Free State's Evidence: A Beverly Mendoza Legal Thriller by R. Barri Flowers Page B

hope often had little
impact in the scheme of things. He honed in on the rings. Both
sported a series of diamonds his wife would kill to have,
figuratively speaking. “These rings must have cost you a pretty
penny?”
    “Yeah,” Chuck acknowledged. “Cost me damned
near all my savings and a loan. But she was worth every penny.”
    It was the worth of the rings themselves that
concerned Stone at the moment. This wouldn’t be the first time that
valuable diamonds had caused a thief to become a kidnapper. Or
worse.
    “Does Adrienne have any identifying
characteristics, such as birth marks or tattoos?”
    “No tattoos,” Chuck indicated. “She has a
small black mole on the inside of her left thigh and another
slightly bigger one on her back.”
    Stone made a mental note of this. “Has your
wife ever gone away for any extended period of time without telling
you, Chuck?”
    “Not like this.” Chuck wrung his hands
nervously.
    What exactly did that mean? “How did she go
off?”
    “Sometimes Adrienne and her girlfriends would
skip work and go to the coast for the day,” he said. “Maybe even
spend the night. I wouldn’t find out until she got back, but she
usually would leave a note that I didn’t always see till after the
fact.” His eyes narrowed. “Adrienne has never taken off at night,
after work, without a word to me. She wouldn’t do that.”
    Stone found himself believing that much. But
it still didn’t tell him if Adrienne Murray had met with foul play
or if there was something else going on here. He intended to find
out one way or the other.
    “I’ll be in touch,” Stone said assuredly.
    He was already halfway back to the department
when Stone got the word that a woman’s body had been found in
Eagles Lake.
     

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
    The pawnshop was empty when Manuel walked in.
He liked it better that way. He couldn’t conduct his business with
too many nosey ass people hanging around.
    First he browsed around at all the junk in
there, wondering why people even bothered to buy or sell such. Then
he made his way casually to the counter.
    A man of around forty stood on the other side
reading a paper—or at least pretending to. What little hair he had
left was sloppily pasted to his pate.
    “What can I do you for?” the man asked
disinterestedly.
    Manuel removed the two rings from his pocket,
wondering how much they were worth. Tossing them on the dingy
counter, he asked tonelessly, “How much for these?”
    The man took a look. “Are the rocks
real?”
    “Of course,” he said hopefully. “They
belonged to my grandmother.”
    “Your grandmother, huh?” the man said
mockingly. “Why are you parting with them?”
    Why do you think, asshole? “I need the
money,” he said honestly. “Why keep them in the drawer when she
ain’t around no more to wear them?”
    “Whatever.” The man shrugged indifferently.
He took out his eyeglass and examined the diamonds on each ring.
Afterwards he gazed across the counter. “I’ll give you three
hundred for the two of ‘em.”
    Not bad for something that just happened to
fall into his hand. Manuel still held out for more. “They’re worth
at least three times that.”
    “Not in here, they aren’t!” The man hit him
with a hard gaze, recognizing he had the advantage. “Three hundred
or try your luck elsewhere.”
    Manuel realized he would get no more out of
this old fart. “I’ll take it.”
    The man had him fill out some paperwork he
described as standard before handing him the money.
    “I’ll hold the family jewels for thirty
days,” the man warned. “If I don’t hear from you by then, they’re
gone forever.”
    Manuel smiled darkly, pocketing the money.
“Yeah, whatever, man.”
    * * *
    He left the shop three hundred dollars richer
than he’d gone in. It hadn’t been his intention to rob the little
bitch. He was not a common thief. Not like many he knew. But since
she was already dead, she would have little use for the rings. He
kept