Rear-View Murder: A Gemma Stone Cozy Mystery (9 page)

“Hello, my name is Claire,” she said, offering her hand.

Gemma shook her hand and looked into clear gray eyes. She had soft, curly hair, quickly turning to silver and she smelled vaguely of lilac. Gemma thought she must have been stunning when she was a young woman.

“I’m Gemma Stone,” Gemma said. “And this is my best friend Holly Blake.”

“Nice to meet you both. How can I help you today?” Claire asked.

“We have a ring we’d like for you to look at,” Gemma said, pulling that now familiar small gold box out of her purse.

Claire opened the box and gasped. “Oh my, this is exquisite.”

“Yes, ma’am, it is,” Gemma said.

“Would that ring have been purchased here?” Holly asked.

Claire studied it for a moment longer and Gemma held her breath.

“What? Oh, no, this is a one of a kind piece. Probably made to order.”

“Do you have any idea who would have made it?” Gemma asked, almost afraid of the answer.

“Yes, I do.”

“Here in Richmond?”

Claire shook her head and Gemma’s heart sank. Perhaps Opal had stolen the ring from some out of town customer after all.

“...Short Pump,” Claire was saying.

“Oh, we go shopping there sometimes,” Holly told her. “Mostly around the holidays.”

“You and everyone else in Virginia,” Claire said with a laugh.

Short Pump was only about twenty miles away. Gemma was elated.

“Hearts Afire is a little off the beaten path. I’m sorry, I don’t know the jeweler’s name but he designs and sells jewelry using precious stones,” Claire told them as she placed the ring back in the box. “He’s mostly known for his use of black and fire opal. I’ve never seen him use green opal like this before.”

“Thank you so much,” Holly said. “You’ve been a huge help.”

Gemma took the box and thanked Claire as well.

“Well, thank you for showing me that ring. It certainly brightened up this quiet day,” Claire told them.

“I want to come back and talk to her again,” Holly said when they were back on the road. “She might have some ideas that would help us with HealthGems.”

“Uh-huh.” Gemma’s thoughts were on the jeweler who designed the ring she carried in her purse. Hopefully he would be able to tell them something.

They found Hearts Afire after a couple of wrong turns and a little searching. It really was off the beaten path, tucked away in a quiet little place called Lover’s Ring. The ring consisted of a circle of small, neat looking buildings, each of them facing a beautifully landscaped greenspace. A riot of color met her gaze, interspersed with shade trees and even a small pond. Stone benches were arranged so that some of them were under those shade trees but some allowed full sun.

“How quaint,” Holly said as she slowly navigated the circular drive that took them past each shop.

“There’s a florist and a bakery,” Gemma said, staring around her at this oasis in the middle of the city. “And a bridal shop and a photographer.”

“What a cool idea,” Holly said, coming to a stop in front of Hearts Afire.

It was an exact replica of all the others, complete with a wooden porch and a screen door. “I almost feel like I should knock,” Gemma whispered.

Holly laughed, opened the door and they stepped inside. The little store needed no other decoration than the jewelry on display. Each piece or set was showcased perfectly and Gemma saw Holly’s eyes light up as she moved from one artfully arranged presentation to another.

“May I help you?”

If Gemma thought the stones were gorgeous, they were nothing compared to the vision that came out of the back room. He had dark hair and even darker eyes. The tailored suit he wore emphasized broad shoulders and he moved with the easy grace of an athlete.

“Yes, hello. My name is Holly Blake,” Holly said, extending her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Blake,” he said, in that rich, deep voice. “I’m Max Sanderson.”

“And I’m Gemma Stone,” Gemma said, finally finding her voice.

“What can I do for you ladies today?” he asked, clasping his big hands in front of him.

That reminded Gemma that they were there for a reason, not just to stare at Mr. Delicious himself. “We have a ring we’d like for you to see,” she said, pulling that small box out of her purse and placing it on the counter.

He opened the box carefully and took the ring out, holding it as if it was the most precious thing in the world. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out the now familiar jeweler’s loupe to study the ring more closely. Finally, he nodded. “Yes, this is one of mine. I always put an S inside the band, as close to the stone as I can.”

