by Lisa G Riley
“Yeah, well, you can’t and I’m not buying you any ice cream,” Smith said and taking her arm, began to lead her from the hall. “So let’s just go.”
“We’ve got time,” Lily protested. “We don’t have to meet Mr. Ramirez for another fifteen whole minutes.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, Lily, this place is massive. I want to give us plenty of time to find him.”
“I know where the Corner Bakery is, and it’s not going to take us that long to get there, but if it will make you feel better, we’ll leave now.”
“It would, thanks.”
“All right, but I want to come back through here on our way out. You don’t have to come,” she told him when he opened his mouth to object. “There are plenty of other exhibits. We’ll pick a time to meet at the entrance.”
“Agreed. At least I’ll feel like I’ve gotten my fifteen dollars worth.”
They walked to the main level and found the restaurant. Lily bought a bottle of water and Smith coffee while they waited for their expert. “So, if Landers stole the diamond, then what?”
“Well, then it becomes a different case. We’ll know that he’s most likely okay and is on the run. We’ll report it to Mrs. Landers and see where she wants to go from there.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Wouldn’t that be wild? I really do believe that he’s stolen it and that Mr. Tam is a part of it and maybe that loser manager back home. What’s his name?” She went grabbed her purse and started digging for her notebook.
“Winscoff,” Smith said. “You think so, huh? Who else are you considering as a suspect?”
“I think maybe one or both of Landry’s friends from the club back home. It just seems too convenient that they’re away and unavailable. Plus, Winscoff was so smug about that fact. You have any suspects?”
“I think Winscoff is a good bet, and of course Tam, but I also think Kip Beech makes a pretty good suspect as well.”
Lily’s mouth dropped open. “No way. Why? He’s always been such a nice, harmless sort of guy.”
Smith nodded in agreement. “Yes, but people change and I just got the feeling he was hiding something. He’s an unhappy man who is on the outside looking in. Maybe he feels like it’s his turn to be on the inside.”
“He did intimate that his wife is a social climber and that she pushes him.”
“Yeah -- ” Smith looked over Lily’s shoulder. “You think this is our guy?”
Lily turned to see a man of medium height with dark hair and glasses wearing a white lab coat standing about three feet away from them. He stood in the entrance to the restaurant looking around. “Only one way to find out,” Lily murmured. She waved at the man to get his attention. “Hi. Are you Mr. Ramirez?”
The man nodded and walked over to their table. “Yes, I’m Alvin Ramirez.” He held out his hand.
“Hi, I’m Lily Carstairs and this is Smith Cameron.” They each shook his hand. “Please have a seat, Mr. Ramirez. Can we get you anything?” Lily asked after he was seated.
“No, I don’t have much time.” Taking a snowy white folded handkerchief, he wiped sweat from his brow.
“Are you all right?” Smith asked.
“Yes, just fine,” the other man said hurriedly. “Just an upset stomach, but thank you for asking. Now, I understand from my boss that you have questions about the Golddigger’s Folly. You question whether or not it is safely within the museum?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Lily said. “You see, we believe it could have been stolen --”
“Impossible. We have very tight security and I have seen it with my own eyes just this morning.”
“You have?” Lily asked and leaned closer to him. “Are you sure?”
Still wiping sweat from his brow, Mr. Ramirez straightened in his chair. “What are you implying?”
Surprised, Lily pulled back. “Nothing. I was just wondering if you could have been mistaken.”
“One does not mistake the Golddigger’s Folly for anything else. It is a rare gem.”
“We’re glad it’s safe,” Smith responded before Lily could say anything. “Would it be possible for us to see it?”
“Certainly not.” The other man looked shocked. “Why?”
“It’s just that my friend here has a weakness for gems, and she’s never had the opportunity to see that one.”
“Yes. I’ve seen all the other famous ones: the Hope Diamond, the --”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t allow it. It will be on exhibit in January with our other rare gems. You’ll just have to wait until then to see it.”
“Oh, that’s right!” Lily said excitedly. “I heard about that. When does the exhibit open?”
“The pre-show will take place on the sixth and it will open to the public officially on the seventh.”
“Great. I’ll be here. You must be excited about it -- a brand new show for the first time in how many years?”
Mr. Ramirez sniffed. “I don’t know. I’ve been here for a year and a half and there hasn’t been a new show in all that time. As for this new show coming up in January, we’d be better off without it. It’s all just a lot of nonsense.”
Smith frowned. “I would think a new show would be a good thing since it would invigorate ticket sales. Why is that bad?”
“I’ve said enough already. Is there anything else you need?”
“You’re being very cooperative, Mr. Ramirez, thank you,” Lily said.
He looked away from her. “I’m only doing as I was told. If it were up to me I wouldn’t be here wasting my time. I’ve got more important matters to attend to.” He began to push his chair back.
“Well, as long as you’re here,” Smith said and put a staying hand on the other man’s wrist. “Look at this picture my partner has and tell us if you know this man.”
“Partner?” Mr. Ramirez said in surprise as his shocked gaze jerked from Lily to Smith and back again. “What are you? The police?”
