The Diamond Affair (13 page)

"Yeah,"
she said, feeling weak. "Thankfully." She breathed deeply to settle
her racing heart.

At least he was
alive. It kind of put her concerns about where their relationship stood in
perspective. She'd give him up a thousand times to ensure his safety.

"What do you
make of this?" He handed her a business card. "Read the back."

She did. "An
appointment with someone?" She shrugged. "Who?"

"Recognize
the handwriting?"

She looked again.
"It's the same as in Sonya's diary."

He nodded. "I
checked it against the diary. The slot for eight p.m. last night had
Max's
written against it. I think that must be her shorthand for Maxim's."

"Why would
they be meeting?"

"If she
stole the Florentine, she could be seeking his help to on-sell it. If
he
stole the diamond, he could be using it to lure her."

"Lure her?"
She frowned. "Oh." She got it. He meant into bed.

"Or neither
of them could have the diamond and they're just having an affair."

She nodded,
thoughtful. "Do you think Guy knows?"

He tapped the
notepad he'd been writing on with his pen. "I'm not sure but it would
explain Frankie's presence at Sinestri's office. Beauvoir may have a suspicion
and be trying to find out more by sending Frankie. They got lucky in that I
happened to be there." He shook his head and stabbed the pad with the pen.
"And I led them straight to you."

"Don't blame
yourself. If you do then I have to blame myself for nearly getting you killed."

He nodded but she
knew he wasn't convinced by that argument. "Tell me more about last night."
He leaned forward over the table. "How'd you get away?"

She gathered her
plate and glass and placed them in the sink. She needed coffee before she got
into the gory details. As to how much detail to tell Jake, she wasn't sure.

As she put the
pot of coffee back on to heat up, she decided she needed to tell him
everything. If he was to do his job properly then every piece of information
she could give him might be useful.

And as far as she
was concerned now, the sooner this was over, the better. She would go back to
her normal life and Jake would go to Sydney. She didn't need a brooding man
with relationship issues in her life. It might take some time, but she
would
get over him.

She turned
around, leaned back against the kitchen bench, and told him everything. About
Frankie taking her to the cabin and Guy, about her hands being tied and the
gun. And about Guy's preference for torture over death and Frankie's
willingness to buck those orders.

"Why do you
think—?"

She didn't get to
complete the question because Jake rose, picked up the chair he'd been sitting
on and threw it to the floor. It made a hell of a noise but didn't break.

"Jake?"

But he strode out
of the kitchen and a few seconds later she heard a door open and bang shut. Well,
that was quite a reaction.

The coffee bubbled
behind her and she switched the gas off. Out of the corner of her eye she saw
Jake crossing the courtyard out the back of the house. Beyond that she could
see a sweeping, formal garden and beyond that was the blue of the bay.

She found the
mugs in a high cupboard and got out two. She made his coffee the way he liked
it, poured one for herself then followed him outside. She found him standing at
the end of the garden, staring out across the water. He must have heard her
approach but he didn't turn around, didn't acknowledge her.

"It's hot
out here," she said. When he didn't respond, she added, "I made you a
coffee."

Still he said
nothing and she was about to turn inside, but decided against it. This was her
drama, not his. And damn it, she was not putting up with his he-man protective attitude.
She got it enough from Matt when he was home.

"I got out
of there," she said. "No damage done. So don't—"

"Only
because you got lucky." His voice was thick and rough.

"Luck! Ha,
luck had nothing to do with it. Matt used to make me do drills when I was a teenager.
After our parents died, he wouldn't let me out of the house unless I could
prove to him I could defend myself." She smiled at the memory. "I
proved it to him all right. He got a black eye and his shoulder still gives him
trouble."

Jake's head half
turned so that he was in profile. Despite the grim set of his mouth and the
tension in his jaw she could see the crinkles around his eyes. "You took Matt
out?"

"Yes but I
should admit he was taken by surprise. He was chatting to his girlfriend on the
phone at the time."

The crinkles
deepened. "Doesn't matter. If the guys knew his little sister had taken
him out, he'd never live it down."

She handed him
the coffee mug. "I wish I'd used those moves on Frankie at your apartment.
Or at my workshop. But
he
took
me
by surprise, both times."

"The element
of surprise is the greatest weapon you can have in your arsenal."

She nodded and
swallowed a mouthful of coffee.

"But I still
should've been there." He swore and looked over her head to the house. "I
should have bloody been there."

She reached out
and touched his arm. "Don't. No more blaming yourself, or I walk out that
door and do this on my own."

She thought he'd
argue with her, swear perhaps, but he surprised her by laughing softly. "You
think you'd be able to hide from me? I'm very good at finding people."

She smiled, glad
to see he still had a sense of humor. "So find the person who stole the
Florentine." She squeezed his arm then let her hand drop. He'd made it clear
where they stood. No point making a fool of herself again. "Let's go
inside and talk about our next move."

"Your next
move is to do nothing," he said, walking alongside her. "My next move
is to pay Sinestri a visit."

***

Apparently Jake
still felt worried about leaving Ruby on her own because it was easy to talk
him into taking her along. She'd thought he'd argue and make up excuses but she'd
only had to ask once and he'd given in. Maybe reminding him about the last time
he'd left her alone wasn't a fair tactic, but she was done with fair fights. This
game had turned dirty.

They went to
Sinestri's office first but it was closed up. How had Jake broken in the night
before? The office had more locks and alarms than a bank and yet none of them
seemed shot up or damaged in any way.

"Trade
secret," he'd said when she asked.

