A Brilliant Plan

Chapter 24

"What is that you are carrying with you?" I asked and pointed at the folder in Mundy's hand. I hadn't noticed it before.

He placed it in front of me and opened it. "I took the liberty and printed out the pictures from your digital camera. Came out really good. Very interesting read."

There they were, the other articles in the set of Maximilian Jewels, the Native American's gift to the new emperor.

I rubbed my eyes. "Unfortunately, the best stuff is missing. Drawings, detail descriptions and all."

"Where did you find it?" Mundy asked.

The waitress came and we ordered immediately without even glancing at the menu. Mundy ordered two porterhouse steaks that could feed a third world country.

"Where did you find it?" Mundy asked again after the waitress had left.

I went through the events of last night. The empty-handed search of Phoebe Eastman's apartment in La Jolla and the findings in Altward's weekend residence in Newport. Mundy's reporter self was close to interrupting me several times, but the friend in him let me tell my story.

After I had finished with my disgraceful exit from Altward's home, he ordered an emergency Scotch, waited until it came running and downed it with one big gulp. Then the waitress brought the two cows.

"How come you always run into these things?" He finally asks, pronouncing every word. "Shit, you stumble over the dead father and now over the dead daughter. Both murdered. And both murdered on Altward's properties."

I didn't say anything. I had already done the math, too.

Mundy said it anyway, "If I was the police and I knew all this, I'd concentrate on two suspects, Andrew Altward and Calendar Moonstone."

I wolfed down my steak. "I hope the police don't look too closely at the balcony door and notice my drill marks when they find her."

"Oh, you of the optimist tribe. When do you think they will find her? Don't you think you should call the police?" Mundy pointed his fork at me.

I shook my head. "I don't think that is an excellent idea. They will trace it back, record my voice and play it to the lead detective, namely Ron, and the shit will hit the fan. The cleaning lady will find her, or Altward himself."

"What will you do with the Maximilian Jewelry information?"

"Another tricky subject," I said. "Most of the information I got is from public sources. I could pass that on to Ron; mention that I got word from sources about them being on sale on the black market or some such. But this... " I tapped on the folder on the table. "... of course, is taboo until I find a different legit source."

"You still have Benito Salanca's material. You could tell Ron of the possible value of the Maximilian Jewels based on your own estimation. Nice money motive, he will like that. Plus, tell him about your suspicion that Phoebe had been wearing one of the Maximilian Jewels when the two of you interviewed her last week. Maybe it will make Ron look at her more closely. And then he stumbles over the body."

Over coffee, Mundy asked the question of questions. "Who do you think killed Phoebe?"

I played with leftover sugar packets. "Difficult to say. First to my mind comes Billy Bounce. He fits the bill, in search of the jewels, very brutal crime with high shock value. The choking thing seems to be this year's model." I told Mundy about the cat incident.

He just said, "You drive home!" and raised his hand for another emergency Scotch.

"Thomas seems desperate enough to force his hands to get his fingers on the jewels. And Billy Bounce is such a brute that the killing could have been accidental. His way of 'Oops, did I press too hard?'"