When they arrived at the store, Iris wasn’t surprised to find Officer Foote standing outside the front door. He greeted her with a cursory salute while he managed to treat Mickey as if undercover meant invisible.
The store itself was empty save for Ginny polishing glass countertops and a couple near the back. Iris recognized Hunter’s loosened tie and casual sport coat almost as quickly as she picked up the fragrance of mint from his cup of tea.
But what the hell was Allie doing with him?
Ginny hooked a thumb in the couple’s direction. “Who’s the guy with your sister?”
Iris hated to admit Hunter was a cop. Wasn’t it bad enough that she had a uniform shadowing her without admitting she was surrounded by the law? When had she lost all control of her life?
Mickey smiled easily at Ginny, all his usual charm returning. “That’s another of Iris’s cousins.”
“Another-?”
“Don’t ask,” Iris said to her. She glanced at Mickey. “Does he have it?”
The two men had made eye contact, and she saw Hunter’s nod. She grabbed Mickey’s sleeve, eager to find out about the gems. “Come on. We can talk in the back.”
“Iris, what’s going on?” Ginny trailed behind them.
She paused to answer her assistant while Mickey ushered the others into the back. “I can’t tell you. Just…keep an eye on things out here, would you?”
“What if David stops by?”
“He won’t.” While she knew Ginny would celebrate the end of her engagement, Iris wasn’t ready to share it. Too many other things were at stake.
She closed the door behind her and nailed Hunter with a look. “What’s she doing here?”
“Iris-” Allie tried to interrupt, but Iris rolled over her verbally.
“No, I mean if this is supposed to be some sort of professional investigation-”
Hunter set his tea down on her worktable. “I ran into Allie at the UNLV campus, and she asked for a ride over here.”
This made Iris consider Allie. She’d suspected her younger sister was stalking the detective. “Ran into?”
Allie stuffed her hands into the front pocket of her hoodie and stared back. “I had a chemistry lab this morning.”
“So Hunter’s become your own personal cab?”
Anger flashed in Allie’s eyes. “Come off it, Iris, he’s my dad, too. He said you were the keeper of the gems. Then I find Justin at the geology lab-looking a little chagrined to be discovered there. It doesn’t take much brains to add two and two together and come up with your stolen gems.” Her features softened as she expelled a breath. “I want to do what I can to help find Daddy. He’s in trouble, isn’t he?”
“Yes,” Mickey answered. “But we’re all going to help him.”
Allie tilted her head to study him, her eyes narrowed slightly. “You’re not just a thief, are you?”
“I’m an undercover cop.”
“He’s my partner,” Hunter verified.
“Oh sure, when she asks, just come right out and tell her.” Iris found herself, as usual, moved to the edge of the group, and she resented it.
“Don’t be angry,” Allie said. “I think you’re so lucky. You’ve been neck-deep in this adventure. Daddy trusted you to help him.”
The wistfulness of her sister’s tone made Iris pause. She’d been so angry with Cosmo, she hadn’t looked at it this way before. He had trusted her. He’d left the gems in her safekeeping. What was so aggravating was not knowing why, and she was taking that aggravation out on her innocent sister.
“I’m sorry, Allie. It’s been a rough morning.”
“Cosmo’s in-laws from Russia are in town,” Mickey told the others. “Iris just discovered she’s got cousins.”
Allie’s eyes lit with joy. “Oh, Iris, how wonderful!”
“Yeah, great.” Iris sat on her stool, suddenly tired.
“Are they tied in with this?” Hunter asked Mickey.
“I think so. What did you find out about the gems?”
Hunter withdrew the collar from his pocket. “The lab confirmed that these are alexandrite, but their value is much lower than we anticipated.”
“Because they’re synthetic,” Iris said. Even though she’d expected this, disenchantment weighed heavily upon her.
“How did you know?” Hunter handed her the collar.
Mickey explained all they’d learned from the Gorseyevs about their missing gems. Allie listened with wide-eyed intensity while Hunter jotted notes in his little pad. Seated on her stool, Iris studied the collar beneath the desk’s bright light. Though these weren’t the Romanov alexandrite, the gems had been faceted by her great-grandfather and his father, each brilliant angle cut to perfection. Her mother had said their Gorseyev ancestors had been great jewelers, but Iris could now appreciate their superior craftsmanship firsthand.
She held not history but her heritage, and it sparkled and dazzled its way into her heart.
Hunter repocketed his pad. “Then these gems belong to the Gorseyev family from St. Petersburg, that’s what you’re telling me?”
Mickey nodded. “At least that’s one question answered. What we still don’t know is who received the ten million for the Romanov gems, or if Cosmo ever received them.”
“Or who hired Cosmo to get the gems in the first place,” Hunter added.
“If someone hired him, then Daddy must have the real gems.” Allie looked from one to the other man. “That or he must know where they are. It’s not like he’d go all the way to Russia to bring back fakes.”
Iris couldn’t muster a laugh at such devotion, though her lips drew back in a rueful smile. “Cosmo is a second-rate con artist who might do anything that comes to mind, including cheat his own mother, if he thought he could pull it off.”
Instead of arguing, Allie considered her words. “Maybe, but he’d have good reason.”
“Guess we’ll have to find out what that is.” Mickey shared a look with Iris.
She knew he was hoping to track Cosmo down here at the shop tonight. “Is there any reason I can’t give these gems back to my great-aunt?”
Hunter shook his head. “We’d be hard-pressed to call them stolen goods, and frankly they’re tainted as evidence.”
Iris wasn’t sure what that all meant but assumed he didn’t want them anymore.
“You might hang on to them, at least until we find your father.” Mickey came up behind her and laid a hand on her wrist.
The gems moved beneath the light, casting a brilliant prism on the wall. Iris hated to admit it, but her stomach fluttered with the same rainbows at his touch.
Mickey’s voice vibrated softly at her ear. “Cosmo’s still in deep trouble, and these might be useful.”
Her mouth dry, she nodded. “I can wait until you find him.” She slid off the stool, though that brought more of her body in contact with his hard frame. “I’ll put this back on Edgar. Where is he?” She looked around the floor.
“He’s not here,” Allie said. “I thought he was at your apartment.”
“What do you mean he’s not here?” Iris asked sharply.
Allie shrugged. “If he were in the shop somewhere, I’d feel his presence. Did you really bring him here this morning?”
“Of course I did.”
“Why?” Allie sounded almost as exasperated as Iris felt.
“Because you told me he didn’t like to be left alone.”
Her sister chuckled, and both men looked like Iris had lost her mind. Maybe she had.
“That was yesterday,” Allie said. “Edgar’s a rabbit. Who knows what he’s thinking today.”
If the rabbit’s thoughts were anything like Iris’s, he’d be out buying her sister a straitjacket. “Apparently, he’s thinking he’ll take a walk.” She jerked open the door and stalked out to the sales floor, her head bent to peer beneath the glass cases.