He regarded me for a moment and I could see the pros and cons circulating behind those stony eyes before he said, “Do it.”
I pulled my cellphone out of my pocket and hit the speed dial number for Parker’s direct line. He picked up on the third ring — a slow response for him.
“Charlie, how’s it going?”
“Fairly quiet,” I said, which he knew meant the opposite. I watched Joe Marcus walk over to Riley, who was fussing with the tensioning of the winch he’d reinstalled. “You got anything for me?”
“We looked into the girl,” he said cautiously. “No record, not even a parking ticket. Although as she doesn’t have a driving licence maybe that’s not so hard to believe. No late payments, no final demands, no credit card. The kid’s practically a ghost.”
“Hmm,” I said. “Can I ask you to take another run at that?”
I almost heard his ears prick up. “Ah. Developments?”
“On that front, yes and I’ll fill you in when I can,” I said. “But there have been other developments, too.” And I told him briefly about the robbery of Santiago Rojas’s store, the dead French couple, and the intruder at the mortuary who’d stolen their IDs — and whose ribs I’d busted.
“This sounds like the kind of thing the local LEOs should be handling,” Parker said when I was done. “It’s way outside your remit.”
“You know the scope of my remit as well as I do, Parker,” I countered. “Besides, there was no forced entry into the mortuary—”
“Which means we can’t rule out an inside job,” he finished for me wearily. “Yeah, OK. I’ll do what I can.”
“Besides which,” I added, “I don’t entirely trust the local head honcho. For a while I thought he might even be our intruder. I can rule him out personally, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t get one of his boys to indulge in a bit of Breaking and Entering on the side. I can’t go around hugging all of them to find out.”
I still had my eyes on Joe Marcus, apparently shooting the breeze with Riley, both of them casual and relaxed. But just as Parker’s voice in my ear asked, “So, are they still… treating you OK?” both men seemed to glance over in my direction at the same time. The look they gave me was anything but warm and fuzzy.
“For the moment at least,” I said carefully. “Which is lucky really, because if they decide I need to follow in my predecessor’s footsteps, so to speak, I don’t think I’d get much backup from the local cops.”
“Are you trying to give me grey hair, Charlie?”
“Parker, your hair’s been grey practically since you were in short trousers — I’ve seen the pictures.”
“Yeah, and that means I don’t want it to start falling out from stress,” he returned. “Watch your step and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can, OK?”
I ended the call and ambled towards Riley and Marcus. Riley was wiping his hands on an old rag while the former Marine had donned a pair of heavy gloves and was trying the winch line to make sure it ran out and retracted smoothly.
“Well?” Marcus wanted to know as soon as I reached them.
“He’s checking,” I said. “As soon as I know anything I’ll pass it on.”
He gave a grumpy kind of a sigh at that, as though he’d heard such promises many times before and knew they rarely came to fruition.
“OK, Riley,” he called to the Bell pilot. “We’re good to go.”
“Hop in then, mate,” Riley said with a grin. “Now I’ve got the winch hunky dory I can set you down any place you fancy.”
Marcus glanced at me. “Well, Charlie? You up for finding out what happened to that gun?”
I shrugged. “What’s so important about this one? There must be thousands of weapons loose in this city right now.”
“Thousands? Maybe,” he agreed, “but not many we know for certain have been used as a murder weapon.”
“There are plenty with the potential to kill far more.”
“Maybe,” he repeated. “You have that same potential but I’m not chasing you.”
I opened my mouth to voice another objection then closed it again. Joe Marcus was suddenly very insistent to go back to the scene of the crime and all of a sudden I could think of several reasons for that which had nothing to do with a missing gun. What better way to find out?
I climbed into the back of the Bell without comment. It meant I couldn’t see their faces easily. At least I didn’t have the former Marine sitting behind me. Marcus took the co-pilot’s seat. It wasn’t until we were in the air that I spoke into the boom mic attached to my headset.
“If he got away clear before the quake hit, there won’t be any weapon to find.”
Marcus looked back over his shoulder. “And if he didn’t?”
“Then Hope and Lemon would have found his body.”
Marcus tilted his head and his mouth twitched. “They’re good, Charlie, but they’re not infallible.”
“In that case,” I said carefully, “I don’t suppose this additional search might have anything to do with a bag of missing diamonds, would it?”
This time Joe Marcus didn’t turn his head so I couldn’t see his expression. He and the Aussie didn’t even glance at each other. After a moment Marcus said, “If it’s missing, that means it can be found.”
“Possibly a lot of money’s worth there.” I tried to keep my voice casual, as if I were seriously considering this. “You thinking there might be a reward?”
“Possibly.” He echoed me in both tone and caution.
I pursed my lips even though he couldn’t see me, knowing it would affect my voice just the same. “Slim chance,” I said. “Do you honestly think Rojas has had time to even report the robbery yet? The man’s still in hospital. He hasn’t been back to the store to do an inventory — even if he was allowed near the place, never mind inside.”
“I’m sure they take that into account.”
“Will they? Or will they simply declare this whole mess an Act of God or whatever the terminology is and void everyone’s insurance?”
“For property damage, they might,” Marcus returned, “but according to Rojas the robbery took place before the earthquake hit. In theory he’d still be covered.”
“Yeah, because we all know how honest and fair-dealing insurance companies are,” I said sarkily.
I caught his smile, a flash of surprisingly white teeth. “You always look on the downside, Charlie?”
“It’s part of my job description.” I paused, decided to edge this forward just a touch. “Rojas said he was waiting for a big shipment that was delayed,” I added, aiming for a note of calculation. “You really think there’s enough out there to get excited about?”
Marcus shrugged, not taking the bait. “Let’s see if we can find the gun first and talk about anything else later.”
Damn. Ah well, may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb…
“Why don’t you put your cards on the table, Joe,” I said. “Are you thinking of handing those gems in for the reward — assuming there is one — or are you thinking instead of not handing them in at all?”
It took him a beat or two before he answered. “I can think of a whole heap of better uses for them than left lying around in the street.”
It was within a hairsbreadth of an admission, but not quite all the way there yet. I knew I needed to push just that little bit further.
“So, how many ways are you thinking of splitting it?”
Again came the little tilt of his head. The one that told me nothing. “This was your idea, Charlie, not mine,” he said. “What exactly did you have in mind?”
“Hey, I’m just the newbie,” I said with as much unconcern as I could muster. “How do you usually work it?”
Marcus was silent for a moment, then said with icy disdain, “I wonder what the illustrious Mrs Hamilton would have to say about your suggestion. But I’ll wager this was not quite what she had in mind when she went to Armstrong-Meyer for Stephens’ replacement.”