“Sort of like an artist signing a portrait,” Holly explained when he handed her the loupe and the ring so she could see. “Oh, yes, I see it now.”

He nodded. Gemma held her breath, feeling like they were standing on the edge of a cliff.

“So it was purchased here?” Holly asked.

“Yes. Must have been almost a year ago. Purchased as an engagement ring. If I remember correctly. He was quite young with blond, almost white hair.”

Gemma’s heart dropped. That information sent Sadie’s senator story out the window.

“Would you happen to have his name?” Holly asked, “Maybe from his credit card or...?”

Max Sanderson was shaking his head back and forth slowly. “He paid in cash. Said his relatives had chipped in to help pay for the ring. He didn’t seem very excited about it, though. Almost as if he was just running an errand.”

Gemma’s disappointment grew.

“So you really have no idea who he might have been?” Holly said.

“I didn’t say that. I said, he paid cash. What I do have is a certificate of authenticity that I fill out for each of my designs. Kind of helps me keep track of each of them and helps other jewelers as well, in the event that someone wants to sell it.”

“Would you have that information available?” Holly asked.

The jeweler looked from one of them to the other. “May I ask if you are police officers?” he asked.

“No, oh, no,” Holly said much too quickly.

Gemma was surprised that he was the first jeweler who had asked them that question. She blurted out the explanation she had anticipated using much sooner than this. “We were at a huge party, political rally really and we found this ring in between the sofa cushions. We just want to return it to its rightful owner.”

He hesitated as if trying to decide whether to believe her or not and Gemma held her breath. Finally he said, “Let me go pull that certificate.”

Gemma could hardly contain her excitement. They were one step closer to finding out what happened to Opal. And then she realized that he still had the ring, had in fact not put it down since they had come into the store.

“He took it with him?” she whispered.

“He’ll bring it back,” Holly whispered back.

“What if he switches it or something?”

Holly just looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“What if he takes off out the back door or...?”

“Here we go.” The jeweler placed a certificate on the counter in front of them, filled out completely with the purchaser’s name, the amount paid and the date of purchase. That name was the only thing that Gemma was interested in seeing.

Chuck Miller.

“Thank you,” Holly said. “This is exactly what we needed to know.”

“And here’s your ring back,” he said, placing it tenderly in the small box and handing it back to Gemma. Their eyes met and she was sure he had somehow heard her accusations earlier.

“Yes, thank you so much,” Gemma said.

Back in the SUV, Holly didn’t seem as thrilled as Gemma that they now had a name.

“Do we even have a Senator Chuck Miller?” Gemma asked.

Holly shook her head. “I doubt it. And there could be a hundred Chuck Millers in the area.”

“You’re right,” Gemma said.

“That might have even been a name he just made up,” Holly added.

Fifteen minutes later they were sitting in a booth in a restaurant not far from Lover’s Ring, placing their lunch orders. Holly’s phone rang. She smiled at the screen and Gemma knew it was Mitch. Only one person could make her best friend smile like that.

While Holly talked to Mitch, Gemma googled Chuck Miller. Holly was right, there were several in Virginia. Gemma narrowed that down to the ones in Richmond and the surrounding area. She narrowed that down further by age. That still left her with five Chuck Millers who might have purchased that ring for Opal.

Her next move was to scan the results for newspaper or magazine articles with Chuck Miller in the headline, even though she knew that was a long shot, too. The first article that came up stopped her in her tracks. “Senator Everett Dixon and his Chief Aide Charles Miller”.

H
olding her breath, Gemma tapped the screen and a picture appeared. There was the Senator on the capitol steps. It looked like he was making a speech or something. She could see the bank of microphones in front of him, and right behind him stood a young man with shocking blond hair.

“Bingo,” she said, turning the phone so Holly could see the screen.

“Um, baby? I gotta go,” Holly said, her eyes on the screen. “Yes, I love you, too. I’ll call when we head home.”

“Chuck Miller is the Chief Aide for Senator Everett Dixon,” Gemma told her. “Do you know what this means?”

“It means that he purchased a ring and somehow it ended up on or near the dead body of a woman.”

“In the trunk of my car.”

