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“Afterwards, we can all hit Lola’s for a beer. It’s ladies’ night.”
Before I could decline Noah’s invitation, I stopped on an image of Tony getting out of his car at some low-rent flea market. His left hand rested on top of the Camaro’s door, his wrist exposed by his rolled-up cuff.
I leaned closer to my monitor, my eyes almost popping out of my head as I stared. I knew that watch.
I couldn’t fucking believe it. I zoomed in on the picture. No way. The moron.
I turned my screen toward Noah and tapped. “I know that watch.”
Noah bent to look closer.
“It’s a Panerai Perpetual with a calendar complication and skeleton back. I know this fucking watch.” It was the watch that I accused Lee of trying to steal at the gala before she lifted my G-Shock off my wrist.
Noah looked at me in utter disbelief. “It’s not one of the stolen watches, is it?”
I spun my chair and picked up the auction catalog from a stack of papers on a filing cabinet behind my desk. I flipped through the book. “Page forty-seven. Estimated value sixty-eight grand.”
I passed the book to Noah to see the full-color, larger-than-life photo of the same watch that was strapped to Tony’s wrist. I wanted to kill the bastard. He was setting Lee up.
As Noah read the description and compared the images, I reached for my phone and called John. He would not believe this.
“Tony is wearing one of the watches,” I said as soon as John answered his extension.
“Unexpected.”
I told John which image to look at on the server and which page in the catalog to find the Panerai.
“Get Quinn and Simon on this. Let’s see if he’s worn any others. And set up software that will keep searching new surveillance photos for the rest.”
“We’ve got him. We know where the watches are.” I couldn’t keep the excitement out of my voice. We knew where the watches were.
“This is a long way from over.” John’s dead-serious tone sobered me instantly.
“He killed De Wispelaere.” As I spoke the words, I knew they were true.
“Among other things, yes, I think so.”
Finding the watches wasn’t the end. Rather, it was the beginning of a new problem named Tony Delgatto.
“I need to tell Lee.” My fear for her ballooned, growing bigger by the second. I’d seen the crime scene photos during Lee’s interrogation. The murder had been brutal. De Wispelaere was nearly decapitated by his assailant. Lee could be next.
“More than that, I think it’s time our new client came in for a meeting. She is a capable woman, but she shouldn’t handle this alone. And neither are we. I’m calling in a few favors. You go pick her up. I’ll have a plan figured out when you get back.”
I hung up the phone and reached for my keys.
“You want backup?” Noah asked.
“No, I can handle this solo.” Lee would listen. I remembered her story about how Tony put her in the hospital when she’d left him. I wouldn’t have to do much convincing. Lee already knew what the man was capable of, and she’d never been stupid. She was a survivor.
Chapter 38
Lee
IhadtogiveDerek credit; the man had balls. He walked into my store like he owned the place.
Seeing him hurt. It was a physical pain no different from the stab of a knife or a punch to the gut. It was cruel for fate to let me taste what I couldn’t have before snatching it away. I would have weathered this shit storm over the watches better if I’d never been reintroduced to Derek. But life wasn’t fair. In my experience, life was a cruel bitch.
And here was Derek to rub salt in my wounds.
