed is done.”

  “Felix, I’ll admit your plan is ingenious, but what about the security camera which will probably be mounted in the ceiling directly above the ruby? You can’t freeze the camera because we lost all of Jacob’s equipment along with the contents of the safe deposit boxes.”