"Laced" - читать интересную книгу автора (Clark Carol Higgins)

3

There’s good reason they call New York the city that never sleeps, Sergeant Keith Waters thought late Monday night as he hailed a cab outside a downtown restaurant. He would be happy to get home. It had been a hectic day at work with his boss on his honeymoon. Jack’s top assistant, Keith-a handsome black man in his late thirties with boundless energy-smiled as he thought about Regan and Jack’s wedding. It had been a blast. People were on the dance floor all night.

On Sunday, he’d spent the day recovering.

After working until nearly 11:00 tonight, he’d gone to dinner with a couple of the guys from the office. As the taxi made its way up the West Side, he decided to check his messages at work one more time. Sometimes cases were agonizingly slow to solve. Other times they could break in an instant. Keith loved his job and, like Jack, was always checking in. It was not a nine-to-five existence.

There was one new message on his voice mail-from one of their paid informants.

“Keith, I know Jack is in Ireland on his honeymoon. I heard that those two jewel thieves, your favorite Jane and John Doe, are also aware he’s in Ireland. Word is that they might be there now. They plan to ruin Jack’s honeymoon by pulling something off right under his nose once again.”

Keith couldn’t believe it. The Does were masters of disguise, traveling all over the world and stealing jewelry wherever they went. They worked under numerous aliases. For the last seven years, since their first hit, they had eluded law enforcement. But last year their capture had become a personal crusade for Jack.

Regan and Jack had gone to a black tie reception at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A woman lost an emerald bracelet worth $300,000. She thought it had fallen off her wrist at the cocktail party. The next day one of the museum workers found a business card tucked in the corner of a painting. It read:

WE LOVE EMERALDS. THANKS SO MUCH.

JANE AND JOHN DOE.

The thieves had obviously managed to slip the bracelet off the socialite’s wrist without being detected. Regan and Jack had spoken to the seventyish woman, a well-known patron of the arts, during the cocktail hour. Regan had complimented her on the exquisite bracelet. Then when the woman sat down to dinner, she noticed the bracelet was gone. After the calling card was left, Jack realized that the thieves were probably eyeing the emeralds at the same time Regan was admiring them. A month later a valuable diamond brooch was stolen during a fund-raiser at the Chicago Art Institute, and the Doe business card was found again.

Jack was interviewed after the second theft, vowed to catch the Does, and made no bones about what he thought of their character.

They must have heard the interview, Keith thought wearily, rubbing his eyes. He hadn’t planned to call Jack on his honeymoon. Heck, he knew he’d probably hear from Jack anyway. But there was no question he had to call.

Keith looked at his watch. It was 12:30, which meant it was 5:30 in the morning in Ireland. I’ll set my alarm and call the boss in a few hours. He shook his head. Jane and John Doe were really out to push Jack’s buttons-and on his honeymoon, no less.

He hoped they’d live to regret it.