“No, we’re private investigators and we’re looking for our client.” Lily pulled out the picture and laid it flat on the table. “This is Charles Landry. Do you know him?”
Ramirez glanced at it briefly and stood abruptly. “I’ve got to go.” Before they could stop him, Ramirez rushed from the restaurant.
“Guess that’s a yes,” Smith murmured.
“Shouldn’t we go after him?” Lily asked.
“For what? He’s clearly not going to talk to us and we haven’t got the authority to make him.”
“I’m headed back to the Hall of Gems,” Lily said as they left the restaurant. “Where will you be?”
“Sitting in one of those comfy-looking chairs I saw in all of those little conversational areas they set up on the ground floor. I’m going to get myself a newspaper and read. I’ll meet you at the entrance in an hour. Right?”
“Right,” Lily agreed and met him halfway when he bent his head to kiss her.
***
“Don’t turn around. Understand?”
The eerily soft male voice hissed out low, slithering so insidiously into the atmosphere that Lily immediately felt surrounded by menace. The voice had come from directly behind her, sending a chilling shiver down her spine and making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Like an animal of prey suddenly aware of nearby danger, without conscious thought, she went preternaturally still, her eyes the only things moving as they jerked from side to side trying to assess the danger, but much too late to warn her…to save her. The enemy was already much too close.
She realized that she was alone in a corner of the darkened room and her brain seized with fear. She’d been so absorbed in studying the topaz that she hadn’t even heard the stranger come up behind her. He pressed something hard into the middle of her back and she cried out.
“Quiet,” he commanded. “Now, I asked if you understand. Answer me with a single nod, nothing more.”
She shivered again, but managed a jerky nod. She thought that there might be someone on her left side, bu
t was too afraid to turn her head to try to figure out if that person was with the man who stood behind her seemingly blocking out the rest of the world. He was standing so close and covered her back so completely, that she sensed nothing but him.
“Pay attention, little girl,” the voice demanded and she felt hard steel press into her back again.
Lily felt a tear roll down her cheek, followed by mucus streaming from her nose. Humiliated as well as terrified, she closed her eyes as a whimper escaped her throat. “What -- ah!” Lily’s voice was cut off when first her hand was snatched behind her back and squeezed until the bones of her fingers were grinding against one another and then her neck was grabbed and squeezed.
“You haven’t been given permission to speak, little girl,” Lily heard the pleasure in his tone from the pain he was causing her and shut her eyes. “I talk, you listen. Got it?” Before Lily could nod, she felt the pressure on her hand again. “Got it?”
Biting her lip so hard that she tasted blood, Lily nodded hurriedly and tried not to cry out at the excruciating pain to her hand, but the pain only increased. She heard and felt the crack and the white hot pain that followed shook her in its tight grip. She knew what he’d done -- God, she knew! Her vision grayed and she stared out at the world with sightless eyes for a moment as the obscene pain screamed through her body and she tried to comprehend a hurt that was completely beyond her comprehension. Her stomach threatened to lose its contents and as the room closed in on her, she swayed against her attacker. As if in a tunnel she heard him speak as he gave her a vicious shake.
“Stand up. Where’s your backbone? That was nothing compared to what I want to do to you. Do you understand? This is what you’re going to do. You’re going to forget about Charles Landry, the Golddigger’s Folly and anything else you might have heard since you spoke with Mrs. Landry. If you don’t, the next time I see you will be the last time you see anyone. Share the news with your boyfriend or partner or whatever the hell he is, and tell him the same applies to him. Got that? Nod if you understand me.”
Still feeling sick, but trying her best not to pass out, Lily nodded weakly.
Her attacker continued, “I’m going to leave and I want you to stay just as you are for however long it takes you to count to one hundred.”
He released her and Lily swayed, and trying to stiffen her buckling knees, had to lean against the glass. For a long moment after they left, and she now knew there were two of them after hearing them leave, Lily was incapable of anything but deep concentration as she tried to will strength into her weak limbs.
A woman approached her and asked hesitantly, “Are you okay, Miss?”
It was the catalyst that Lily needed and bursting into tears, she tried to nod, but ended up dropping her head, shuddering from the relief that overtook her. When her brain thawed from the fear, she had only one thought. “Smith!” His name first came out as a panicked whisper, so she tried again.
“Smith!” Uncaring that heads were turning to stare at her, she ran sloppily from the room.
She yelled his name as she ran through the Hall of Jades, and past startled faces. Yelled it as she ran down the U-shaped staircase and into the great hall, past the gigantic elephants and halfway to the T-rex. And she kept yelling it until she saw his blessed face which was full of panic as he ran towards her. “Oh, thank God !” she said with relief as she ran into his arms and fell against him.
“What’s the matter? What happened?” Smith asked urgently as he held her tight. “Tell me.”
“He said…said…said he would…” Lily still felt weak and as the enormity of what just happened hit her, she burst into another round of tears, sobbing uncontrollably.
Smith tensed against her and she heard the alarm in his voice. “What?” He tried to pull back far enough to see her face, but she burrowed into him. “God, please, Lily, tell me what’s going on.” He bent and picked her up, cradling her against his chest as he walked to a cushioned bench and placed her on it, before sitting next to her. “You’re scaring me, Lily. Tell me what happened.”
