The Sapphire Heist (A Jewel Novel Book 2) by Lauren Blakely

Author:Lauren Blakely [Blakely, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503935693
Publisher: Montlake Romance, Seattle
Published: 2016-08-15T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Tell me everything you learned.”

Jake parked himself on a bench at the edge of Seven Mile Beach, grinding his jaw. If he was this stewed over nuts, he couldn’t even imagine how frustrated Steph must be sitting through a lunch with her stepfather.

No wonder Ferdinand had been crunching on cashews when Jake spotted him leaving Eli’s office. The question was—had Ferdinand planted the nuts, or had he been roadblocked by them, too? Maybe he’d been hunting for diamonds and came up with nuts. Or maybe Ferdinand was in on the trick and had planted the nuts in the frame on behalf of Eli.

That was the problem. Ferdinand was a wild card. He might be working for Eli, or he might be working against Eli.

Jake hoped Kate’s intel would help him figure out which side the man was on.

Kate began her debrief. “Ferdinand Costello has worked in the nightclub business for eight years. He managed the facility for its prior owner before Eli bought it. Eli kept him on board to run the place,” Kate said, sharing details she’d gleaned. “He helped with the renovation, helped with the hiring, helped line up security.”

“Is he local?”

“Yes. Born and raised in the Islands. He has a huge family. Like five brothers and two sisters big.”

Jake whistled in admiration for the size. “That is big, and that’s also pretty much the definition of motivation. That is, if he supports them. Do we know?”

“Seems to be the case. His dad died a few years ago of cancer,” Kate said, and Jake’s heart ached for the guy.

“Sorry to hear,” he said softly.

“Yeah, me, too,” Kate said, though Jake couldn’t help but wonder if the pressure to support his family now was making Ferdinand take a walk on the dark side. Ferdinand might very well have played the role of Mr. Smith, diamond thief.

“What about that tattoo? Anything to it?”

“Apparently, he has a few pet snakes,” Kate said.

Jake’s stomach curled at the thought. He tended to agree with Indiana Jones on this count. Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? “What about Tristan O’Doole?” he asked, moving on. “Tell me about the restaurant guy.”

“Ah, Tristan. He’s from Boston. Been around for a long time and has lived in the Caymans for twenty years. He had a few restaurants in the Boston area a while ago. One was a big success initially, but then it turned out the place was swimming in debt. He started Tristan’s fifteen years ago and it’s become a mildly successful place on the island. I checked out a few restaurant trade magazines from years ago, though, and it looks like one of the reasons his first restaurant went belly-up was he’d tried to make custom coffee and liquor drinks. He started investing in manufacturing a whole line of coffee and whiskey,” Kate said, with an isn’t-that-odd tone. “I mean, I get that some people put whiskey in their coffee, but it hardly seems like something one intentionally needs to mix and market.

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