AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And so far it’s the only high-ticket item that we can’t find. There may be others, but when my people told me about it, I figured I should let you and Duke know ASAP.”
“Really appreciate that, Captain Livingston.”
“It’s the least I can do, Marshal Newman. I wouldn’t want to do your job, but if I had to, I’d want to make damn certain that I was executing the right person.”
“This could be our murder weapon,” I said.
“It could. We need to find it before they dispose of it,” Newman said.
“If you’re thinking the same they as I am, then they won’t throw it away. They’ll take the jewels out of it and sell them,” Livingston said.
“Can I just say who we’re all thinking is they?” I asked.
“We’re all thinking it,” Livingston said.
“The wicked aunt and uncle who were trying to take every high-end item that wasn’t nailed down with the body barely out of the house,” I said.
“Muriel and Todd Babington,” Newman said.
“If it was just a murder weapon, then they’d throw it in the nearest lake or river, and we’d never find it,” Livingston said.
“But they’re desperate for money,” Newman said. “They’ll try to keep the precious stones.”
“If you find the stones, it’ll be enough to prove they had the bagh nakha in their possession,” Livingston said.
“Rubies can take a beating and keep on ticking, but emeralds can’t,” I said. “If Aunt Muriel and Uncle Todd know their stones, then they will want an expert to help them take the thing apart, and they may not have had time to find one yet.”
“How do you know so much about precious stones, Blake?”
“I just finished helping design wedding rings. I thought emeralds were pretty until I learned that they’re only a seven to eight on the Mohs scale of hardness, and that it’s a soft eight that doesn’t always stand up to everyday wear. Rubies and sapphires are a nine, and diamonds are a ten—one of the hardest substances on the planet. I’m hard on everything I wear, so there went the emeralds.”
“You’re just full of surprises, Blake,” Livingston said.
“So I’ve been told.”
“We’ll need a search warrant for the Babingtons’ house ASAP,” Newman said.
&
nbsp; “Well, luckily we already started the ball rolling on that when they got caught in the middle of robbing the Marchand house.”
“Do we have the search warrant?” Newman asked.
“We do. Duke’s people and mine are driving to the Babingtons’ house as we speak.”
“We’ll join them at the house,” Newman said, and smiled. He looked more like the man I’d met a couple of years ago. Younger and fresher to the job.
“I figured you would. Happy hunting,” Livingston said, and hung up. Most cops don’t say good-bye, at least not to one another.
I buckled my seat belt and Newman started the car. He looked at me sideways. “Did you pray silently already?”
“Not me,” I said.
He grinned. “Don’t tell the other marshals I asked you to pray for a clue.”
“Mum’s the word,” I said, smiling back. But I offered a silent prayer of thanks, just in case. God really does work in mysterious ways, and it never hurts to say thank you when good things happen.
64
