Chapter 2

"Hi, yeah, it's me. The jobs done, he won't be coming to Louisiana anytime soon. There could be a minor issue, but I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

"What?"

"Someone found him and may have spoken to him before he died, just some random jogger by the looks of things."

"I don't like loose ends. Find this jogger and take care of it. Nothing can be allowed to reach Rosalita — do you understand? I will be really upset if that happens and I can assure you, that won't be good news for you."

"Look, I'm sure there won't be any trouble. I did try to nail the bastard myself this morning, but he kinda runs fast. Anyway, I've already fixed it so that he's the one we're all looking for in connection with Sinclair's death..."

"NO NAMES! I told you, no names."

"Okay, okay, I get the message. Anyway, the jogger's going down for murder one when we catch him and I'll let you know when we do."

"Do that; for once try to finish the job without fucking up."

Osvaldo Jerez-Gonzalez replaced the handset on the phone and leant back in his leather chair. Ten years he had been waiting to tidy up this loose end, ten years and that idiot Markow was in danger of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory yet again. It had been his bungling that had led to this ten year wait in the first place — if he'd managed to do the job right the first time, Sinclair would have been dead all those years ago and Rosalita would already be his.

He stood and walked to the French windows of the study — not his study, not yet anyway. Looking out on the vast gardens he calmed down. Markow was right — what danger could a random jogger represent? A smile came to Osvaldo's thin lips and he savoured the fact that all of his plans were finally falling into place. Soon, soon now, Rosalita would give in and all of this would be his at last. When she was given proof that her precious Johnny was dead, that he wasn't ever going to return to her, all hope would be gone and she would give in to his demands.

He had been working on her constantly since she had been brought back to the big house all those years ago, but she resolutely refused to forsake Sinclair. Now she would have no choice. She had lost her little bastard boy and now she had lost her dreams. All she had left was his strength.

"Yes Rosalita, come to Osvaldo. Let me take care of you. You know it makes sense."

An evil laugh escaped his lips. He, Osvaldo, was going to achieve what the rest of the Jerez-Gonzalez family had failed to achieve over the past seventy years. He was going to be the one to get his hands on everything the Latour family owned. Once Rosalita gave in and married him, it would all be his.

Christine Anderson and Frank Bruton (formerly known as Fraser Gilchrist and Gavin's real father) were becoming increasingly comfortable in each other's company. Christine enjoyed his sense of humour and Frank was impressed by her intelligence first and her looks second.

They were determined to try to make progress in getting things on a more permanent basis for the family while the youngsters were away. They found they worked well together and it was surprising what concerted pressure could achieve.

The remaining three days at the Dorel Dorset were nervy ones for the two girls. Gavin seemed to be unaffected by the confirmation that the Cathedral City PD were searching exhaustively for the jogger who they believed had robbed and killed John Sinclair. The only change he made to his routine was to drop his morning run in favour of an additional hour in the swimming pool. As a competitive swimmer, he was already spending several hours a day on his routines, but the extra hour couldn't hurt. He continued to perform his martial arts kata's every day too.

Gavin was also making good use of the wi-fi broadband access available in their room. With an approximate date for when Sinclair had carried out his robbery, he was able to search online news archives for details of the crime and the subsequent capture and trial of the dead man.

His perseverance paid off when he found one particular article that gave him an interesting snippet of information.

" ... Sinclair, formerly of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana..."

Typing 'Sinclair' and Ouachita, Louisiana into his search engine, he was disappointed not to get anything that seemed to help. He took out the parish name and just went with 'Louisiana'.

"Whoa! I guess Sinclair is a popular name in Louisiana," he exclaimed at the number of hits.

Interestingly, Sinclair seemed to be one of the oldest family names in the state. Gavin's parochial Scot's outlook was tickled to read one entry that traced the name back to Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and the Knights Templar.

"As fascinating as that goes, it's no help in tracking down this guy's wife and son," he told himself.

Their stay at the motel was coming to an end, not a moment too soon for Fiona and Lizzie, but Gavin was wrapped up in the mystery surrounding Sinclair and he felt that it was important to try to explore every clue they had before leaving Palm Springs. One thing that he hadn't looked into yet was the pawn ticket and he was determined to do that before they drove back to Utah.

Southern Utah University had come through with a package that included sponsorship for Fiona and also a teaching tenure for Gavin's Mom. It had been an easy decision to settle in Cedar City, Utah while he finished college, but now Gavin wanted to try to solve the mystery of the jewellery store before leaving Cathedral City for Utah.

There was a definite possibility that his plans would spook the girls even more, so Gavin didn't let on that he intended to redeem whatever had been pawned until they had packed all of their belongings into the SUV rental.

Having already settled their bill with the motel, Gavin turned the SUV onto E Ramon Road and headed towards the more built-up area of Palm Springs.

"Eh, where exactly are you going bro?" Fiona asked. "Isn't the interstate towards Utah in that direction?"

