Diamonds Aren't Forever (6 page)

Jennifer sat at her computer and watched her husband pass by without saying a word. She recognized the look on his face and put her modem to sleep. Following him out the door, she stood silently for several moments, then slid an arm around his waist. “Want to talk about it?"

He dropped his foot to the deck floor and gave her a hug. “I'm disgusted and don't know why I'm letting it get me down."

"Tell me about it. Maybe I can help."

Rubbing a hand across the back of his neck, he took a deep breath. “First, what are we having for dinner?"

"Leftovers."

"Good. I'm not real hungry. Let me fix you a drink and then we'll talk."

"Okay."

They moved into the living room, away from the night's chilly air. Hawkman plopped down on the fireplace hearth and faced Jennifer on the couch. He told her of the day's events and ended with how he'd discovered Jamey had left.

Jennifer took a sip of her gin and tonic. “Sounds like you're convinced Shirley Ann Noland is Jamey."

He nodded. “Yep. You remember the young lady at the airport stumbling over someone's spilled luggage. She dropped her handbag in the process, and a young man raced to help her?"

"Oh, yes. She appeared upset."

"I'm sure that woman was Jamey. She matched the description Sheila gave of the female who brought in the deed as well as the one who met Charley for lunch. I'm pretty sure she drove by Charley's house and spotted us. It must have made her nervous seeing we'd befriended the man renting her house."

"Hawkman, even if you'd caught up with her, what action could you've taken?"

He exhaled loudly and shook his head. “Not a damn thing. It just bugs the hell out of me that she slipped away again. Makes me think I'm losing my touch."

Jennifer waved her hand. “I don't think so. She's shrewd and you didn't expect her. My goodness, she only stayed a couple of days. You did well discovering her presence in such a short time. And besides, she knows the authorities have nothing on her."

"You're right. So why did she change her appearance?"

"Probably because she felt uncomfortable. Not knowing for sure what the police found out about the diamond heist after she left. It has her scared and she fears running into you, because you have her pegged."

He finished his beer and set the empty bottle on the hearth. “I'd love to tell that woman I know how she arranged the whole diamond heist."

"I bet Carl Hopkins would like to get his hands on her too."

Hawkman nodded. “Detective Williams told me Hopkins got a short sentence, because no evidence connected him with the caper. Even though the police caught him at the scene back in Oklahoma, they found no diamonds on him, at his apartment or in his truck. It's odd they found them in his pickup here. That's when he fervently claimed he'd been framed. He never changed his story, so the only charge against him was possessing stolen goods. And it depended on the value of the property on how long the sentence."

Jennifer frowned. “Then he could be getting out of jail soon."

He raised his brows. “As a matter of fact, you're right. But if I were Carl Hopkins, I'd high tail it east and hope never to set eyes on Jamey Schyler again."

"There's no reason for her to return to the States now that she's sold the house. Even if he came looking, he won't find her."

Hawkman stood and paced. “Unless there's a problem with the title."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure. Something just tells me we haven't seen the last of Ms. Jamey."

"Do you know which title company she's using?"

"Charley mentioned American. Why?"

"My friend Marge works there. She could keep an eye on things and let me know if anything out of the ordinary shows up."

Hawkman's face lit up. “You think she'd do it?"

Jennifer shrugged. “I don't see why not. There's nothing secretive about a title search. It's public record."

Relieved to finally land in Rio, Jamey hurried off the plane into the terminal where she found Bob waiting with open arms and a big grin rippling across his face. They embraced passionately, then he pushed her back and scowled.

"Why are you trembling?"

"I'm so happy to be home. And I never want to go back."

He laughed, took her arm and led her toward the baggage area.

"It couldn't have been that bad."

She tossed her head and rolled her eyes. “Hawkman appeared everywhere. Like a bad nightmare. He's even friends with the man renting the house. The only thing I can say is, he didn't recognize me at first, but by the time I left, I'm sure he knew."

"You're safe from the clutches of the big bad Hawkman now,” Bob teased as he curled his hand into a claw and scraped the air.

