Free To Free a Spy by Nick Ganaway

watch. “Look, I need a—”
    “So did I hear you’re a lawyer?”
    Lenny nodded and forced a faint smile. “Need a favor.” He pulled the diamond ring he’d found in Gallardi’s safe out of his pocket and placed it on the glass top of the case. “Bought this off a guy who needed some cash. Wanna be sure I didn’t get stuck.”
    Barella considered Lenny for a long moment as his enthusiasm disappeared. “I see.” He louped the stone and measured it. “Well, some of these shops along here, they’d give you maybe three or four grand for it. Worth more but you know how it works. Guess you know, it’s a Tiffany.”
    Lenny was surprised.
    “Yeah, they’d get thirty for it today. Find the right buyer, you might get eight, ten grand.” Barella looked at the inside of the ring under the loupe. “Got some initials in it. Here. Take a look.” He handed the ring and magnifying glass to Lenny. Magliacci moved the loupe around until he could see the tiny inscription: “KA & JAG.”
    His mind raced as he headed back to the casino. He could forget about this whole affair right now, sell the ring on the spot, and put a small fortune in his pocket. God knows he could use it. But he had a feeling the names associated with those initials were worth more to him than that. A lot more. He was going to gamble on it.
    * * *
    Lenny stayed at Harry’s High Hat until midnight that evening before returning to Gallardi’s private office suite. It looked the same as always. Magliacci knew the family had pleaded with the authorities to leave it intact for the time being: Frank was still there with them as long as his office looked the same. Lenny himself didn’t go for that kind of bullshit thinking. Some of that bunch were still crying and people like them made Lenny sick, but it had worked in his favor. The outmoded Rolodex Gallardi had maintained his phone contacts in was still sitting there on his credenza.
    Lenny sat in Gallardi’s chair and turned the directory to K. Frank had entered first names and very few last names but within minutes Lenny narrowed the possibilities for KA down to someone named Kent or a Karly . He copied both numbers. The Rolodex yielded no clues to JAG’s identity.
    The next morning he dialed the number for Kent. The woman who answered said Kent wouldn’t be home until after high-school baseball practice, around six. There was no other Kent there and never had been. She’d had the number for seventeen years. Lenny hung up. He guessed Kent was a player on one of the little league teams Gallardi sponsored.
    The Rolodex number for Karly now belonged to someone who’d moved to Atlantic City a year ago and didn’t know anyone named Karly, and the phone company told Magliacci it never revealed information about the prior owners of a phone number for any reason short of a court order.
    That night at home, Magliacci decided to leave for New York the next morning. He got up early and left a message on his supervisor’s phone that he was sick today and would try to make it in tomorrow. He threw his best sport coat in the back seat of the Lincoln and headed north on the Garden State Parkway. Lenny knew Tiffany’s had a store in Atlantic City but that was not an option. Too many people in Atlantic City knew him, and any notice of his activities with this ring, unique because of its inscription, had the potential to cause him trouble.
    He parked off Fifth Avenue near Tiffany’s and smoothed his hair in the car mirror. The beard needed a trim but it was too late for that. When he tried to button his jacket he realized how long he’d had it, and thought of the promises he’d made to Molly to lose some weight. He took another look at the diamond ring, holding it in the sun to get the full spectrum of colors, and stuck it back into his pants. He patted his pocket several times for reassurance the ring was still there as he walked the two blocks to the corner of Fifth Avenue and 37th. He knew it was a tell to