That was about
the total of his conversation for the entire journey to Sinestri's home. He
wouldn't tell her what he planned to ask the gem dealer either. All he would
say on the subject was, "Don't speak to him, don't even look at him. I'll
do all the interrogating."

She agreed but
didn't quite mean it. He might be the scary one with all the attitude and
combat experience but she'd negotiated a few business deals in her life, and
this one might require a deft touch. Jake didn't seem to know the meaning of
deft.

Harry Sinestri's
house was on a slightly less grand scale than Beauvoir's in the suburb of
Hawthorn. Built in a modern mock Georgian style, it was out of place in a
street where the rest of the houses were at least a hundred years old.

Jake had made her
wear a hat and big sunglasses but even so, his gaze continuously scanned the
quiet street. It wouldn't be out of the question for Fat Frankie to turn up
there.

As they waited
for the doorbell to be answered, Ruby realized she knew nothing about Sinestri.
She didn't even know if he was married. When the door opened and the man
himself appeared, Jake ushered her inside, forcing Sinestri back against the
wall.

"Hey!" Sinestri
recovered and drew himself up to his full height which was still considerably
less than Jake's. "Who the—?"

"Harry,"
Ruby said, removing her hat and glasses, "it's me."

His eyes nearly exploded
out of their sockets. "Ruby Jones!" He shook his head. "You're
in big trouble, young lady. I hear Beauvoir is turning over every rock to find
you."

"Yeah,"
she said, "I heard that too. Hence the bodyguard." She nodded at
Jake.

Jake eyeballed
her. She shrugged innocently and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Ruby doesn't
have the diamond," Jake said. "She never did. If you get a visit from
Beauvoir or his monkey you can tell them that."

"Why would I
get a visit from them?" Sinestri wiped a hand through the few strands of
hair clinging to his head.

"Because Frankie
was at your office last night," Jake said.

"Frankie!
Well, fuck. I had a call from the cops. Apart from a shot-up computer and a
bullet hole in the floor, there was nothing out of place. Not even the safe was
touched." Sinestri frowned and sucked on the inside of his cheek as he
considered the news. Then his frown deepened and he pinned Jake with a glare. "How
do
you
know it was Frankie anyway?"

"My
bodyguard has special powers," Ruby said.

Sinestri turned
his glare onto her. "This isn't funny, young lady. Beauvoir is not a man
you want to cross."

"Do you see
me laughing?"

"We know how
serious it is," Jake said. "That's why we're trying to find out who
really has the diamond."

Sinestri crossed
his arms over his chest. "And you've come to me because...?"

"Because you
know a lot of people in this business," Jake said. "You have an ear
to the underworld and—."

"That's an
unsubstantiated allegation."

"And you
might have heard something," Jake went on as if Sinestri hadn't spoken. "If
you have any information, we want to hear it."

Sinestri simply
shrugged.

"I'll pay
you," Ruby said.

"If I had
information about someone who'd stolen the Florentine, you wouldn't have enough
money to buy it. That sort of information is priceless because it would be my
neck on the line if word got out I'd talked." He stretched his neck as if
he could feel a cold, sharp blade against it. "Now, if you don't mind, I
have better things to do than stand around talking to you." He opened the
door.

Jake pushed it
closed again and stood between it and Sinestri, his arms crossed over his broad
chest, looking every inch SAS. "You do
not
have anything better to
do right now," he said. When Sinestri nodded nervously, he went on. "If
you want us to leave, tell us one thing. Why did you meet Sonya Beauvoir last night?"

CHAPTER 11

Sinestri made a
gurgling sound in the back of his throat. "Wh, what?"

"It's a
simple question, Mr. Sinestri," Jake said.

"I, ah,
well, that is..." His Adam's apple bobbed furiously. "Don't tell Beauvoir."
He rubbed his balding head again. "Christ, you don't think that's why he
sent Frankie round to my office do you?"

"To find
evidence of your liaison with his wife?" Jake shrugged. "I don't
know. Does he have any other reason to search your office?"

Sinestri was too
busy pacing his hall rug to answer.

"So was it a
social meeting?" Ruby asked. "A business meeting? Or a mixture of
both."

Sinestri stopped
pacing long enough for Ruby to see that he was sweating. Beads dripped off his
shiny head down his temples into the collar of his crisp white shirt. "That,"
he said, "is none of your business. Now, if you don't mind, I have things
to do." When neither Jake nor Ruby moved, he said, "Look, I don't
know anything about the Florentine except that Beauvoir is going to gain one
dangerous enemy if he doesn't hand over the diamond to my buyer on Monday."

Ruby put on her
hat and glasses and turned to go. Jake still didn't move.

"All right!"
Sinestri shouted. "If I hear anything about it, I'll call you."

Jake fished in
his pocket and removed a black business card. He grabbed a pen from the nearby
hall table and wrote Damien's cell number on the back. "Use this number."
Sinestri went to take the card but Jake held it back. "And if I find out
you know more than you're telling us, I'll make your life so miserable you'll
think Beauvoir is a kitten in comparison."

Since Sinestri seemed
frozen and didn't move to take the card, Jake shoved it into the dealer's shirt
pocket.

Ruby and Jake
left him and returned to the sedan. "Do you think he was telling the
truth?" she asked.

"I think he's
now more scared of Beauvoir than he was before. He knows why Frankie was at his
office last night, which means he's guilty of something, but whether that's
theft of Beauvoir's diamond or his wife, I don't know."

She pulled a face.
"He's so slimy. I can't believe anyone would have an affair with him. Why
risk it for that little creep?"