Two O'Clock Heist: A Rebecca Mayfield Mystery (The Rebecca Mayfield Mysteries Book 2) (23 page)

“You have no proof!”

“Don’t I? If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here, would I?”

His face turned ashen.

“This is a murder investigation, sir.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm at the honorific. “You will tell me everything you know, here, now, or we and your attorney can meet at Eight-Fifty Bryant Street.”

He recognized the Hall of Justice address because he blanched, then drew in his breath. “All right! All right. If I tell you what little I know, will you agree to keep me and our company out of the picture?”

“I can’t do that,” she said. “If we need to use it, we will. If not, we won’t.”

He drew in his breath. “Okay. All I can tell you is that she met with me about three weeks ago to discuss retrieval fees given to someone who helps us find property we normally would be paying a claim on. She wanted to make sure they would apply in the Marin County jewelry heists. I said that if her information allowed us to retrieve the stolen jewels, and saved us from having to pay insurance claims on those jewels, she would be rewarded in the amount of five percent of whatever she saved us. I also explained that our share was seven million dollars, not the ten million she might have heard. She insisted on a contract, and so we drew one up which included us covering her legitimate expenses.”

“Go on,” she said.

“That was it for a while, then, two weeks ago, she called to say she was close to getting the proof she needed. She had set up a meeting and needed money for it. I sent her some cash.”

“Money for what?”

He rubbed his fingers against his jaw. “She needed to buy some clothes to look ‘right,’ as she put it, plus money to pay for a meal in an upscale restaurant. The amount she asked for was reasonable, more than reasonable.”

“Where and when did the meeting take place?”

“It was some hillside restaurant in Sausalito. I don’t remember the name. It’s a local place, not a tourist trap. And expensive.” He rifled through his calendar. “As I recall, she said the meeting would take place the Monday before last.”

“In other words, about four days before she was killed.”

He paled. “That’s right. I never heard from her again after that, I swear.”

“Did anyone else know she was working with you?”

“No. Oh, wait. I mentioned to the Sausalito PD that a local woman might have some information about the thefts, that she contacted me about a possible reward. But I never gave her name.”

Rebecca’s breath quickened at the words. “Who did you tell?”

“The detective in ch
arge of the investigation. I think his name was Wong.”

She nodded. The news wasn’t exactly unexpected.

o0o

Richie was leaning against the BMW when Rebecca left Schoenberg’s office. “Any luck?” he asked.

She had given up being surprised by the places he showed up. “Yes. The theory we—you—came up with last night is correct,” she answered. “Tell me, do you know much about Sausalito?”

“Enough.”

She should have known Richie wouldn’t limit his travels to San Francisco. “Can you think of a hillside restaurant overlooking the bay that’s pricey and used more by locals than tourists?”

“I sure can. Remember the woman whose jewels were stolen, Marlena Carbini?”

She nodded.

“It’s her place. The Alta Vista. I don’t know any other that meets that description.”

“How do you feel about another trip to Sausalito?” Rebecca asked. “I’ve got some questions for her.”

CHAPTER 26

Before going to the restaurant, Richie drove Rebecca back to his house. As they entered the garage, a black SUV driven by the ABC liquor investigators pulled onto the driveway.

Richie was about to push the button to shut the garage door on
them when the one named Waddey sprang from the vehicle, waving a slip of paper and said, “Uh, uh.”

“What’s that?” Richie stepped out of the garage. Rebecca joined him.

“We have a warrant to search these premises for illegal liquor.”

“Illegal liquor?” Richie turned to Rebecca. “And here I thought Prohibition had ended. Aren’t we lucky that our government is here to protect us from something so heinous?”

She couldn’t help but grin at his sarcasm. Still, she worried about the ABC men’s reaction to Uncle Sil’s wine. Richie hadn’t explained anything about it to her, but she could put two and two together.

Waddey and Hutchinson wandered into the garage and looked around. When they didn’t find anything in it, Hutchinson said, “Let’s see the inside of this place.”

They went up the stairs from the garage to the house and as they opened the door to the kitchen, they heard Spike bark and growl.

“Control your dog!” Waddey insisted, pulling the door shut.

Rebecca marched past him into the house and picked up Spike. She wanted to bare her fangs at the men as well.

They searched thoroughly, but found no unlicensed liquor.

“We will be back,” Hutchinson said as the two men went back down the stairs to the garage and out the door.

“It’s been a pleasure,” Richie answered. He pressed the garage door button.

As soon as the door shut all the way, Rebecca faced him. “Where did you hide Uncle Silvio’s wine? I know we were drinking it.”

He walked over to the water softer tank, opened it, shoved aside some salt pellets and pulled out a bottle. “Our city water is soft enough. I don’t even have this thing plugged in, so I use it as storage from time to time.”

Rebecca was speechless.

Richie poured them both a glass of Uncle Silvio’s finest. “I’d seen those ABCers lurking around and knew I’d better get the wine out of the house, except for a few bottles for my own use. I came up with an idea for what to do with them.”

She shook her head. He was either incredibly lucky as far as his timing went, or he must have an army of confidential informants. She preferred not to know. She held up her wine glass. “
Salute.
”

“
Salute.
” He clicked his against hers and grinned. “When you speak Italian, it’s very sexy.”

o0o

Rebecca thought she would never tire of crossing the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset when the sky over the Pacific would turn a multitude of orange and purple hues. At the Alta Vista, she and Richie took an outside table that looked out on the Bay. Between the setting, the sky, and the water, Rebecca couldn’t imagine a more beautiful evening.

Their dinner began with a lobster bisque and warm sourdough bread, fresh from the oven. Richie’s main entre was a mixed seafood grill, while Rebecca had a Crab Louie. Richie also ordered an expensive bottle of Amarone from Venice. They were half way through the meal when, as Richie expected it would, the wine caught the owner’s attention.

