A Time for Diamonds: From the Case Files of Oatmeal and Grits

by Robert Spearman

  ~

  We received word that the diamonds made it without incident to B. B. Duke’s the following day. Jim and I were in Hahira investigating a cattle theft when the diamonds arrived, and the event coordinator directed his crew and B. B. Duke’s staff on the setup and plans for the event.

  Our cattle theft was nothing more than a hole in the farmer’s back fence. A hole that allowed the cows to roam free on the southbound side of I-75, the interstate highway bordering Hahira. After we had discovered the breach and the wayward cows, we called the Georgia State Patrol to detour traffic from the exit north of Hahira to Highway 41 while the farmer corralled his herd back onto his property.

  We returned to the office around three. Soon after, the uniformed deputies assigned to help guard the diamonds came in to report to the sheriff and receive instructions. Sheriff Tovey buzzed into our office and asked Jim and me to join them in his office.

  “Jim, Bud, I received a call from that Chandler Clark fellow, and he tells me that they've finished everything. The store will open at ten tomorrow morning and will extend their hours during the event until nine pm. I suggest that we all go by tomorrow and pay a visit just to look at things. Besides, I need to pick something for that new bride of mine,” said Tovey.

  Yep, you want to go because this is an election year. Never miss an opportunity to be a good politician there Sheriff.

  “And as for you boys,” said the sheriff to the two uniformed deputies, “just report into the store every night at nine. Breckie said he would set out some comfortable chairs downstairs for you. Nap, walk around, take turns going over to The Grill, I don’t care. Stay downstairs and keep watch, let Clark’s men guard the second floor. Got it?”

  “Got it. Piece of cake,” said McMullen. He was the senior of the pair and had been with the sheriff’s office ten years. His partner, Franklin, was a five-year veteran. The sheriff had picked two of his best men for the job.

  ~

  We all met the next morning at B. B. Duke’s fifteen minutes before the store opened. There was a line of women, some with their husbands in tow, stretching down the side of the store on Central Avenue. A radio station was doing a remote broadcast and had set up their table on the sidewalk on Patterson Street.

  Sheriff Tovey tapped on the door, and Breckie unlocked it and greeted us.

  “Oh, isn’t this just fabulous, fabulous, fabulous? Did you see the line outside the store? I think this promotion was a great idea, don’t you? And I have my dear Philippe to thank for finding it,” said Breckie. “Oh, that reminds me, Philippe, oh Philippe?”

  Philippe, or rather the guy I knew as Phillip, appeared from nowhere, clipboard in hand. “Yes, sir?”

  “I’ve been meaning to mention this to you but have lunch and dinner brought in for the staff. We need everyone at their stations today and not taking time off for meals. If they complain, just remind them they are on commissions. Got to be here to sell, you know.”

  Philippe disappeared to take care of Breckie’s request.

  “And now gentlemen, follow me upstairs, and you will be some of the first folks here in Lowndes County to lay their eyes on the Wheppe’s Diamond,” Breckie said, with his flamenco dancer’s flourish.

  ~

  A blue satin rope suspended on high-polished brass poles circled the exhibit along with two signs at the front and back stating, “Do Not Touch the Glass or Alarm Will Sound.”

  The Wheppe’s Diamond was big and beautiful. Cut in an oval shape it was a quarter of the size of the Hope Diamond, but still large. The blue was a rich dark blue and sparkled under the chandelier in the round room. It sat in the middle of a white satin pillow inside the glass dome. The two smaller diamonds rested on the pillow to the larger diamond’s right and left.

  Framed placards hung on the walls in the room and explained the discovery of the diamonds in India, and the procedure used to cut them and by whom. Tovey read each one of these while Jim seemed more engrossed in the diamonds’ dome and pedestal, and like the day before, the room’s chandelier.

  At ten o’clock, the grandfather clock in the adjoining room chimed. Jim glanced down at his newly-repaired watch. “Right on the money,” he said.

  “Yep, and time for them to open and us to get out of here. I will do a little shopping and will catch up with y’all back at the office,” Tovey said.