Jamey grinned, then her expression turned solemn. “He scares me. Every time I see him, a chill runs down my back. Not a good sign."

"That's your imagination running away. And the man probably looks menacing with a patch over his eye. But you have no reason to fear him. He can't do a thing to you."

Her shoulders relaxed as they stopped beside the luggage carousel. “I'm just happy to be home."

A week passed since the Jamey episode, and Hawkman sat in his office studying a file on a reported missing child. The phone jangled and brought him out of his concentration.

"Casey, here."

"Hey, Hawkman, this here's Charley. Can you stop by this afternoon? Need to talk to you."

"Is the garden growing okay?"

"Oh, yeah. No problems there. The little green shoots are popping up all over. The tomato plants I bought already have blossoms. Everything's lookin’ good. But I need to talk to you about something else."

"I'll come by in a couple of hours."

Hawkman hung up, wondering what Charley wanted. He knew the man hated to talk on the phone, so no use trying to coax it out of him. Hawkman settled back in the chair and rested the file on his knees. When the phone rang again, he reached over and hit the speaker button.

"Casey, here."

"Hi, hon, it's Jennifer. I received a phone call from Marge at the title company a little while ago. She said there's a discrepancy on the title of the Smith place. Seems like two names appear on the document, Jasmine Louise Gray and Jamey Louise Schyler. Looks like Jamey will have to appear in person to prove both names belong to her."

Hawkman straightened and leaned over the phone. “You're kidding?"

"Nope. Looks like the little con woman will have to show her face again if she really wants to sell the property."

"Did Marge happen to mention when they discovered the problem?"

"Just this morning. She said the whole place is in an uproar because no one noticed and now they have to get her back."

"I'm surprised Jamey made such a mistake,” Hawkman said. “Of course, my appearance at the little house probably rattled her a bit."

Jennifer laughed. “Now, don't give yourself too much credit. She might well forget the whole thing and let Charley continue to rent."

"I really doubt it. Tell Marge we owe her a dinner."

"You going to cook it?"

"Naw, we'll take her out."

Jennifer chuckled. “Chicken."

"Whatever she wants."

"You're so bad. I'll see you tonight."

Hawkman hung up, sat back and stared into space, thumping his pencil on the desk. He tried to focus on the open file and made a few notes. Finally, he closed the folder and turned to the computer where he pulled up airline schedules. After verifying the flights, he shut down and left the office.

Before going to Charley's, he headed for the airport. Unfortunately, he didn't time it right since a number of people stood waiting at the ticket counter. He spotted Patti with her head down as she worked furiously at the computer. Turning away, he headed out the door and decided to return later.

Hawkman arrived at Charley's and found him pulling weeds in the garden. “How's it going,” he called, walking gingerly across the rows of small plants popping through the soil.

"Good, good,” the farmer said, straightening and rubbing his back. “It's hard work getting those bugger weeds out. But once the plants grow bigger, won't have to worry so much."

Charley took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a rag pulled from his back pocket. Then he pointed toward the chairs. “Let's go sit a spell."

The old man pulled a thermos of ice water from under the chair and poured them both a drink. “Thought you might be by, so brought out an extra glass."

"Thanks,” Hawkman said. “So what did you want to talk about?"

"Got the word this morning that the sale of the place won't go as fast as I'd hoped. The young lady didn't do everything right."

"Oh, yeah. There's a problem?"

"Something about two different names on the documents. The proceedings can't continue until it's straightened out. Looks like the owner has to appear in person to clear it up. Just thought you might want to know.” Charley said, with a twinkle in his eye.

Hawkman almost choked on a swallow of water. “And what makes you think I'm interested in this deal?"

"When you asked a lot of questions about the little gal I had lunch with, I put two and two together. Figured you had something to settle with the one who owns this place."

"You're right,” Hawkman said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “I think Shirley Ann Noland and Jamey Schyler are the same woman. Would you like to hear the story about Ms. Jamey Louise Schyler?"

"Yep, sure would."

