Corpse Suzette

Where have you
been? I thought you and I had something special, and then I don’t see you for months!
My heart, it’s broken, broken, I tell you.”
    For effect he clasped both
hands to his chest and shook his head, gazing mournfully heavenward.
    “Oh, Saul, don’t give me
that. You’ve got a harem of women, bringing you food, doing your laundry,
picking out ties for you, and god knows what. You’re the most eligible bachelor
in town.” Saul’s wizened face split with a wide grin. “That’s true,” he said.
“The women, they flock to Saul’s store, his house. They think I’ll give them
some of my treasures here.” He waved an arm, indicating the glass counters
filled with both new and estate jewelry.
    “And tell me, Saul,” she
said, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “do you barter favors
from the fairer sex with all of these shiny baubles of yours? Come on, you can
tell me .”
    The old fellow laughed so
hard she thought he might fall down. “Ah, Savannah, you do me good. I’m
flattered that you think I would still benefit from such ‘favors,’ as you call
them. But I’m past all that.”
    “No man is ever truly past
all that, until he’s six feet under. So don’t give me that line of hooey. Don’t
tell me you didn’t enjoy the legs on that gal who was just in here. The one in
the leather miniskirt.”
    He giggled again. “I
looked, yes. I enjoyed, true. But beyond that...?” He shrugged. “What can I do
for you today, dear Savannah? You want something sparkly for yourself? I’ll
give you a good deal. I have a pendant, a London blue topaz, the exact color of
your beautiful eyes. Let me get it for you. You look and see, and you won’t be
able to live without it.”
    He shuffled over to a
counter, slipped behind it, slid the door in the back of the display open and
reached inside.
    “No, no, no, Saul. I can’t
afford any of your pretties, so don’t even tempt me. I came in to ask you a
question.”
    His bottom lip protruded,
but his eyes twinkled. “And here I thought you came into my shop to see me and
ask me to run away with you to Acapulco.”
    “If I ever get a yen to run
away to Acapulco, Saulie, I promise it will be with you and no other. But
meanwhile, would you mind terribly telling me why that young woman was in
here?”
    “The one in the miniskirt
with the great ankles?”
    “That’s the one. Did she
buy something or hock something?” He stroked his scraggly beard with one hand
and his smile faded slightly. “Neither one. She sold me something. And you’d
better not tell me that it wasn’t hers to sell. I checked the sheets the
policemen give me, the lists of things that have been stolen. There was nothing
on there about sapphire and diamond earrings. Nothing at all.”
    Sapphire and diamond
earrings?
    A bell went off in
Savannah’s head. And it sounded very, very sweet. Rather like the bells of the
old mission in town when they rang on Christmas Eve and Easter morning.
    “Would you mind if I took a
look at those earrings, Saul? Pretty please with whipped cream and chocolate
sprinkles on top?”
    Reluctantly, he reached
behind him and took a small black velvet box from the top of a desk. He slid it
across the counter to her.
    She could feel the shot of
adrenaline hit her bloodstream as she opened the lid. It made her knees weak,
the ultimate high for a junkie like her. These were the moments she lived for.
    Yes. There, nestled against
the black velvet were a pair of exquisite earrings. At least two carats each of
emerald-cut sapphires, surrounded by diamonds, set in white gold.
    Marilyn Monroe had owned a
pair just like this.
    And more importantly, so
had Dr. Suzette Du Bois.
    “Saulie,” she said, trying
not to be too happy, considering the kindly old fellow’s misfortune. “I hate to
tell you this, honey, but you need to hold on tight to these earrings. Don’t
sell them, don’t even touch them until I get Sergeant Coulter over here to look
at them.”
    Saul looked bewildered.
“But that young lady. She seemed nice, like a good girl. You don’t think she
stole these, do you?”
    Savannah lifted one
eyebrow. “At the moment, Saul, my man... I don’t know what that girl’s
capable of, but I intend to find out.”
     
    As Savannah and her new-found
girlfriend sat across from each other in a booth at Cache, Savannah wondered
why Myrna, a woman in her sixties, would have chosen this glorified ladies’
strip joint as a place to meet for a