  Jim and I returned to Big 12 and wrote reports about missing cows and rerouting an interstate highway. We finished the day with crossword puzzles and rubber band balls.

  ~

  I had one pole in the water, and the cork was bobbing as the river water lapped at my feet. The sun was high in the sky, not too hot, comfortable. I reached in the ice chest, pulled out a short-boy Coke, and took a big swallow. The fizz of sweet icy liquid stung the back of my throat. The end of the bamboo pole twitched, and the cork disappeared in the water. As I grabbed the pole to set the hook, the phone started ringing.

  Wait? What? There are not any phones at the river.

  I pried my left eye open followed by my right and threw my legs off the bed. The phone was still ringing on my nightstand.

  “Bud Hammontree,” I said.

  “Bud, this is Chrys from dispatch. Did I wake you?”

  “No, I was fishing.” I shook my head and ran my hands through my hair. “I mean dreaming. And yes, you did wake me. What’s up?”

  “B. B. Duke’s is what’s up. Stolen diamonds, two suspects in custody. Go pick up Miller. I’ve already called him and he’s waiting for you. Sheriff Tovey is at the scene and wants y’all there pronto.”

  She hung up and I rushed to get ready. And then it hit me like a load of bricks:

  If two suspects were in custody, why did they need us?

  ~

  Fifteen minutes later Jim “Oatmeal” Miller was sitting in our unmarked cruiser on the way to B. B. Duke’s. He had not been asleep like me. Jim had a teenage son that was giving him trouble—staying out late, not coming home. The problems with his son kept him up most nights.

  “Hey, did Chrys tell you they had two suspects in custody?” I asked.

  “Yep.”

  “You don’t think this is strange?

  “Strange how?”

  “That the sheriff is calling us in although they have two suspects in custody.”

  “That is strange come to think of it,” said Jim.

  The Professor was losing his touch. Something was bothering him.

  We arrived at B. B. Dukes a few minutes before six a.m. The sheriff had parked his car in front along with two patrol cruisers and a cruiser from the Valdosta Police Department. The sheriff was pacing in front of the building and ran to meet us once he spotted our car. Following behind the sheriff was Breckie Duke, his comb-over hairdo was a mess.

  “What’s up?” I asked. “Dispatch says there was a robbery but then said something about two suspects in custody.”

  “Yes, that’s it.”

  “Then why do you need us?” I asked.

  “Because the diamonds are still missing and the two guys we caught claim they were missing when they came in to steal them. Come with me.”

  We followed the sheriff into B. B. Dukes. Sitting on the floor just inside the front door were the two suspects, handcuffed with their hands behind their back.

  “Well lookie what we have here,” I said. “If it ain’t the Packard twins. Sheriff meet Ethan and Evan Packard. I thought you boys were still in the pen in Reidsville. Ethan is the one with the crooked nose.”

  “We got out about six months ago, Bud,” said Ethan.

  “What are y’all a package deal? Did they let you out together? I need to check with the parole officers more often. To imagine you two walking the streets makes the hair on my neck rise.”

  “No, I got out first and Evan a month later. Look, Bud, we came here to steal them diamonds, but I swear they was gone when we got here.”

  “And that’s your story?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “An
d your sticking to it?”

  “Yes.”

  I turned to one of the uniformed deputies. “Who apprehended these two?” I asked.

  “That would be me,” said McMullen, “and my partner, Franklin. He grabbed one and I held my weapon on them as he cuffed them.”

  “Okay. Let’s go to Breckie’s office and have a chat. I want to hear everything from you without these two knuckleheads interrupting.”

  ~

  We all crammed into Breckie’s office. Breckie grabbed extra chairs and joined the sheriff, Jim, me, and the two deputies.

  “So tell us what happened,” I said.

  “We were sitting down here near the front of the store. It was right at five because that clock upstairs chimed. After the clock had stopped, we heard the alarm go off. We ran upstairs and happened upon these two standing in the middle of the room.”

