Chapter 1.
Trust sat at her regular café, eating breakfast while thinking about the events of the past weeks. She had only heard from Jack a couple of times. The first was about Castle escaping from custody. She wasn’t surprised. Then a couple of days after that, the crooked cop that had stolen the jewelry from police evidence was arrested.
The irony was the officer in question had made the mistake of going to Vale to fence them. That was a good break for Vale because once he alerted the FBI, that lifted any suspicion off him.
Noticing someone had left a newspaper on the table beside her, she reached over, grabbed it and started leafing through it. As she was reading an article about real estate prices, someone sat heavily on the seat opposite causing her to jump.
Relief washed over her when she saw it was Jack Fletcher and her hand rushed to her heart.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.” He looked at her intently.
“It’s fine. I’m a bit jumpy lately.”
Trust knew at once that he had a new project for her.
Leaning back in the seat, she closed the newspaper and placed it back on the empty table beside her. She looked down at her half-eaten breakfast and then looked back up at him. “Coffee?”
“No time, but you go ahead and finish.”
She took a sip, watching him all the while. “How did you know I was here?”
He tapped the side of his head. “Good memory. You told me you come here every morning.”
“Did I?”
He nodded.
“What’s the job?” she asked.
He looked around. There weren’t many people in the café. “Ever heard of the Romanian Heist?”
“No. Should I have?”
“In your line of work, I thought you might’ve.”
“Former line of work,” she corrected him.
He smiled and then leaned a little closer. “Twenty years ago, a diamond necklace with a dubious past was stolen from the Gloria Hunter-Forbes Museum.”
“I heard about that, but I didn’t know that whole thing was called the Romanian Heist.”
“The necklace was from Romania.”
“That’s right. It belonged to Queen Marie, didn’t it?”
“Ah, you do know something about it?”
“It wasn’t me, Jack. I had nothing to do with it.”
He looked down and inhaled deeply as he did so. “I’m not accusing you. Many pieces of the Queen’s jewelry were lost. In short, there’s been a committee formed in Romania, and they’re demanding the return of the necklace.”
“But it’s been stolen.”
“I know that, but they are not acknowledging the theft.”
Trust thought about it for a moment. “So let’s say the necklace hadn’t been stolen, who would own it? Gloria Hunter-Forbes bought it from a private collector not knowing it was stolen or lost. I remember reading that after Gloria died, she willed it to her own museum.”
“I’m not sure who would own it. Some say Gloria would’ve had legal ownership if she’d had no knowledge of it being stolen. Others say too bad, it wouldn’t be legal ownership if it had been stolen.”
“And, back to my original question, how can this committee expect it to be returned if it’s been stolen?” Trust asked.
“The Romanian committee has investigators poking around. They believe there’s been a cover up involving the museum itself. With the value of the necklace and the provenance, it’d be hard to put a price on it. It’d be worth millions.”
Millions? Now he had Trust’s interest. “What do you want me to do?”
“This committee is made up of some of the Romanian royal family and historians, and they’re putting pressure on our government to return the necklace. They want to feature the piece in their National Museum along with other items from Queen Marie that have been returned from other places around the world.”
Trust rubbed her chin as she thought about it more. “You want me to find a necklace that was stolen twenty years ago? And if I just happen to find it, what do I do? Steal it back?”
“Correct. If need be.”
Trust sat back in her chair. The FBI was asking her to steal? “I’m sure it would’ve been pulled apart and the stones recut and then sold on.”
He shook his head. “There was a target on it. When it was taken nothing else in the museum was stolen. Seems the thief only wanted that necklace.”
“Hmm. Someone put in an order for it. That’s got to be it.”
“I must warn you, they didn’t have great security back then. They relied heavily on their guards. It was twenty years ago.”
“Security cameras?”
“They only had cameras outside the museum.”
“Twenty years ago, is not that long ago. What happens if we’re able to get the necklace back? Will the government hand it over to Romania?”
He shrugged. “I haven’t been told. My orders are plain and simple. Retrieve the necklace.”
“When do we start?”
He glanced at his watch. “I’ll see you in my office in an hour.” He got up and left without saying goodbye. He didn’t even ask if she was available.
Trust spread some creamed cheese over the last piece of bagel. He just assumed she’d drop everything for this case.
Then again, she really didn’t have a choice.
The FBI practically owned her now.
Her mind ticked over on how she’d handle everything and where to start.
Whoever was in possession of the Queen Marie necklace was not going to leave it lying around in their underwear drawer.
That was the real reason Jack wanted her for the job. She’d have to steal it. At least she’d be on the right side of the law this time.
Her phone sounded and she picked it up. It was a text from Jack: I forgot to mention, we’ve only got three days to do this!
“What?” Trust said aloud.