Hawkman told the tale about Jamey coming to town over a year ago and how he'd met her in the house in which Charley now lived. Then he explained how he suspected Jamey had been involved in a diamond heist back in Oklahoma. She'd conned a young man named Carl Hopkins to do the dirty work, then left with the stash while he lay wounded in the hospital. He waved a hand toward the house.

"Her deceased aunt left her this property, so Jamey figured she'd hide out here until her lover, the diamond courier, escaped out of the country. But things took a sour turn and didn't move along as fast as she'd have liked. Running out of money forced her to hock a couple of the diamonds to a local jeweler."

"Is that when you started putting it together?” Charley asked, taking a big gulp of water.

Hawkman nodded. “Then somehow her best girlfriend's beau got wind of Jamey having the gems and tracked her. Turned out I witnessed Jamey shooting the guy in self-defense."

Charley scowled. “So she knows how to use a gun?"

"Yep. Then Hopkins tracked her on the computer through her credit charges to Los Angeles. Jamey realized what she'd done and cut up the cards, so the trail ended there. But Hopkins knew about this girlfriend of Jamey's, and looked her up. He happened to be there when the news came about Jamey shooting this girl's lover. So he hightailed it up here and started searching. He never found Jamey, but she'd spotted him and realized she didn't have much time before he'd find her. She planted the diamonds in his truck, then disappeared."

Charley looked puzzled. “I don't understand. If she gave up the diamonds, how's she living in Rio?"

"It puzzled the police at first. Then we discovered she'd kept other rare gems from the heist that were worth four or five times the value of the diamonds. She probably hid them on her body when she left. The diamond companies didn't disclose this fact until too late."

"So, what you're saying is the little gal sidestepped around you and the authorities?"

"Afraid so."

"So, she comes back to town. What can you pin on her?"

Hawkman's expression changed to disgust. “Not a damn thing. That's what's so irritating. We have no proof she even had the diamonds, except for the two she hocked, which she claimed were gifts. They traced the marked diamonds found in Hopkins’ truck, and returned those to the companies after Carl Hopkins’ trial. Guess their insurance paid for the rest of the loss."

"Why didn't the diamond company go after her?"

"Too expensive. Especially in a foreign country."

Charley nodded. “Yeah, I can see the problem there. So, you think she joined this courier guy in South America?"

"Yep, because he also disappeared. There's a warrant out for him. He won't be making any trips back to the States, unless he wants to get arrested."

"That's quite a story. Why go after the dame, if there's nothing you can do?"

Hawkman let out a disgusted sigh. “Just like to confront her."

Jamey climbed out of the indoor heated pool and dripped across the concrete floor to one of the lounges. When she and Bob had searched Rio for a house, she'd insisted on this one, because she wanted to swim year around. Pulling her long hair to one side, she lay down on her stomach, wadded up a large beach towel for a pillow and fell into a light sleep.

Suddenly, her eyes flew open and she jumped up with a yelp as drips of cold water splattered onto her back and rolled down her sides.

Bob tossed back his head and laughed. “You looked so beautiful and comfortable, I couldn't resist."

She grinned and threw the towel around her shoulders. “You're a stinker."

He waved a sheet of paper. “As I worked on the computer, an e-mail came through for you from the title company. Thought you'd want to see it, so I printed it out."

She gathered her loose hair into one hand, wrapped a colorful stretchy band around it, and let the pony tail hang to one side of her face. “Thanks,” she said, taking the paper. She clutched the towel around her body, and strolled over to a nearby chair. As she read, her face paled, then flushed with anger.

"Dammit, I can't believe I'm so stupid,” she screamed, slamming the message down on the glass top table.

Bob hurried to her side. “What'd you do?"

She glanced up, her brown eyes blazing. “Didn't you read this?"

"No, it had your name on it."

"I signed the papers as Jamey Louise Schyler. I should have signed them Jasmine Louise Gray. That's the name my aunt had on the deed. She didn't know I'd changed my name.” She clenched her hands into fists. “It's all Hawkman's fault. I couldn't think straight, knowing the man might be right around the corner."