The Missing Ink

Chapter 54

I looked at the phone number on the BlackBerry. It was his office number.

If Simon Chase hadn’t been driving, who was?

“You were driving a Dakota last night,” I pointed out, uncertain where to take this, doubts about all my theories crowding my head.

I heard a short intake of breath, then, “We’ve got a couple here at the hotel for management to use, left over from when it was just a construction site. I took one last night because, to be honest, a place like that isn’t a place for a Mercedes.”

I could hardly blame him.

“Why the twenty questions, Brett?”

Why, indeed? “Because you met Elise last night, and you know Matthew, and you dated Kelly, and you obviously knew Matt Powell, and you seem to be some sort of link between everything that’s going on.” I hadn’t really meant to let it all out like that, but I was tired of the whole thing.

Surprisingly, I heard him chuckle. “Why don’t you leave the detecting to your brother, Brett? I’m sure he’ll get to the bottom of all this.”

“Do you know where Elise is?”

“Let it go, Brett.” It had gotten a little frostier in the car, and the air wasn’t even on all that high.

“I just want to find her,” I said.

“Why?”

Should I risk telling him I had the diamond? If he was in on it, then it would give him another chance to sic Matthew on me. No, thank you. I’d have to try another tack.

“Someone thinks she left something behind when she came to my shop.”

“Did she?”

“Someone thinks so.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“And you didn’t answer mine.”

Silence indicated we were both going to be stubborn about this.

“I’m going to make time to see you,” Chase finally said, like it was totally putting him out. “I’ll be there at eight, as I said. But I won’t have time for dinner. I’ll just meet you at your shop.”

“Don’t go changing plans just for me.”

“I think we have some things to clear up. We need to do this in person. I’ll see you at eight.” And now he really did end the call.

I stared at the BlackBerry, then tossed it on the passenger seat. What exactly had just happened here? The only thing he said for sure was that he wasn’t driving that Dakota. It was the only thing he hadn’t skirted around.

Speaking of skirts, I touched the outline of the diamond in my pocket. I couldn’t drive around with this; I needed to do something with it. Put it in a safe place. But where? My safe was gone, lifted-literally-by Matthew. The safest place for the ring, ironically, had been in that orchid pot. I probably should’ve just left it there.

The sign for the In-N-Out beckoned just ahead. When in doubt, go for a Double-Double.

I took my burger and lemonade to an empty table and sat down, peeling back the paper on the burger and taking a big bite. I was still chewing when my phone rang. My phone, this time, not Simon Chase’s.

“Hello?” I asked after swallowing, wiping my mouth with a napkin.

“Brett?” It was Tim. “What’s going on? What do you want?”

“I found something,” I said. “I found what they were looking for.”

But before I could elaborate, a hand clasped itself over mine, yanking the phone away from my ear. I heard Tim distantly asking, “What?” as another hand twisted my other shoulder.

I wrenched my head back as far as I could to see the eagle wings on his neck.

Matthew.