“There are things about this that the media doesn’t know. That you don’t know, Brett.” He paused. “We’ve been treating this as a missing persons case, but Manning’s convinced she took off with this other guy and planned to hock the ring. It’s worth two million.”
“Two million dollars?” I’d slipped the ring on my finger, and I stared at it. It was hypnotic. Even more so now that I knew how much it was worth. I needed to get rid of it before I lost it.
“Where is it now?”
“I’ve got it,” I said.
“With you?”
“Yeah. It was in my pocket. Matthew didn’t know I had it.” As I said it, I was struck by how stupid this was. I should’ve brought it to Tim from the get-go. I had another thought. “Is Elise missing because of this ring?” Or maybe she was still alive because she knew where it was and no one else did.
“We still don’t know why Kelly Masters called her in Philadelphia.”
The words hung between us.
“Or why she was using Kelly’s name when she was here,” I added. “You have to get Matthew Masters. He had her last night. I hope she’s okay.”
“He didn’t say anything to you?”
“He’s not exactly Mr. Sociable.”
“We’ve got a cruiser out now in that area, looking for him. I’ll let you know when we get him. In the meantime, bring me the ring.”
I bristled at that, not because I was getting comfortable wearing it, but because I had this crazy idea that if I kept it, I could find Elise and give it back to her. But Tim was right. I had to turn it in.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Come to the station. We can file an official report, get a warrant. Put out a bulletin, find this guy, and arrest him.”
Sounded like a plan. But I hesitated.
“What?” he asked.
“I’m meeting Simon Chase at eight. I saw him with Matthew. A couple of times. I think they’re in on it together. Maybe you could wire me again, and I could see what I can find out.”
“You think Simon Chase wants to steal that ring? Why?”
He had me there. I had no clue. “He knows Matthew,” I repeated.
I heard him sigh. “I can’t wire you again. My boss wasn’t happy that we did that yesterday and nothing came of it. We’ve got cruisers out looking for Matthew. You come in here, file a report, we’ll arrest the guy. Forget about Chase. Stand him up.”
“But he-”
“Forget about him.”
Easy for him to say. I finished filling up the tank and put the gas hose back, hitting the button for a receipt. Something in his tone made me frown.
“Why? Do you know something I don’t?”
“No, no.”
He was lying. I grabbed the receipt and climbed into the car, turning over the engine while I still held the BlackBerry to my ear. “I’m going to start driving now. I’ll be there as soon as I get there.” I’d see what I could get out of him when I saw him. I put my hand on the steering wheel and watched the diamond glisten. I kept waffling between wanting to get rid of it and wanting to spend more time with it. Like a guy you should break up with, but you don’t want to end up alone on Saturday night, so you let him stick around.
We ended the call, and even though there were still too many questions, talking to my brother had calmed me down.
Until I saw the white Dodge Dakota behind me.
Chapter 57
This game had gotten so old. I drove slower than the speed limit, and I could see he was trying to force me to go slightly faster. After a few blocks, I couldn’t take it anymore. I slammed on the brakes; the Mustang skidded around, wedging itself perpendicular to the Dakota so the truck couldn’t move forward. I didn’t let myself think as I jumped out of the car.
The driver tried to swerve around me, but I was on top of him before he could, pounding on the window like a crazy person.
The Dakota’s window rolled down and a bald head emerged. But it wasn’t the bald head I’d been encountering. It was a strange bald head, devoid of any tats. His ears were fringed with salt-and-pepper tufts, his face totally unfamiliar except for the rage I saw there.
“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded.
All of my anger melted away into embarrassment. I swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else,” I said contritely.
He didn’t seem to notice the apology. He reached for the door latch, and the look on his face told me that while I might have escaped Matthew relatively unscathed, I might not be so lucky now.
I hightailed it back to my car and spun it around and down the street, leaving yet another angry man in my wake. I hoped this wasn’t going to be a trend.
The diamond flashed like a white laser across Tim’s desk.
“You’re
“I didn’t want to lose it,” I said.
“Just give me the ring,” he said, holding out his hand.
Reluctantly, I slipped it off my finger. “You realize I’ll never wear anything like that ever again.”
“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Tim said, turning it over and over, watching the prisms of color that slashed through it as the fluorescent overhead light hit it.
“See?” I asked. “It’s got powers.”
“But are they good or evil?” he asked, sticking the ring on his desk next to his computer.
“What are you going to do with it?” I asked.
“I’ll call Bruce Manning about it.”
“What if Manning is lying about it being stolen? I mean, she was engaged to his son; it’s an engagement ring. If Chip gave it to her, then it’s hers, right? She can’t steal what’s hers, right?”
Tim looked like he wasn’t paying attention to me as he studied the computer screen. After a few seconds, he looked up at me. “Oh, by the way, just thought you’d like to know there was no big, bald, tattooed guy walking around Summerlin. Two cruisers were out looking.”
My chest constricted. They hadn’t found him? Where had he gone without a vehicle?
“What about the motorcycle? The one at the In-N-Out?”
“Brett, you really have to tell me every detail so I can cover all the bases.”
Right. He’d just turned this around so I was at fault. And I’d been the one to get kidnapped.
We went over everything about three times, and he finally got it all typed up.
“You should go straight home,” he advised as he walked me to my car. “Don’t stop anywhere; just go home and lock the doors, and I’ll be there in a couple hours.”
My watch told me it was almost time to meet Simon Chase. I told Tim as much. “I didn’t cancel,” I added.
“Call him and cancel, then,” he said.
I made a sort of nodding motion with my head, but it wasn’t really a commitment. “I’ll go home,” I said, giving him a hug and a little wave good-bye.
As I started the engine, I knew Tim was right. I should just go home, even though my head was toying with the idea of meeting Simon Chase anyway. But how stupid was that? He might have been the one to rescue Matthew
