The Diamond Affair (14 page)

"Maybe that's
the whole point. Sonya's risking it because she wants to be caught."

"She's a
slut not an idiot."

He shrugged and
concentrated on the road. "It could be a way of getting attention from her
husband. Some couples play that game with each other. Personally, I don't get
it."

"Me either."
She shivered and hugged her arms. "I wouldn't want to play any kind of
games with either Sinestri or Beauvoir. Both men are crazy."

He glanced at her
quickly before returning his attention to the road. "You okay?"

"Yeah. But I'll
be better when this is all over."

"You and me
both," he muttered.

Did he mean he
wanted to be far away from her? Or did he mean he was worried about her? The
man gave nothing away as he watched the road. It was like conversing with a
brick wall.

"Where to
now?" she said.

"Maxim's. It's
not far."

It took only a
few minutes to drive to the restaurant situated on a busy Hawthorn shopping
strip. The lunchtime diners had left and there were only a few waiting staff setting
up the tables for dinner. One of them met Jake and Ruby at the door.

"We're
closed," he said with a tight smile.

"We're not
here to eat," Jake said. "We're here for information. Were you on
duty last night?"

The waiter
blanched. "Why?"

Jake reached into
his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He flipped it open and showed it to
the waiter.

"I'll just
get the manager for you," he said and hurried away.

Ruby lowered her sunglasses
just enough to peer over them at Jake. "What was that?"

"Trade
secret. Works every time." He gave her a rueful smile. "And for
future reference, if a cop ever flashes their badge at you, make sure you check
it before speaking to them. Even if they're in uniform. Got it?"

"Yes, Matt,"
she mocked. Her brother had always given her lectures on how to stay safe when
she went out, including the "always check the badge" one. It was
actually his favorite.

Jake ignored her.

"Officer?"
A middle-aged man with thick gray hair came up to them with a forced smile. He
gave Ruby only a cursory glance before returning his full attention to Jake. Clearly
she'd been pegged as the junior partner in this arrangement. She huffed out a
breath and had to concede she was definitely the novice of the two.

Jake introduced
them both with fake names. He didn't produce his wallet again nor did the
manager ask to see any ID. "You had two diners in here last night. Eight o'clock
booking, probably in the name of Sinestri."

The manager
flipped back a page of the reservations book perched on the lectern near the
front door. "Ah yes, they sat at the back." He nodded in the
direction of a corner booth, away from windows and doors. Cozy. Secluded. "Is
there a problem?"

"No problem,
I just want to ask you or the waiting staff some questions about the couple. Were
you on duty last night?"

"I was, and
Zoe would have waited on them. That's her zone whenever she works." He
clicked his fingers and a waitress looked up from one of the nearby tables. She
approached on his signal. "Zoe, this police officer has some questions
about the couple seated at table twenty-two last night."

Jake had the girl
confirm the diners' appearances. She described both Sinestri and Sonya right
down to their haughty attitudes.

"How did
they seem?" he asked her. "Happy? Nervous?"

"Nervous,"
Zoe said. "Definitely nervous. Especially the lady. She jumped whenever
someone walked past."

"Did they
appear...friendly?"

"To each
other?" She shrugged too-thin shoulders. "I suppose."

"What my
colleague means," Ruby said, "is do you think they behaved like
lovers?"

"You mean
did they kiss and fondle and stuff?" Zoe shrugged again. "A bit. Not
too much. Not like full-on kissing or cuddling. Just a touch of their fingers
sometimes."

"A tender
touch?" Ruby asked.

Zoe shook her
head. "I don't know, just a touch. You know, like this." She grabbed
Jake's hand and covered his fingers for a few moments before releasing them. "That's
all."

"Thanks, you've
been very helpful," Jake said. He nodded at both the waitress and the
manager then turned to go.

Ruby trotted
after him. Outside, she opened her mouth to say something but he got in first. "Keep
your head down," he said. "And your sunglasses and hat on."

"I am,"
she ground out.

They got into the
car and drove off. "Surely there was something else you could have asked
Zoe," Ruby said.

"Like what?"

She threw up her
hands. "I don't know, do I? You're the expert at this."

She could swear
his lips curled into a fleeting half-smile but it was gone too quickly to be
sure. "I got what I wanted."

"What? Because
I obviously missed something."

He lifted his
hand off the steering wheel. Stuck to his palm was a small note with a series
of numbers scrawled on it.

"What's
this?"

"The
waitress passed it to me when she demonstrated Sinestri and Sonya's
hand-holding technique."

She peeled it off
and studied it. "It's a phone number. Who's?"

"My guess
would be the waitress'."

"Really?"
Ruby was impressed by the young girl. She must have guessed at the importance
of their investigation and taken it upon herself to help them out away from the
prying eyes of her manager. It was an incredibly clever and brave way to hand
over her number. "Shall we call now or wait a few hours and hope she's off
duty. Ooh, I wonder what she's got to tell us."

He frowned at her
then turned back to the road. She could swear she saw his shoulders shake as if
he was laughing. "I don't think she has any more information for
us
."

"Why not? She
gave us her phone number. What else could she...? Oh. Oh!" She blushed
everywhere. Even places that don't go red were burning with embarrassment. "You
think she was hitting on you?"

"I'm fairly
certain of it." His voice shook. Yep, he was definitely laughing at her. If
he hadn't been driving she would have swatted him.

"I still
think she was trying to give us more information." She crossed her arms
and stared out her side window. "Probably. Maybe."