  “Standing in the middle of what room?” asked Jim. “The round room or the large showroom?”

  “The large showroom.”

  “How long did it take you to get upstairs from the time you heard the alarm?” asked Jim.

  “Maybe fifteen seconds. The second landing kind of slows you down.”

  “So what did you do next?” I asked.

  “Franklin and I pulled our pistols and instructed the suspects to lie down on the floor. They complied and we handcuffed them. We searched the round room, and the diamonds were missing. We searched them and asked them the whereabouts of the diamonds and that’s when they started this cockamamie story that the stones were missing when they got there.”

  “Did you do a thorough search on them?” I asked, winking.

  “Well, not that thorough but I’m sure they had nothing on them.”

  “They have anything else, with them or around them?” Jim asked.

  “We found a toolbox near them.”

  “Contents?”

  “A toy pistol, it looked real at first—a crowbar, role of tape, some rope, a hammer and some screwdrivers.”

  “And where are the security guards stationed on the second floor, the ones from the events company?” asked Jim.

  “We found them on the freight elevator upstairs, hogtied and gagged. We didn’t find them until after we called it in. They were pretty shaken up.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “Upstairs with their boss, Mr. Clark.”

  “To your knowledge, could anyone have left the building while you were up on the second floor?” asked Jim.

  “I think I know what you are getting at but no. I had a pretty clear view of the stairs while we restrained the suspects. If someone had stolen the diamonds before them and tried to give us the slip, I would have noticed.”

  “Have you searched the building? Any chance that our burglar is still on the premises?” asked Jim.

  “After the other deputies and the Valdosta Police arrived we searched this place from top to bottom. Nothing,” said McMullen.

  “And what about the access door to the roof?” I asked.

  “Padlocked.”

  “Okay then. McMullen, you and Franklin give our boys a ride to the jail. Put them in interrogation, separate rooms. Let’s all go upstairs and have a look and have a chat with Mr. Clark and his men.”

  ~

  Chandler Clark and his three guards were sitting two by two on the top two steps of the stairs. Clark had his head in his hands. They all stood as we approached.

  “Mr. Clark, mind if I ask you and your men a few questions?” I asked.

  “Please do. This is terrible, just terrible,” he said.

  “Horrible!” said Breckie from the back of the group. “Oh dear, I need to call Philippe and tell him to get to the store. There’s so much I need him to do.” Breckie ran back down the stairs to his office.

  “Okay, Mr. Clark. Where were you when this happened?” I asked.

  “You don’t think I did this do you?” he asked.

  “No,” I said, “I’m just trying to get an idea of where everyone was tonight.”

  “I understand, sorry. I was out in the motorhome with the other guard. We heard the alarm and came running. The door was locked, but Mr. Duke had given us keys to the store so we could get inside. We ran upstairs, and that is when we found the two deputies handcuffing those men. I ran past them and shut down the alarm.”

  “So, gentlemen,” I said to the guards, “were the handcuffed men the same ones that tied you up and put you on the service elevator?”

  “Yes, the same ones. They crept up behind us and got the drop on us with a gun, then led us to the elevator, roped and gagged us,” said one guard. The other guard nodded in agreement.

  “Well y’all keep your seats here in case we have more questions. Let’s walk into the display room and have a look,” I said. “Mr. Clark, you can join us if you like.”

  ~

  Glass littered the floor. A hammer, sitting on the white pillow where the diamonds once rested, had demolished the glass dome. Glass fragments on the pillow glistened like baby diamonds in the light of the chandelier overhead.

  There was an odd blue cast to the small pieces of glass scattered on the pillow. I looked up and noticed what Jim had been staring at for days—some of the crystals in the chandelier were blue and the same color as the missing diamonds.

  I stared at the chandelier for a second before cutting my eyes at Jim. He was grinning at me.

  Breckie’s grandfather’s clock in the next room chimed eight o’clock. Jim glanced at his watch and frowned. I heard Breckie in the adjoining showroom. “Well if this doesn't just take the cake. If it’s not one thing, it’s another, if it’s not your sister it’s your brother.”