“True.”

“I want to see this senator right now,” Gemma said.

“I’m pretty sure he’s not here,” Holly said calmly.

“What? He’s not in Richmond? He’s a state senator. Where else would he be?”

Holly shook her head, her sleek, dark hair brushing her shoulders. “I can find out but I’m pretty sure this time of year they’re back in their home areas working from offices there.”

“Then let’s go find him.”

“Gemma, you can’t just barge into a state senator’s office and start asking questions,” Holly said.

At that moment their food arrived and Gemma clamped her mouth shut. The waitress glanced nervously from one to the other while she served them, refilled their glasses and then made a hasty retreat.

“Maybe she was seeing Miller and not the senator,” Holly suggested.

“Does an aide make that kind of money?”

Holly shrugged. “I have no idea.”

Gemma’s phone chimed. Nick’s number appeared on the screen.

“Hello.”

“Hey. I have that information you wanted,” he said getting straight to the point.

“Yeah.”

“Some of the preliminary blood work done on her body did test positive for pregnancy,” he told her.

Gemma closed her eyes and her felt her heart break just a little bit more for this lonely, lost woman she’d never met. Was she happy about the baby? Scared? “Thank you, Nick,” she finally said.

“You’re welcome,” he told her. “Listen, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” Gemma lied.

“When are you coming home?” he asked.

“Not really sure. If not this evening, then tomorrow,” she told him.

“Getting lots of ideas from the jewelry stores?”

“Yes, almost more than we can use,” Gemma said.

“Well, be safe and hurry home. I kinda miss having you around.”

“We will. And thanks again.”

Gemma ended the call and looked across the table at Holly. “She was definitely pregnant. If Sadie was right about that, she was probably right about the senator.”

“Still, you can’t...”

“I want to go see Sadie again. She might know something more.”

Holly didn’t respond right away and Gemma knew she was mulling over what they had learned. “Okay, but we’d better do it soon. I do not want to be in that part of town after dark.”

“As soon as we finish eating,” Gemma said. “Then we’ll go see Sadie and spend one more night here in Richmond.”

“And leave first thing in the morning, right?”

“Yes, first thing.”

“Deal.”

“You know who scares me most?” Holly said.

“Who?”

“That pimp, what’s his name?”

“Bobcat?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, he scares me, too. He looks way to slick for my taste. He may have been the one to kill Opal when he found out she was pregnant. I’m pretty sure pregnant hookers don’t bring in much money,” Gemma mused.

“I still think her death was an accident. Maybe he roughed her up when he found out about the baby. Maybe she wouldn’t give him the ring, but I don’t think anyone meant to kill her. If that’s what really happened. They don’t really know how she died.”

“You’re right,” Gemma said. Holly was always the voice of reason. “But she didn’t put herself in the trunk of that car.”

“This is true.”

“And Sadie might be able to tell us who did,” Gemma added, pointing with her fork.

“And Sadie might be too scared for her own life to tell us as well,” Holly reminded her. “You’ve seen that Bobcat guy.”

Gemma had to agree. He might have been dressed in a fancy suit and wearing all those gold chains, but he still looked and acted dangerous. Why else would he have been skulking around in that alley spying on them while they spoke with Sadie?

Chamberlayne Avenue looked pretty much the same as it had when they’d been there the day before - sad, empty and dirty. The tall redhead and the other two women were on the same corner where they had been the day before. They waved when they saw Gemma and Holly as if they were old friends.

“It looks like they just traded outfits,” Gemma muttered as she waved back.

A few blocks further, Gemma saw the other two women, Jolene and her friend, who had directed them to Sadie in the first place. And, finally, they reached the building where they’d met Sadie before. Holly parked along the street and Gemma sat there waiting as long as she could.

“Gemma,” Holly said, a warning in her voice when Gemma stepped out onto the street.

“I’m not going far,” Gemma promised.

She walked along the cracked, weedy sidewalk for maybe half a block peering into the open doorways. Then she turned and walked back to Holly. “I don’t see her anywhere.”

“Because Bobcat is watching us from the alley again,” Holly said, making a U-turn in the middle of the street. “She’s hiding.”