“Richie! I should have known you were the one with the wonderful taste.” A woman strode towards them, her wildly curled and crimped gray hair in frizzled disarray around her head. “How nice to see you again. How do you like the Amarone?”

“Beautiful, just like you,” Richie said as he stood and greeted her with a hug and a kiss, then introduced Marlena to Rebecca.

“He’s such a silver-tongued devil.” Marlena said to Rebecca, although obviously thrilled by Richie’s compliment.

He asked her to join them. “Marlena was one of the people who lost some jewelry in the recent thefts,” he explained to Rebecca.

“Is that so?” Rebecca already knew that, but feigned surprise.

“I never wear it anymore,” Marlena said, dropping into a chair. “I’m allergic to gold and silver, but that doesn’t mean I want people to steal my things.”

“Of course not.”

Richie explained that Rebecca was a detective looking into the thefts, and discovered that a lead might exist within the Alta Vista. “Do you have any security cameras?”

Marlena put her arms around Rebecca’s and Richie’s shoulders and pulled them in close. “I don’t like to make it known because our customers do expect us to be discreet,” she whispered, “but we have cameras watching the front desk and the parking lot.”

“Great!” Richie said softly. “Maybe after our dinner, you can let us see what you have for the Monday before last. Everything, but especially the evening hours.”

Marlena let them both go and rubbed her hands gleefully together. “This is so exciting. I have no idea how to work the equipment, but Lew will set it up for me. He’s home doing nothing, anyway. Dessert is on the house. We have some wonderful crème brûlée just made tonight—fresh, creamy, and melt-in-your mouth. With it, you’ll like our Italian roast caffè, perhaps with a splash of Amaretto?”

“Perfect,” Richie said.

It was, too, Rebecca thought when the dessert arrived. She was finding everything blissful--the food, the wine, the service … her dinner companion. Why, she wondered, did every little thing she did in Richie’s company seem brighter, more colorful, even more fun, than what happened at other times of her day?

Was she under some evil spell that caused her to be so interested in him? Or did something about him bring out the devil in her?

Before long, the waiter told them that Ms. Carbini was ready whenever they wanted to see her.

Richie stood and took a wad of cash from his pocket to pay the bill, then peeled off a couple of hundreds followed by several twenties. Someday she might get used to the amount of money he had and not feel guilty about what she was costing him.

The waiter brought them to the back of the restaurant, and then across the parking area to another building. It was Marlena’s house. It was wooden, small, and quite old. Anywhere else it would have been considered for tear-down. In Sausalito, it was seen as quaint, charming, and expensive.

Richie and Rebecca met Lew, a scruffy fellow with long, gray hair, the latest in Marlena’s string of lovers.

Everyone sat in front of the computer screen while Lew started up the digital security footage. It began with the camera over the front desk. Since Rebecca had some experience looking at surveillance film, she controlled the speed. She went through it at a good clip until she saw what she was looking for and stopped the recording.

“Oh, God!” Her cry was involuntary. She hadn’t realized how much it would hurt to see her friend looking so alive or, frankly, so gorgeous in a black V-neck sheath, black four-inch heels, and dangling gold earrings.

“Are you okay?” Richie asked, putting his arm around her shoulders.

She nodded, her jaw tense, and then went back to the film.

Karen had entered the restaurant alone. Ten minutes later, a man entered, also alone. His hair was long and bushy, and he had a thick mustache. Somehow, he managed to never turn in such a way that they got a good look at him, as if he was well-aware of the camera’s presence.

Marlena knew the names of some of the people who arrived at the restaurant, but the man was a stranger to her. He seemed vaguely familiar to Rebecca, but she wasn’t sure why. They continued to run the footage, and watched Karen leave the restaurant alone. Soon after her, the man also left.

“This is maddening,” Rebecca said. “Why can’t I place him?”

“He’s careful to keep his head down, for one thing,” Richie said. “And he’s kind of familiar to me as well. He must be from the city. Someplace we’ve both been.”

“Your club?” Rebecca suggested.

“Possibly, but I don’t think so.”

They then went to the footage from the parking lot. Karen drove off in an old Chevy Malibu, but the man must not have had a car in the lot because they never saw him drive away.

“That could mean he’s local,” Marlena said. “And just walked here from his home. Or, he parked down in one of the big lots by the water and walked up to the restaurant.”

“At least we have an idea of who to look for,” Rebecca said. “Could Lew print a couple of stills for us?”

“Sure,” Marlena said. “Also, it’s ridiculously short notice, but there’s another big party tomorrow afternoon. It’s supposedly a fundraiser for the Mill Valley Ballet being given by Buffy and John Fillmore. Trust me when I say the fundraiser is just an excuse. The Fillmores are known for their somewhat, um, excessive parties. The donation cost is a bit steep, but—”

“For a good cause,” Richie offered, while Rebecca wondered what an “excessive” party might be.

Marlena continued. “Everyone will be there. The home is on Belvedere Island. Extremely private.”

“Sounds like my kind of party,” Richie said, facing Rebecca.

“The type where burglaries happen,” Rebecca added with a nod.

Marlena looked from one to the other. “Absolutely.”

CHAPTER 27

Rebecca hated shopping, but since she didn’t want to stand out like a sore thumb at the garden party, while Richie slept the next morning, she headed to the Stonestown mall for an appropriate dress to wear.

The night before, he had gone out
shortly after they arrived back at his house, saying he had a few things to take care of before the next day’s party. She decided to work on her Homicide reports while sitting up in bed, but before long fell asleep and didn’t even hear him come in.