Rarities Unlimited 04 - The Color of Death

fingertip. “And you’re gentle with me. At least you are now that you don’t think I’m a crook. You weren’t very nice before that.”
    “I’m not paid to be nice.”
    “See? There you go. But you’re nice to me and you’re innocent.” She looked at the tablet he was holding. “How many of the people on the strike force had a previous connection to Lee or Mandel Inc.?”
    “As far as we can discover from your parents’ records, no one.”
    “What about Sizemore Security Consulting?” Kate said. “Lee worked for them a couple of times.”
    “Sizemore’s company isn’t part of the strike force.”
    “Puh-lease. Are you telling me that the Legend doesn’t know everything that jerk Kennedy knows?”
    “No. I’m telling you it’s an informal rather than a formal connection.”
    “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Kate muttered. “Any more formal and they’d be married.”
    Firmly she pulled up a slip with Sizemore’s name and stuck it to the Active file. Then she wrote “/Lee” on the note and looked at Sam defiantly.
    He was smiling.
    Then he took Kennedy’s name and wrote across the bottom of the note “/Lee?” The note went next to Sizemore’s in the Active category.
    “Why?” Kate asked.
    “They’ve been sharing information for thirty years. We’re better off assuming shared knowledge than burying our heads in the sand.”
    “I’ve always thought that sounded way uncomfortable.”
    “What?”
    “All that sand in your eyes.”
    Sam shook his head, picked up his tablet, and began reading again. “As much as I’d like to pin a rose on Bill Colton, so far all I have against him is his sweet personality. He’d cut my throat, and yours, to become SAC, but otherwise he’s clean.”
    Kate took the note with Colton’s name and put it on the Active tablet.
    “Why?” Sam asked, reaching for the note. “At best he’s a long shot.”
    She pushed his hand away. “I don’t like him.”
    “You’ve never met him.”
    “I saw him. That was enough.”
    “A woman of rare perception and taste.”
    Smiling, Sam went back to reading. “On to the civilian component. Sizemore Security Consulting had the means and opportunity to take out most of the couriers. Exceptions are noted next to the courier’s name.”
    Kate looked down the list of couriers. Nineteen in all. It shocked her each time she confronted it. Then she reminded herself that it was less than one percent of the jewelry courier runs in the U.S. in the same time period.
    “No connection to Lee, though,” Sam said. “But the motive is there. Money. Sizemore’s company has been in a steady decline for six years. Extra cash here and there would be welcome.”
    “But thanks to all these couriers getting hit when they were under Sizemore’s supposed security net, Sizemore is getting a bad reputation among its client base,” Kate said. “Whatever he got in the short run wouldn’t be worth ruining his own business, would it?”
    Sam grimaced. “You’re sure about the reputation thing?”
    “Very. People in the jewelry trade gossip. Sizemore Security Consulting isn’t getting any compliments.”
    “Well, damn. Unless he’s gone around the bend, he doesn’t have an obvious motive. Or maybe he’s socking away the proceeds of crime for his retirement.”
    “Does that fit with his personality?” Kate asked.
    “I’m no shrink, but it’s not sounding real good to me. On the other hand, who knows what makes people go postal? He could see old age closing in on him and all he has to fend it off with is an FBI pension and a failing company. And beer.”
    “True. And from what you said, he’s certainly arrogant enough to be a crook.”
    “Yeah.” Sam looked off into a distance only he could see. “In some ways the line between cop and crook is a lot thinner than we like to think about, much less talk about.”
    After a moment Sam shrugged and moved Sizemore’s name from Active to Suspect. At least it was a name rather than an unknown person or persons.
    “What about the other people at Sizemore’s company?” Kate asked. “Even if he’s innocent as a baby’s smile, there could be someone inside the company using or selling information, couldn’t there?”
    “We’re checking into that. So far no good. The son is a hard worker who wants to please Daddy. The daughter is a hard worker who keeps the operation together. The third in command, Jason Gallagher, is—”
    “Who?” Kate cut in, surprised.
    “Jason