Hot Rocks

father’s managed to land on his feet all his life. I bet he’s still got his balance and agility.”
    “I appreciate the logic and common sense.”
    She didn’t look like she was buying any. He considered showing her the snub-nosed .38 strapped to his ankle, but wasn’t sure if it would reassure her or scare her.
    “You know what we’ve got here, Ms. Tavish?”
    “What have we got here?”
    “Just over seven million—or one quarter of twenty-eight point four million in diamonds—almost to the carat.”
    “Seven point one million.” She said it in a reverent whisper. “On my kitchen table. I’m sitting here, looking at them, and still I can’t really believe he pulled it off. He always said he would. ‘Lainie, one day, one fine day, I’m going to make the big score.’ I swear, Max, most times he said it he was just conning himself. And now look at this.”
    She picked up a stone, let it sparkle in her hand. “All his life, he wanted that one, big, glittery take. He and Willy must’ve had the best time.” She let out a breath, set the stone back with the others. “Okay, reality check. The sooner those are out of my house and back where they belong, the better.”
    “I’m going to contact my client, make arrangements.”
    “You’ll have to go back to New York?”
    “No.” He reached for her hand. “I’m not leaving. We finish this out. Three-quarters of the pie is still out there. Where would your father go, Laine?”
    “I don’t know. I swear to you I don’t have a clue. I don’t know his habits and haunts anymore. I cut myself off from him because I wanted so much to be respectable. And still . . . God I’m such a hypocrite.”
    She rubbed her hands over her face, dragged them back into her hair. “I took money from him. Through college, a little here, a little there. There’d be an envelope stuffed with cash in my mailbox, or now and then a cashier’s check made out to me. And after I graduated, too. A little wind-fall out of the blue, which I dutifully banked or invested. So I could buy this house, start my business. I took it. I knew it wasn’t from the goddamn tooth fairy. I knew he’d stolen it or bilked someone out of it, but I took it.”
    “You want me to blame you for that?”
    “I wanted to be respectable,” she repeated. “But I took the money to build that respectability. Max, I wouldn’t use his name, but I used the money.”
    “And you rationalized it and justified it. I could do the same. But let’s just cut through all that and agree that it’s a very shaky area. Let’s agree you don’t take it anymore, and make it clear to him the next time you see him.”
    “If I had a dollar for every time I tried to make it clear to him. Oh, that’s right. I do. But I’ll make it stick this time. I promise. Do me one favor?”
    “Just ask.”
    “Put those away somewhere and don’t tell me where. I don’t want him coming back and talking me into giving them to him. It’s not out of the realm.”
    Max slid the stones back into the pouch, tucked it in his pocket. “I’ll take care of it.”
    “I want to help you get the rest of them. I want that for a few reasons. One, I guess it’ll go a ways toward easing my conscience. Two, and more important, it’s just the right thing to do. More important than that, I hope that recovering them, getting them back where they belong will protect my father. I couldn’t stand for him to be hurt. And somewhere between the conscience and the right thing lies the two-and-a-half-percent finder’s fee.”
    He took her hand and kissed it. “You know, you may have bought that respectability, but you must’ve been born with that style. I’ve got a few things to see to. Maybe you can see about warming up that fudge.”
    “If I wait a bit, both of us get our evening chores done, we could have those sundaes in bed with extra whipped cream.”
    “I believe I might just be the luckiest man alive at this point in time.” His cell phone beeped, making Laine chuckle when she heard the digitized opening riff of “Satisfaction.”
    “Hold that thought,” he said, and answered. “Gannon.” His face broke into a wide grin. “Hey, Mama.”
    Since he leaned against the stove instead of heading out of the room for privacy, Laine started to ease out. But he grabbed her hand, pulled her back.
    “So, you liked the glasses. That makes me the good son, right? Your favorite.” He scowled, tucking the phone between his ear and