Alex Harris 00 - Armed

two years. This man regularly gets packages from a questionable source. He’s also a petty criminal so the police keep an eye on him.”
    “Diamonds!”
    “Diamonds.”

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

    “This is ironic,” I said, “because I talked with one of the designers and he said working at a mannequin factory wasn’t the sort of stuff you read about in spy novels, but here we have a police detective in Europe following some diamond smuggler around for years and it all leads back to the factory in little old Indian Cove. I’d say it sounds just like a dark spy novel.”
    John smiled. “It does at that.”
    “So why didn’t they arrest him? The man in the café, I mean.”
    “Well, like with drugs, they’re not interested in the little guy, they want the big fish. You figured that out very nicely the other day. They’re being sent to Murray Schwartz at Schwartz & Co. What he’s doing with them, we don’t know, but that’ll be for the Cincinnati police along with the FBI to figure out.”
    I had another thought. “What’s the reason for smuggling diamonds?”
    “The reason?”
    “Yes. Money?”
    “Well, yes, I suppose. What are you getting at?” John asked.
    I pushed my plate aside—hoping John didn’t notice that I ate the entire piece of cake—and leaned forward on the table. “Nothing maybe, but what if there are a whole lot more people at Poupée involved than just Richard and Emmanuelle?”
    “Like who?”
    “Like Joanne and Mitch. Those two are up to something. I saw her at the mall this morning, and let me tell you, she does not have a bad back. She was carrying a ton of shopping bags. I followed her for a bit and she went in to one of those high-priced sporting good stores that sell lots of equipment and I saw her lifting weights! She’s greedy and wants money so she and Mitch can start a business of their own. And as much as she wants Mrs. Scott’s job, the extra money is nothing compared to what she’ll need to get her own business off the ground. Trust me, I know. So what are her options?”
    “Again you amaze me. I never figured any of this out. It would make sense, though.”
    “What better and faster way to get some quick cash than being in on a diamond deal?”
    “You may have something there.” John finished the last bite of pie and signaled for the waitress to bring another hot chocolate.
    “Getting back to Richard. He goes to Europe on a vacation and hooks up with these eye factory people and then what—someone approaches him to be a courier?” I asked.
    “That’s the story he’s sticking to at the moment. We’re working on the assumption Murray Schwartz came to Richard first. He needed a way to get the diamonds here. He’d figured out a way to use mannequin eyes and arranged for Richard to go and work something out with the people in Brussels.”
    “So Mrs. Scott figured this out, probably from being suspicious of Emmanuelle to begin with, and then found out about the diamonds and they killed her. That’s probably why the printout goes back two years because that’s when Richard started the Eyes Have It model. That poor woman.”
    John touched my hand. For a moment our eyes locked and I forgot all about diamonds and murder and European eye factories.
    “Here’s your hot chocolate. Can I get you anything else?”
    John broke off first and looked up at an amused waitress. “No. This is fine. Thanks.”
    My thoughts came back to the present. “Sooner or later one of them—my money’s on Richard—will confess to murder.”
    “I’m afraid it’s not going to end like that.” John sat back and ran his hands through his thick, short hair. He sighed and looked back at me. “It doesn’t appear as though Emmanuelle had anything to do with the diamonds.”
    “How can you be so sure? She’s certainly not going to admit it up front,” I reflected. “But then again, if not her, maybe Joanne.”
    “I’m sure it’s not Emmanuelle. She’s totally mystified. And petrified.” I started to protest but John put up his hand. “Richard says she had no part of it.”
    “Oh.” I thought a minute. “So he’s admitting to diamond smuggling?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’m surprised he would. Who else is he taking down—Joanne or Mitch?”
    “No. But those two warrant another talking to in any case. But you’ll be happy to know Jerry had a piece of it. Had to. Richard needed someone in the factory to oversee everything.”
    “I knew it!” My yelp drew the