  I walked out of the round room into the showroom. “What’s wrong Breckie?” I asked.

  “Grandfather’s clock, the time’s not right, and I’ve never had a minutes worth of trouble from it. Oh my, what a terrible pun I’ve made, ‘a minutes worth of trouble,'” Breckie said. He looked at his wristwatch and said, “More like ten minutes worth of trouble now. Oh, where is Philippe? I need someone over here to fix this clock, and he needs to get the staff in here early to clean up this mess.”

  Breckie paced the room until Philippe arrived five minutes later. “Oh, Philippe dear, I thought you would never get here. First, call the clock repairman, wake him up if you have to. I need him down here ASAP to fix that clock. I can’t spend the day being out of sync like this. Then call the staff, tell them to come in early but don’t tell them about the robbery. We’ll let them know when they get here. Get someone up here to clean up this glass.”

  “Are we going to open today?” asked Philippe.

  “Oh, I’m not sure. Too much to decide, too much. Go make those calls and then scoot back up here and give me a report.”

  Sheriff Tovey walked up to Jim and I and spoke in a hushed voice, “Follow me, I want to chat with you both but don’t need all these ears in the corn patch listening.” We followed him to a corner of the outer showroom.

  “We’ve been doing a lot of looking and asking a lot of questions, but I can’t get a feel on this. What do you think is going on? I’m getting mixed signals and thinking maybe Clark and his guards have staged all this and those Packard twins are telling the truth—you know, wrong place at the wrong time.” The sheriff kept his voice to a whisper.

  “Why do you think that?” asked Jim.

  “I don’t know. That Clark fellow just looks shiftless. So, tell me what do you think. Bud? Jim?”

  I waited to see if Jim would answer and boy did he ever.

  “Nope. Clark and his guards are clean. Their biggest mistakes were not checking the upstairs dressing rooms when the store closed and being fooled by a toy pistol—even though it looks real,” said Jim.

  “So the Packard twins are guilty?” asked Tovey.

  “They are guilty of taking the diamonds from the display pedestal. The diamonds are still in the building.”

  “So do you know where they are?” I asked.

&n
bsp; “Yes, ninety-nine percent sure.”

  Philippe returned to the showroom, and his conversation with Breckie interrupted our whispered meeting in the corner. I could hear him telling Breckie that he had called the staff and that the clock repairman would arrive in twenty minutes.

  “So if you are that sure, why not just show us where they are and put everyone’s mind at ease,” said Tovey.

  “Well that would be easy, but we would end up with only half the folks behind this crime. Give it time and let me work and I will hand you the other two.”

  “Okay, I’m trusting you on this,” said Tovey. “What’s next?”

  “Clear this room and take everyone downstairs to Breckie’s office. Let no one out of the office for any reason—and no phone calls going out or into his office. The staff can start cleaning and preparing to open. Let the clock repairman in when he arrives—I don’t want Breckie stressing about that clock the rest of the morning. Also, tell Breckie to send a broom and a stepladder up with the janitor.”

  “Clear the room now?” asked Tovey.

  “Now. Move everyone downstairs fast. It’s only a matter of time, and we’ll have this all wrapped up with a bow on it.”

  ~

  Sheriff Tovey gathered everyone and led them downstairs. Five minutes later the janitor arrived with a step ladder and a broom.

  “So what’s with the ladder and the broom, Professor?” I asked.

  “You take the ladder in the round room. Climb it and check the chandelier,” said Jim.

  “Oh, I gotcha. I’ve been watching you looking at that chandelier all week. You think the diamonds are mixed in with its blue crystals, right?”

  “Nope, not there. Good idea, though. My fascination with it is because we had one identical to in in my home in Philly.”

  “So what do you want me to check?”

  “I don’t know. Count how many crystals it has. Or how many blue stones instead of clear ones. Face away from the arched opening. I don't want anyone to see your face. Someone may recognize you. We don't need to let on that there are cops up here.”