Rarities Unlimited 04 - The Color of Death

impression from observers and acquaintances and family is that Lee likes women.”
    “He does. He just doesn’t want sex with them. He is everyone’s best friend and nobody’s lover. Female, that is.” Kate stacked a secondpiece of bread on the sandwich and sliced through with a slashing motion of the blade. “He is a good, kind, loving man. He had a lot to offer someone, and he’d finally found a man he wanted to settle down with and—damn!”
    With the back of her right hand, Kate swiped at the tears that wouldn’t stop. The knife blade flashed near her face. She ignored it.
    Sam gently pried the wicked blade free. “Easy, now. That thing could shave steel.”
    Her fist hit the counter. “I hate sniveling.”
    “So do I. You’re crying because you’ve lost someone you love. Big difference.”
    She shuddered and fought for control. “Then you believe me?”
    “Yes.” Until I catch you lying.
    “They didn’t.”
    “Who?”
    “The damned FBI agents I went back to again and again whenever I turned up something I thought would make them take an interest in going to work on Lee’s disappearance.”
    “Did they?”
    She made a disgusted sound. “They patted me on the head, said something about giving false information to federal agents, and sent me out the door.”
    Sam’s eyebrow went up. That too hadn’t been in the report. “Yeah, well, the stuff that doesn’t agree with official theories often gets left out. Simple fact of bureaucratic life.”
    Kate watched him with tear-drenched, determined eyes. “Voice of experience?”
    He smiled sardonically and wondered why he felt more kinship with this sad little con artist than he did with ninety-five percent of the people he worked with.
    “Do you know what car rental agency Lee preferred?” Sam asked.
    “FirstCall. My father’s company has a deal with them.”
    “Which airport would Lee have used that day?”
    “Fort Myers. He liked to go shelling when business took him to Sanibel or anywhere else with a beach. Instead of spending time on the road driving down from the Tampa airport, he flew in through Fort Myers and used the extra time for picking up shells.”
    “Did he have a lot of business on Sanibel or Captiva?”
    “Too much, apparently,” she said, her voice rough.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Predictability. It’s a problem for couriers. Especially with the South American gangs.”
    “Everybody’s favorite bad boys,” Sam said.
    “You have a better candidate for what happened to Lee?”
    “I was hoping you would.”
    She shook her head and gestured to the sandwich. “You hungry?”
    “Thanks. What about you?” Sam asked, picking up half of the sandwich.
    “No.”
    “Not hungry and not dressed for bed. Not watching television. Not drinking.”
    “How do you know?”
    “TV in the corner is off. So are the lights. No open books or magazines around. Your breath smells of coffee, not alcohol. What were you doing this late at night that required coffee instead of sleep?”
    Kate realized all over again that no matter how relaxed and easygoing Sam appeared, he didn’t miss anything important.
    “You’d never guess,” she said.
    “Then save us both time. Tell me.”
    “Cutting stones.”
    “Sapphires?”
    “Among other colored stones. I don’t do diamonds.”
    He looked at her for a long moment, remembering how she’d seemed pleased when the big sapphire’s cut was praised by someone who ought to know.
    “You cut that fake—”
    “Synthetic,” Kate corrected automatically.
    “—sapphire, didn’t you,” he finished, ignoring her interruption.
    “Yes.”
    “What does that have to do with Lee Mandel?”
    “I cut the gems that he supposedly disappeared with.”
    “What were they?”
    “Seven sapphires cut from an enormous piece of Burmese rough that a collector’s family had held on to for more than one hundred years. There were too many problems with trying to cut a single huge stone from the rough, so no one had done anything with it. After I studied the rough and reported to McCloud, he decided that he wanted seven different gems. He called them the Seven Sins because he spent a sinful amount of money on them.”
    “He didn’t use that name with the FBI. Nothing like that appeared in the file.”
    “Maybe McCloud didn’t think the Bureau had a sense of humor,” Kate said.
    “He wouldn’t be the first. Go on.”
    “Not until I have some assurance that what I’m saying will be kept