Claire Gulliver #04 - Cruisin' for a Bruisin' (33 page)

“Lucky for us you happened to catch him as he let go of it. Apparently he became very nervous about someone checking for evidence, and he felt he had to get it off the ship. It was just his bad luck that you were looking for him to tell him about his aunt at the same time he was trying to dump it.”

They all looked at each other a minute thinking how one small thing could destroy a carefully wrought plan. Except for Richard’s determination to get rid of the evidence, he might have been sucessful.

“We discovered Kim rented a car in Juneau and we have a few of Anita’s fingerprints on the inside and the passenger’s door handle of that car. So there is a connection, somehow, between Kim and Anita, but we don’t have a body. The Juneau police are using tracker and cadaver dogs to search in areas that match the mileage recorded on the odometer during the rental, but winter has moved in there and the weather has hampered them. They say now they will have to give up the search until spring. But, I think we can safely assume that Anita was murdered even if we never find a body,” he told them gravely. “The D.A. thinks he has a strong case against the two of them. And who knows, come spring, they might find a body. And, of course, your testimonies will be important in getting a conviction.”

“That wicked, wicked man.” Millie was enraged all over again. “I hope he won’t be getting any of Mrs. Bernbaum’s money.” She looked at Sean questioning. “He won’t, will he? Isn’t there a law about that?”

Sean nodded. “Mrs. Bernbaum wrote a codicil to her will before she left on the cruise leaving the bulk of her estate, which is substantial, to Richard. However, if he’s found guilty of either her murder or complicity in her murder he will not inherit and it will go to the charities, which were originally named.”

“So it was all about her money? I hope he rots in jail.”

“He might get the death penalty. Premeditated murder can carry the death penalty in California,” Sean said grimly.

Millie paled. “Death? I don’t know about death,” she stammered. Then her anger flared again. “Well, I won’t be on the jury so I won’t make that decision, but I have to admit that while we were struggling on that balcony I could have easily killed him to stop him from choking Claire. I guess it was lucky for all of us I didn’t have a weapon available.”

Claire nodded. She knew there was nothing like fighting for your life to stir your adrenalin. Then it was pretty hard to make moral decisions about whether or not you believed in the death penalty.

“There was another item of interest in her will though.” He continued, “It was about that brooch you told us about, the
Heart of Persia
?”

Millie and Claire nodded, their expressions expectant.

“Well, it turns out it’s paste.”

“Paste? What do you mean paste?” Millie didn’t understand.

“Paste, not quite worthless my experts tell me. After all, there is some skill in producing the piece, but still of no serious value. The rest of her jewelry was genuine and quite valuable. And we’ve done our research, so we know there is a
Heart of Persia.
The last time we were able to trace it was in a robbery attempt in the late fifties. It was returned to its owner then and no one has seen it since.”

“But that can’t be. Mrs. Bernbaum said it was real. She loved that piece. Her last husband, Bernie, was a jeweler, so surely he would have known if he had a paste copy when he returned it to Mrs. Bernbaum.” Millie looked at Claire, seriously confused. “I just can’t believe she had a fake and didn’t know it.”

“Mom, maybe she did know. Maybe she had a copy made and gave the original back as Nate asked her to do?” Claire liked that option because there were other explanations she didn’t like at all.

“Maybe she did. That would make sense.”

“Well, if that was the case, why was the
Heart of Persia
listed in her will? She willed it to Sean Rourke, of Chicago Illinois, actually Sean Gallagher Rourke, or to his heirs. The attorney is searching for him now.”

Claire and Millie looked at each other. “Sean Gallagher? There was a Sean Gallagher on the cruise. Mom, did Sean or Ian say anything about Rourke being a family name?” Claire asked.

Millie shook her head. “No, Claire, I don’t believe that. It’s too far-fetched. Sean, Rourke, and Gallagher are all common names. And we even have a Sean right here. We don’t suppose he has anything to do with it, do we? Why would we think Ian and Sean were connected in some way to Mrs. Bernbaum’s brooch?”

But Claire wasn’t convinced. She didn’t say anything more. How could she when she had never told anyone about Ian’s interest in the
Heart of Persia
? But she was sure there was some connection.

Now she wondered if Ian had somehow switched the real
Heart
with a fake, and so they had put the paste copy in the safe.

Or maybe Bernie Bernbaum had given his wife a paste copy of the original to make her happy? Surely, as a jeweler, he would have known the difference between real and paste.

Or had Mrs. Bernbaum replaced the
Heart
with a copy and sold or given the original away? And if she had, why had she left the bequest in her will?

Or perhaps someone had stolen the
Heart
from her sometime during all those years Mrs. Bernbaum had kept it in her house, replacing it with paste so she never knew the difference?

Or had the brooch won in that card game so many years ago only been a paste copy? Had any jeweler ever appraised it?

This puzzle made Claire’s head hurt and the worse part was she suspected she would probably never know the answer to this riddle. Even if she asked Ian she knew she wouldn’t believe his answer.

“Sean, thank you so much for stopping by and sharing this information with us. I admit I was getting very confused from all the stories I read in the papers.” Millie hugged Sean when he stood up to leave.

“Well, it’s the least I can do. I swear I don’t know how Claire gets involved in these situations, and this time you were put at risk too. But, I do appreciate her attention to details. It would be a shame to let these people get away with their crime.” He smiled at them both and turned to head for the door.

“Here, Sean, I’ll see you out.” Claire hurried after him.

At the door she said, “Sean, do you think it’s something I do? Could I avoid these situations, do you think? Did I put my mother in jeopardy somehow?”

He patted her on the shoulder in a fatherly manner. “Claire, you can’t look the other way when a crime or an injustice happens right before your eyes. I wouldn’t want you to, and your mother wouldn’t either. I don’t know why. Maybe you have too much of your father in you. He was a great police officer, you know. I do worry about you, and so does your mother, but you can only live your life as it comes. And thanks to you, Richard Walmer is not getting away with his scheme.”

She shut the door behind him thinking about his words. She was satisfied that Richard wouldn’t be living “happily ever after” on Mrs. Bernbaum’s money.

She’d keep in mind that Mrs. Bernbaum died painlessly. She led a long and active life and in the end she had successfully completed her life quest. It was the best spin she could put on the whole affair and, even if she never knew what happened to the real
Heart of Persia,
she would remember, after all, much of life was a mystery.