Page 6 of Lost Cause
He shrugged. “Not since last week for sure. Maybe not even then.”
“So you don’t know when it was stolen?” Burke asked.
“No.” Victor’s eyes darted from face to face as if searching for something—anything—to ground him. “You must find it before some collector snaps it up or it vanishes for good.”
If Abby hadn’t felt pressure mount when he mentioned the value of the crown, it had now risen to an uncomfortable level, and she needed to bring her A-game for sure. Assuming Victor was telling the truth, he really did own a crown of such high value, and it actually had been stolen. Whenever a theft of such a valuable item is reported, law enforcement always had to suspect the item’s owner of orchestrating the theft for financial gain, as that often was the case.
But she had to tread carefully. Not only did she need to keep him as a client, but as an elderly person, he might have some confusion. “Do you have any thoughts on who might’ve stolen the crown?”
He shook his head. “I’m the only person who knows about it. I’m getting on in years, and it’s about time for my son to take responsibility for it, but I haven’t spoken to him yet.”
The same reservations Abby was feeling about Victor’s potential involvement in the theft flickered across Burke’s face, but he quickly masked it. “You’ve never mentioned having children.”
“Didn’t I?” He shook his head. “I also have a daughter. After my wife left, I was in charge of raising them, and I readily admit I let my grief take over and I didn’t do a good job of it. Thankfully, my father was here for at least a few years to help out. But now, they’ve both moved away, and I’m not as close to them as I would like to be.”
“Back to the safe,” Burke said. “If only you knew about it, how could anyone have found out about it?”
Victor pursed his lips. “I suppose I could have been careless, and my estate manager or housekeeper saw me looking at it. I can’t think of a time when that could’ve happened. I only open the shelves when I’m alone in the house. Besides, they’ve been with me for years, so even if they knew about the crown, I can’t imagine either one of them would steal it.”
“You never know what people are capable of.” Abby’s words punched through the silence, hard and direct. She needed Victor to understand that everyone is a suspect in an investigation until ruled out. “I’ll need their names and contact information.”
He gripped the end of the wooden arms of his ornate chair, his fingers turning white. “I understand you have to question them, but you must be very careful not to mention the crown. Promise me you’ll keep it between us for now.”
“We can refer to it as a stolen object or artifact for the initial questioning,” Burke said. “But I can’t promise anything more.”
“Still,” Abby cast Burke a pointed look, “we’ll do our very best.”
“We will,” he said.
She handed a notebook to Victor. “Please write down their contact information and schedules.”
As he started writing, Burke motioned for her to move to the side of the room and turned his intense focus on her. “You’ll share the info with me,” he said in a low voice.
No “please”. No questions. Just a demand. Still, why fight him when he could ask Victor for the same thing? It would only make them both look unprofessional for not being able to cooperate with one another. She wouldn’t jeopardize this investigation. Not when Victor was paying the team good money. Their business was still in startup mode and had cash flow problems. They needed every dime to remain solvent.
“Of course I’ll share.” She eased closer and lowered her voice. “You believe him, right? Believe he owns such a crown?”
“Believe? At this point I’m not sure. He could be using his dismissive behavior to put us off because he’s hiding something. We won’t know if he’s telling the truth until we’re able to obtain the documents and have an expert verify their authenticity.”
“And since he’s the only one who knows about the crown, we need to watch for any sign he’s not being completely honest or lying to us,” Abby added and glanced at Victor.
The elderly gentleman didn’t look like a liar, but her law enforcement experience told her liars came in all shapes and sizes, and she couldn’t let the fact that he was of advanced years keep her from posing hard questions. Like Burke said, Victor’s condescending and standoffish behavior could be the very thing he was using to cover up a lie or hide the truth.
“Done.” He closed the notebook. “I’ll have to look up their addresses, but you can talk to them tomorrow. They’ll arrive on the one o’clock ferry and work until six.”
“They don’t live on site?” Burke asked.
“No. They once did. In fact, Ugo served as my full-time personal valet, but I have few needs now, so I promoted him to estate manager.”
“What about your son?” Abby asked. “Where does he live?”
A raw wince stole over his face. “He left for college and never came back here to live. He currently resides in Salem and occasionally visits, but finds the slow pace of life here untenable.”
“Sounds like you’d really like him to live here with you. Maybe he will someday.” Abby pointed at his hand. “Could you please add his name and contact information too?”
“I need to be the one to tell him about the crown. So promise me you won’t tell him without my prior knowledge.”
“You have my word,” she said and hoped she could keep it.