“He cornered me in the Hall of Gems and threatened me and he wouldn’t let me leave. I-I-I couldn’t move, Smith, and he said he’d kill us. I didn’t know what to do. I was so scared,” she moaned and knew hysteria was rising again, but she couldn’t prevent it. “I just want to go home, home to Sheffield-Chatham, please, Smith. I want to go home,” she wailed.
“Is everything all right, here?”
“No,” Smith said to the security guard who’d addressed them. “She’s terrified. She was attacked a few minutes ago in the Hall of Gems.” He tightened his grip on Lily when she sobbed and pressed closer. “It’s all right, sweetheart, we’ll leave soon, but first let’s talk to the security guard.”
Impatiently, the security guard interrupted. “Attacked? What exactly do you mean?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out if you’ll just give me a few minutes,” Smith said. “I want to know as much as you do who did this.”
Lily tightened her hold. “Don’t leave, Smith. He said he’d hurt you, too.”
“I’m not going anywhere, sweetness,” he said. “It would do no good anyway. Whoever it was is probably long gone. Now tell us what happened.”
Feeling calmer now and with her head resting on his chest, Lily began to explain.
“Let me see your hand,” Smith demanded. He studied her slender hand, which had already begun to show bruising and swelling. “Can you move your fingers?”
Lily shook her head and a whimper escaped before she could stop it. “I don’t want to try. I felt it break, Smith. My finger,” she said with confusion and pain coloring her voice, “he broke my finger.”
Smith kissed her forehead as she began to cry again. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry. Which one?”
“My ring finger.”
He took her purse and began to look through it. “I know you’ve got some aspirin at least.” He found the bottle and shook out four. “Here,” he said and gave her the last of his water. “Let’s get you to the hospital now,” he said after she’d swallowed the pills and thanked him.
“I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through, ma’am, but we have to file a police report and it would be helpful if they could interview you,” the security guard said. “Also, perhaps if you looked at footage from our security cameras, you would recognize the men who accosted you. I’m thinking we might have caught them on camera.”
Lily shook her head, and tried to ignore the awful throbbing mass of pain that her finger had become. “I promise you, I never even saw them. He told me not to turn around and I was so terrified that I didn’t move a muscle. He could be standing right in front of me and I wouldn’t know him.”
“Maybe we should come back later and look at them, Lil,” Smith said. “You won’t recognize the men, but their behavior might give them away. That coupled with timing could give us an idea of who they are and if you should see them again, you’ll know who they are and you won’t be taken by surprise.”
Lily was nodding before he finished. “Okay.”
Smith tried to help her rise. “Let’s just get you taken care of and then we’ll come back. Careful, sweetheart,” he crooned worriedly as she began to stand.
Lily studied Smith’s face and frowned. Not because she saw the worry and fear for her, but because she saw reckless anger and she knew what that meant. The last time she’d seen that look in his eyes, he’d destroyed another boy’s face. That had been on account of her, too. She blew out a breath, wondering how she was going to contain the anger this time.
“I think I should do it now,” she said, “look at the footage, I mean.” She sighed when he vehemently shook his head and got his familiar stubborn look. “I can take the pain for a little while longer, I promise.”
“We could splint her finger and give her an icepack in the meantime,” the security guard offered, “just until you can get her to the hospital. I can get you more water if you’d like.”
“I don’t like this, Lil,” Smith told her once the security guard had left for water.
“You don’t like it?” she asked with a bit of waspishness. “Well, gee, how do you think I feel?”
Smith scowled and looked at her. They faced each other like two terriers about to wrestle over a bone. “I’m not going to argue with you because I know you’re in pain. Just know that I’m only giving in because you’ve got your usual hint of bitchiness back, and I can’t stand that weepy shit, so I feel like I’m on familiar ground.”
Lily gave him the finger -- the one on the hand that was still in full working order. “Your mama.”
“Is a beautiful, discerning woman,” he said automatically in a dismissive tone, “who knows as well as you do that I will pick your ass up and carry you out of here if and when I think it’s necessary, and she would tell you that I know when I’m being manipulated.”
Lily looked at him with tired eyes. “I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to get in trouble, or hurt. And I knew that the moment I decided to stay -- that first part about carrying me out, I mean,” she admitted. “I’m sorry, cowboy,” she said again and let her head drop onto his chest. “I’m just so scared, but you probably already know that because you know me.”
Smith raised his hand to her head and began to smooth it over her hair. “I certainly do. How’s your finger?”
She moved her head under the caress and sighed again. “Hurting like someone took it and pulled it and squeezed it until it broke.”
Smith pressed a kiss in her hair. “Well here comes the security guard with your water now, so we should be able to get this show on the road.”
“She came running toward me about twenty minutes ago,” Smith told the head of security later in the camera room. “So maybe you could go back about twenty-five minutes?”
He put a comforting hand on Lily’s shoulder and squeezed as they watched the footage from the Hall of Gems. About four minutes in, he noticed two men walk out of the room. Several things caught his attention at once. One of the men was rather large, both in height and width and both men were checking out their surroundings like they’d been up to no good.