Dragon's Revenge by C.J. Shane

Author:C.J. Shane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rope's End Publishing
Published: 2022-12-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

The next morning, Letty met Zhou and Laurent outside the Tucson Police Department headquarters. They went in together. This time they didn’t have to wait. De Luca came out almost immediately to meet them and to escort them to his office. Apparently De Luca considered an Interpol official worthy of much quicker attention than a lowly Tucson private investigator.

De Luca introduced a waiting uniformed policeman.

“This is Detective Alejandro Ramirez. He is chief of our Robbery Unit in our Violent Crimes Section.” Ramirez nodded. He seemed to already know about the three of them.

“Mr. Laurent, feel free to tell us as much as you know about this jewel thief.”

Laurent, his usual unruffled self, began, “The thief’s name is Audrey Parker.” He continued talking for a few minutes and explained in detail everything he had already told Letty and Zhou about Parker’s career in Europe.

“Do you have any reason to think she’s operating here?” Ramirez asked.

“I have no idea. I am only here to warn you. Have you had any jewel thefts or thefts of other small but highly valuable items in recent months?”

“Only the usual break-ins. Offices and homes are the typical targets,” Ramirez responded. The thieves take whatever they think they can pawn quickly. Often that means electronic equipment, tools, family jewelry, stuff you’d find in the typical home. Also we have a fair amount of auto thefts and there are the bike thefts from around the University.”

“No thefts of highly expensive jewelry from a museum, a known collector, or a jewelry establishment?” Laurent asked. “Parker most often seeks the very most expensive items. Also she is usually hired by someone on a contract basis. She takes the risk and is very well paid for delivering the goods.”

“I’m not sure we have much really expensive stuff like that in Tucson,” Ramirez said, “except maybe during the yearly gem and mineral show. That happens in January and February every year. Some of the vendors bring in really valuable items.”

Laurent shrugged his shoulders. “Perhaps Mademoiselle Parker has actually retired.”

Letty considered whether or not she should bring up the murder in the library. She decided to go ahead, if for no other reason than to see their reactions. Zhou knew about the murder because she had already told him that she was investigating. She wanted to know what De Luca was thinking.

Letty directed her comment to Laurent but watched De Luca’s reaction. “We recently had a murder at one of the libraries in the University of Arizona system. The librarian thinks the murderer was planning on stealing something when he was interrupted. There are signs that he or she disturbed the stored materials, as if searching. Also he or she may have entered the library through a ventilation duct.”

De Luca frowned. Letty could see that he just didn’t like it that she was investigating this case. As far as De Luca was concerned, she was stepping on his toes.

“We checked that out. It does appear,” De Luca said almost grudgingly to Letty, “that the thief made use of the ventilation duct system.

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