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“Thank god, then, he’s not after you. His phone shows him as being on the move. Did you have a chance to download the whole app?”
“I did…”
“Goodie. That means we can tap into his phone calls. He’s making one now. It’s to an unknown caller. Shall I patch you in?”
“Absolutely. If it’s anything I’ll let you know and you can send me his location.”
“Gotcha. Stay safe. That damn stopwatch in the chatroom is still ticking away.”
There was some static and then she could hear the narrative as clear as day. Claire muted her own phone to ensure the others wouldn’t know she was listening in. Her caller ID showed her that Fletch was on one end of the conversation, but the other party was not identified.
“I’m pretty damn sure I know who took the necklace,”said Fletch.
“I demand you tell me who,”snarled the male voice on the other end of the line. The voice sounded older and not British, French, or German—perhaps Dutch, Austrian, or Swiss?
“I’m not telling you anything until I can prove my suspicions, and even then, we’re going to do this legally. I will work with the authorities to apprehend the suspect.”
“You will bring this thief to me.”
“That’s not happening.”
“I hired you to catch this thief…”
“No. You hired me to protect your necklace, and when my best efforts failed to do that, I offered to try and retrieve your necklace and return it to you. At no time did I tell you I would turn anyone over to you or condone you exacting any kind of revenge on whoever it was.”
“It is not revenge. It is justice. They took what is mine.”
“And when I return it to you, it will be yours again. If that doesn’t suit you, then I will simply turn all my findings over to the authorities, and you can file an insurance claim.”
“You will regret working for me, Fletcher.”
“I already do, but if you think you’re going to make a move on me or my people, you’d best think again. I tend to react badly to people who make threats against those I care about and even worse if someone actually tries to harm them. My team is all former special forces. You don’t want to go up against us. You’ll lose.”
There was silence on the other end.
“Do we understand each other?”asked Fletch.
“We understand one another, but you should understand, I make a better friend than an enemy.”
“I’m on my way to a meeting with the Yard. They will be preparing the search warrant we need to search the suspect’s home and make an arrest.”
It occurred to Claire that Fletch was being very careful not only about not naming her, but not indicating in any way, shape, or form that she was female. Who was this mysterious caller? Why was Fletch being so evasive? Did he truly believe the caller might be a threat to her and Mia?
The call ended, and Claire had a feeling that neither party had been especially happy with the way the call ended. She was, however, feeling happy and relaxed. If Fletch was being honest with his mystery caller—perhaps the mysterious Emil Franklin?—then he was headed to the Yard. But why would Fletch be returning the Grenadine Necklace to him? The insurance claim for the theft had been filed by the descendants of the Petacci family. She made a mental note to check, but she didn’t think Emil Franklin was among them.
She called Mia. “So, that was interesting.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Mia.
“I don’t know who the other caller was, but the conversation got a bit heated. Fletch let the guy know that he knew who the thief was but couldn’t prove it. He indicated he would reacquire the necklace, but he would not turn the thief over to whoever it was. He took great care not to indicate the gender of the thief.”
“He’s protecting you.”
“Yes, but the question remains, why?”
“Did it ever occur to you that he might have feelings for you?”
“Yes, but it doesn’t matter. He’s never going to condone or understand what it is we do, and there are too many things left undone. I promised Poppi…”
