Rarities Unlimited 04 - The Color of Death

he reopened the door to the shop, the woman was still there.
    She held out her hand, palm up.
    He counted the money into her blunt palm, then waited while she counted it again for herself.
    “You made yourself a hell of a buy,” she said bitterly. “A real steal.”
    Seguro grinned. “I never doubt it. Buena suerte. ”
    No sooner had the front door shut behind the blonde than he rushed over and locked it. He flipped the sign to CLOSED and pulled down the blinds behind the wrought-iron bars that covered the windows.
    Then he stood and shook. He had little doubt that the sapphire was real.
    As real as death.
    He would have to be very, very careful what he did next or he would be as dead as the previous owner no doubt was.
    ¡Dios!
    He needed connections for this one. The kind of connections people whispered about because to speak the names aloud was to get your throat slit. He mentally went through a list of names and rejected them. Then he came to one that made him pause.
    Eduardo.
    The brother-in-law of his wife’s cousin lived in L.A. He worked in the jewelry trade. He would help. He had the connections no one spoke of aloud. He could sell the gem without getting caught.
    Without getting killed.

Chapter 3
    Glendale, Arizona
    Five days later
    Kate Chandler couldn’t concentrate. With a muttered curse she looked away from the microscope that held a nice piece of tsavorite rough. She’d been studying the deep green specimen, trying to decide how to cut it in a way that would maximize both size and brilliance in the final stone.
    Usually, she loved holding all that potential in her hand, making the decisions that would transform rather ordinary-looking rough into dazzling gems. But right now she was having a hard time caring about anything but the phone that didn’t ring.
    “Damn it, Lee,” she said. “Call.”
    She checked the window of the cell phone that lay within reach on her worktable. The cell hadn’t been out of her sight for days, no matter where she went in her house.
    No new calls. No missed calls. Nothing but silence and a fear that grew deeper with every passing second.
    Impatiently, she punched in Norm Gallagher’s number.
    Norm picked it up instantly. “Lee?”
    Kate’s stomach clenched. “No. Just me, Kate. I was hoping…”
    “He hasn’t called.” Norm’s voice was bleak, hoarse, like he had a cold or had been crying. “What are we going to do?”
    “I…” She took a breath. “I haven’t told Mom and Dad, but I called the FBI and told them Lee had been kidnapped. They didn’t want to listen to me. They gave me a verbal pat on the head and told me to leave it all to the Florida authorities. I told them the Florida cops were idiots who were more interested in smearing Lee than in finding him.”
    “Lee’s right,” Norm said. “You’re a pistol. I can’t wait to meet you and the family.”
    “One big happy reunion,” Kate said, forcing herself to sound cheerful instead of bone-deep worried.
    Afraid for Lee.
    Cold right to her soul.
    “Norm…”
    “Yes?”
    “I’m scared. I didn’t tell you before and Dad would have a cow if he knew I was telling you now, but Lee’s rental car was turned in a day late and the package he was carrying never arrived.”
    There was a long silence followed by the sounds of a man swallowing hard not to show emotion. “No sign of…foul play?”
    “No.”
    “You don’t sound happy about that.”
    “I’m not. I’m scared and mad and…scared.” Kate closed her eyes, yanked her hair clip out of her dark hair, and massaged her scalp. Lee, where the hell are you?
    “I’m scared too,” Norm said. “I got past mad after the first twenty-four hours.”
    “This is so unlike Lee,” she whispered. “Even if he forgot to call me after he delivered the Seven Sins, he’s just plain nuts for you. He’d call you, no matter what.”
    Norm gave up swallowing and let the tears clog his throat. “Thanks, Katie.”
    “It’s the truth.”
    “Do you suppose he had some kind of accident and doesn’t remember his name?”
    Kate leaned against her worktable, hearing the same fear in Norm’s voice that was twisting through her, the words neither one of them wanted to say aloud: What if Lee is dead?
    “I’ve called every hospital between Fort Myers, where he picked up the rental car, and Captiva Island, where he was supposed to make the delivery,” Kate said. “No one has admitted an amnesia patient in the past five days, or any John