Page 26 of Out of the Shadows (Angelhart Investigations)

“Jack has a crush on Laura,” Luisa said practically the minute Margo drove away.

“Good,” Margo said. “I like her.”

“He’s known her for two days.”

“So?”

“I think it takes longer to know if someone is right for you.”

Margo shrugged. “It’s not like he’s proposing marriage after two days.”

Margo always knew pretty quick if she was interested in someone. Sometimes it worked out, sometimes it didn’t.

She glanced at Luisa. Was she having relationship problems? She’d left the Marines a year ago and now was going to college.

Margo really didn’t know her little sister. Not only was Margo eight years older, but Luisa had been eleven when Margo enlisted

in the Army. When Margo returned, she had her own place and Luisa was a senior in high school. Then her sister enlisted in

the Marines and Margo rarely saw her for years.

They had a lot in common, however. Margo needed to spend more time with her.

“Thinking of anyone specific?” Margo asked.

“No,” Luisa said.

“Did you, um, date anyone when you were in service?”

Luisa smiled slightly but didn’t say anything.

Margo’s phone buzzed and Luisa picked it up. “Tess sent the addresses of the Thornton kids. John Junior lives in Phoenix,

actually not too far from Mom and Dad. The sister lives in Queen’s Creek.” Which was more than an hour’s drive.

“Junior,” Luisa and Margo said simultaneously.

Margo pulled up in front of John Thornton, Jr.’s house in Sunnyslope, only a short five-minute drive from where they’d grown

up and where their mom still lived. It was an older home that needed some work, but in a neighborhood of equally old homes

that were in various stages of updating.

“His truck isn’t here,” Margo said. “I don’t think he would have gone to Queen’s Creek, but maybe.”

“Or he’s selling the jewels, like Logan said.”

Luisa might be right. But they went to the door anyway and Margo rang the bell.

A young teenager answered. “Hi.”

“Is your dad here?”

“Dad!” the kid shouted at the top of his lungs. “There’s someone else here!”

John came to the door and said, “Hello?”

Margo handed him her card. “Margo Angelhart. Did a man recently come by and give you an antique jewelry box?”

“Yes. I didn’t want it, I thought it was some sort of scam or something, and he left it on the doorstep.”

“You want it. Can I come in to explain? This is my sister Luisa.”

He stared at her card. “Angelhart. The name is familiar, but I don’t know you.”

“Your father knew my mother, Ava Angelhart, who had been the county attorney many years ago.”

Margo didn’t like dropping her mother’s credentials unless necessary, and now it was necessary.

“Oh? Well, come in.”

The interior of the house had been updated with one large great room that contained the living room, dining area, and kitchen.

Mrs. Thornton was fixing a salad, and three kids were playing video games on the television.

The box rested on the kitchen counter.

“Have you opened the box?” Margo asked.

“No,” he said.

Mrs. Thornton walked over to them while wiping her hands on a dish towel. “The man didn’t even introduce himself. He just

said the box belonged to my father-in-law. It was very strange.”

“His name is Charlie Barrett, and he found the box in a storage locker that was in default—a locker that housed your father’s

office furniture and files. Charlie bid on the locker, won, and found the box.

“We have a letter at our office that explains your father was left an inheritance from Bernadette Willis,” Margo continued.

“My mother spoke to her attorney this morning, and she left your father a sapphire-and-diamond necklace previously appraised

at one hundred thousand dollars.”

Mrs. Thornton gasped. “Oh my.”

“And,” Margo said, “a two-carat Burma ruby that is worth upwards of two million dollars.”

John stared at her a moment, then walked over to the jewelry box and opened it. Luisa said, “The ruby is under a false bottom.”

John looked, closed the box. “You’re telling me these are real.”

“As far as I know, yes.”

“Why did he give them to me? If he bought them at auction, they’re his.”

“Because his ex-wife convinced him it was the right thing to do. He paid a little over five thousand for the contents, I assumed

he asked for reimbursement?”

John shook his head.

“There’s a lot to the story and I don’t have time to go through it right now,” Margo said, “but you can call our mother for

any information you need. However, we believe your father was killed by a man who was looking for these items. And that man

is now after Charlie. I think it’s very important that you put them in a safe if you have one, or take them to your bank first

thing in the morning.”

“My father was killed when he came home and interrupted a burglary.”