"Do you want
to call the number and find out?"

"Not right
now," she said to her reflection.

He chuckled. "Didn't
think so."

He'd said he'd
got everything he needed from the waitress. Was he referring to the number? "She
was pretty," she said, biting down on the catty tone to keep it in check. She
wasn't jealous. Merely...curious.

"Not my
type," he said simply.

"Oh? Why
not?"

"That's not
your business." The laughter was completely gone now, replaced by the
tight-lipped don't-ask-questions face.

She sighed. She
wasn't going to get that answer out of him in a hurry. "So what did you
mean when you said you got everything you needed from her if you're not
interested in...well, you know?"

"Did you see
her slip that paper to me?"

"No. I know
she did it while you were touching but I didn't actually see it."

"No. No one
did. That's what happened between Sinestri and Sonya. They didn't act like
lovers, Zoe said. Only a bit of hand touching. Enough to exchange a piece of
paper or two."

Ruby stared at
him. "I get it now. How clever. So maybe they're not lovers at all." She
tapped her chin with her finger as she thought. "Do you really think they're
in this together?"

"It's a very
strong possibility, but we need to be sure."

"How do we
do that?"

He changed lanes
and didn't answer her until the maneuver was complete. "I don't know."

"Oh." Well
that was a disappointment. "So what do we do now?"

"We return
to the Brighton house. It's the safest place for you right now."

"Yeah,"
she said, "but I can't stay in hiding forever." She stared at her
reflection in the window again, still wearing the hat and glasses. Was this how
her life would be from now on? Living in disguise, keeping to the shadows,
always needing a bodyguard.

She shivered
again, despite the warmth of the day. When would this be over? She had a
business to run, people who were worried about her. Matt, Evie, Aaron... When
could she contact them again and pick up where she left off?

"Hey,"
Jake said softly. "It'll be fine." His hand rubbed her knee and she
was grateful for that little piece of warmth. She needed every bit she could
get to thaw the cold lump of dread settling into her bones.

But all too soon,
his hand withdrew. He must have remembered his resolve not to go anywhere near
her again. She sighed. It was going to be a long night.

***

They arrived back
at the Brighton house around six. Jake did a check of the property then
returned to Ruby in the lounge. She looked so small, so fragile, curled up on
the couch with an old magazine that had been lying around. She looked up at him
and smiled, but there was no joy in it. No light.

He wanted to put
back the light. She deserved that much, and more. So much more. She deserved a
long life surrounded by children and pets and a white picket fence. He didn't
do picket fences.

He blinked and
looked away. Christ, he was getting soft. That's what leaving the special
forces did to a man.

But that wasn't quite
true. He'd turned soft before leaving the SAS.

"Hungry?"
she asked.

"Not really.
You go ahead and order pizza. Make sure you look through the spy hole when the
doorbell rings."

She gave him a
wry glare. "Thank you, I won't be making the same mistake twice. But where
are you going?"

"I have to
visit my dad."

She nodded and
gave him a warm smile, not a big one but it was there nonetheless. "That's
good. It seemed like you were ignoring his phone calls earlier."

She'd noticed
that? "I was. My dad and I haven't seen eye to eye for years. Whenever we
talk it always ends up in an argument so it's best not to talk at all."

"That's a
shame." She chewed her lip and looked away. Did she pity him? "Especially
if he's the only family you've got." Definitely pity. "Maybe you can
sort it out now he's ill."

"Yeah,
maybe."

He left her,
feeling like the world's biggest bastard for lying.

CHAPTER 12

It wasn't easy to
find Frankie Fatoros. For starters he wasn't listed in any address book and
secondly, Jake hadn't known his last name until he rang a few buddies. Fortunately
one of his mates who'd been in the security business longer than Jake knew who
he meant when he described Beauvoir's side-kick. He also gave him some
unasked-for advice—be careful. It seemed Fat Frankie had a reputation for
getting the job done using the most efficient means available.

Frankie lived in
a converted warehouse in West Melbourne in a street where not even the weeds
could find a way through all the concrete. People came and went from the
one-time industrial area for the entire hour that Jake watched, but thanks to
the darkness, he was able to watch Frankie's place safely from his car across
the road. So far nothing had happened. The blinds were up and the lights were
out. No one was home. Jake confirmed that when he disabled the alarm and broke
into the apartment.

He searched and
found no evidence of a live-in partner, children, or anyone who might be a
hindrance to his investigation. There weren't even any photos of parents or
siblings. Maybe Frankie was an only child with a crappy upbringing too.

It also seemed Beauvoir
didn't pay him as much as Jake had assumed. There was no expensive furniture,
no big TV or the latest hi-fi equipment. Frankie lived simply, frugally. A
computer and fancy coffee machine were the only gadgets in the house. Even the
alarm system was an old model, easy to disarm.

Jake connected
his backup drive to the computer and while it copied files, he searched the
rest of the apartment. He found four guns placed strategically around the
apartment and bugged the phone. When the backup was complete, he removed the
drive and re-activated the apartment's alarm system. He returned to the car and
waited, trying not to think about Ruby back in Brighton with her sad eyes and
sexy body.

He wasn't doing a
very good job of not thinking about her when the garage door on the ground
floor of Frankie's apartment slid up. Jake recognized the red sports car that
drove in. Frankie must have found it outside Ruby's apartment, or maybe the
cops had been called to an abandoned vehicle and then contacted the owner. Either
way, it meant Frankie knew Ruby had returned home last night.