“He would have known his killer. Jerry Aberdeen, Bernadette’s grandson.”

Mrs. Thornton sat down heavily at the dining table. “Oh, no. That’s awful.”

“Aberdeen ran Charlie’s ex-wife off the road,” Margo said, “and then broke into her house looking for these items. I think

Charlie gave them to you not only because it was the right thing to do, but because he’s trying to protect his wife. He’s

going to tell Aberdeen he no longer has them. I don’t know if he’ll say what he did with them, that’s why I want you to take

all precautions.”

“I’m just—shocked,” John said. “I don’t know what to think.”

“Are we in danger?” Mrs. Thornton said.

“I don’t think so,” Margo said honestly. “But Aberdeen is wanted by the police for felony hit-and-run, and he’s still in town,

so it’s best to be cautious.”

“I don’t want this if it’s going to bring something bad into my family,” John said.

“As your father’s heir, you and your sister would have been given the jewels in probate.”

“We have three children in the house. I can’t have these here. Would you take them?”

Margo blinked. “There’s the equivalent of two million dollars in that box. You don’t even know me.”

“I don’t have a safe place. Do you?”

Margo considered. She could take them home—she had a gun safe—but they would be safer at Angelhart offices. They had a literal

vault in the building, from when it had first been built and was a bank for five minutes.

“Yes, we have a safe at our office.” Margo pulled out another card and wrote her mother’s name and cell phone. “Call my mom

in the morning and she’ll help with whatever you need. She’s also a lawyer and if there are any sticky legal issues, she’ll

know what to do about them. Then I would suggest you have the pieces appraised and talk to your sister about what you want

to do with them.”

“This is all unbelievable,” he said.

Margo took the box and said, “Are you sure you want me to take this?”

“Yes.”

Luisa showed the Thorntons Aberdeen’s photo. “If you see him, call the police,” she said.

“If he threatens you, tell him I have the jewels,” Margo said.

“I wouldn’t do that to you if he’s dangerous,” John said.

“Call me if you see him and then I’ll be on alert.”

“Oh. Yes, of course. Okay.” John took his wife’s hand. “Is this the right thing to do?”

“I don’t want those pieces here,” she said. “They’re cursed. Your father may have been killed for them, John!”

“They’re not cursed,” he said, but agreed that he didn’t want them in the house. “I’ll call your mother and find out what

our options are.”

Margo dreaded being in possession of the box, and handed it to Luisa to hold while she drove. “Call Jack and tell him what’s

going on.”

Luisa put Jack on speaker, gave him a summary, and said, “Once we secure the box in the vault, we’ll get back there. About

an hour.”

There was commotion and voices in the background, then Jack said, “Laura wants you to find Charlie.”

Margo said, “I’m not leaving you alone up there when Aberdeen could show up.”

“We’re all concerned that Charlie may do something foolish,” Jack said.

“More foolish that what he’s already done?”

“Margo, please talk to him. You already know everything about his life. You’ll find him.”

“Dammit Jack,” she muttered. “I’m sending Luisa back.”

“In what car?”

“Mom’s. An Uber. I don’t care, but you can’t be alone to protect four people. Logan’s still there, right?”

“Yes, I convinced him to stay.”

“That’s one less person I need to worry about,” Margo mumbled.

“I have the house locked down,” Jack said. “Find Charlie, convince him to come back here or stick with him. Aberdeen thinks

he still has the jewels.”

“Fine,” Margo snapped, grabbed her phone from Luisa, and hit End. “Dammit.”

“Where are you going to look?”

“I’ll call his friends and check his condo. After that?” Margo thought. “The bar he regularly goes to, then maybe Logan’s

resort. As long as he doesn’t do something completely out of character, I’ll find him tonight. But you have to get up to Desert

Hills and help Jack.”

“I’ll take an Uber,” Luisa said. “It’ll be the fastest way from downtown.”

“Costs a small fortune,” Margo said.

“I’ll expense it. Logan’s good for it.”

Luisa was trying to make light of the situation, but Margo didn’t like any of this. She had this bad feeling in her gut and

she couldn’t figure out why.

They secured the box in the vault and Luisa called an Uber. Margo waited, because she still had this feeling that something

was wrong. She hadn’t been followed, but Aberdeen had proven resourceful, and he could be watching.

As soon as Luisa was safe in the Uber, Margo headed to Scottsdale.