"There's a little errand we have to run first," Gavin replied, but didn't explain any further. He could see that Fiona and Lizzie were at last starting to relax a little after days of worry and he didn't want to re-start their concerns.

Fifteen minutes later, Gavin spotted a parking space opposite the Jewelry Mart, on Palm Springs' Palm Canyon Dr. He pulled over smoothly and turned off the ignition. It was Lizzie who made the connection first and she gave a little squeal.

"That's the store where the pawn ticket was issued!" she gasped.

"Gavin, you cannot be serious!" exclaimed Fiona, immediately guessing what her brother intended to do. "What if the police have got the place staked out? What if the store has been told to alert them if someone turns up with that ticket? Are you insane?"

"I think it's worth the risk," Gavin replied. "I've already been out here twice in the last two days to look the place over and there's no sign of any police interest. I'm planning on walking in and getting back out again as quickly as possible, don't sweat it."

Before the girls had a chance to argue further, Gavin jumped down from the SUV and quickly crossed the street. Fiona and Lizzie watched as he peered through the store's window and then walked confidently towards the door and entered.

"I can't believe he could be so stupid!" cursed Fiona, as both she and Lizzie began to scan the street, alert for any sign of trouble.

Inside the Jewelry Mart, Gavin approached the young girl behind the counter, painting a warm smile on his face.

"Howday, sir. How can I help you this morning?" she asked, returning his smile with interest.

Gavin had already decided to keep the conversation down to a bare minimum and he tried to disguise his Scottish accent. He placed the ticket on the counter in front of the girl and she picked it up.

"My, this is an old one," she said, glancing up at Gavin as she read the date that the ticket had been issued. "I'm guessing that it wouldn't have been you who carried out the original transaction? You're far too young to have been allowed in here ten years ago. You know, I'm not even sure we'll still have whatever was pawned. By law we only have to retain them for so long and then we're entitled to sell them on if they haven't been redeemed. Let me go through and look."

Not having a lot of experience with pawn shops, Gavin hadn't thought of that and he mentally cursed himself.

"Of course they'll have sold whatever it was. That's how these places make their money. Idiot!"

He waited nervously now, unsure whether he should just cut his losses and leave. Gavin was half turned, ready to walk out of the store when the girl returned.

"My, you are a lucky one. I can't believe we've still got it, but here it is. Now, all you have to do is re-imburse the $10,000 and it's all yours."

She carried a leather case about twelve inches by ten and maybe an inch and a half thick. It looked old and somehow, substantial, Gavin thought. He slid the case towards him and flicked the intricate metal clasps to open it. Inside was a stunning jewel necklace, all diamonds and rubies, nestled into a plush red velvet lining. Gavin's eyes widened in surprise before he quickly closed the case and re-set the clasps.

"I hope you don't mind cash," he said, hamming up an American accent as best he could while he set the paper sack on the counter and pulled out the two stacks of dollar bills.

"Oh, cash, that's kinda unusual," the girl said when she saw the bills, eyeing Gavin now like he was some kind of alien life-form.

"It's quickest," he said by way of explanation.

The girl carefully counted the stacks of bills to confirm that the amount was all there and then she endorsed the ticket and rang up her till.

"Well that's you, on behalf of the Jewelry Mart can I just say that it was nice doing business with you. You have a nice day now," she said, her smile not quite reaching her eyes this time.

Gavin was already turning for the door, the case held tightly in his right hand. He re-crossed the street and climbed into the SUV, starting the ignition and pulling away from the sidewalk while he was still pulling on his safety-belt.

Now that the transaction had apparently been completed without any problems, the girls were desperate to know what Gavin had re-claimed. He passed the case to Fiona as he navigated the route he had already planned back towards I10.

"Oh my God!" squealed both Fiona and Lizzie when the case opened. "It's beautiful, absolutely beautiful. This must be worth a lot more than $10,000."

"Well that's how pawn shops work," Gavin explained. "They loan you a fraction of whatever your items are worth and then hope you won't be able to redeem them. If you don't pick them up after a set time, they can then lawfully sell them at their full market value and make a handsome profit.

"So why didn't they sell this? Surely they don't hold onto things for ten years?" asked Lizzie.

"I've no idea," Gavin admitted. "We're just lucky that it was still there I guess."

"Maybe this is what Sinclair stole in his robbery," Fiona suggested.

"I think that's highly unlikely," Gavin replied. "If you remember the news report, that store was supposed to have been the store that he robbed. It's unlikely that he would be pawning them back their own stolen goods. No, something just doesn't add up about all of this and I just can't figure it out yet."

"Anyway, bro, after that stupid stunt, why don't you get us out of Dodge?" Fiona suggested, clearly still very anxious about the police searching for Gavin.

"That's just what I'm doing sis, that's just what I'm doing."

Aaron Bosco had just finished a particularly good lunch — something he did regularly if the size of his massive waistline was anything to go by — and he was only dropping into his store as a matter of routine. He liked to keep Jennifer on her toes. The young girl was a good worker and didn't give him any bother, but it was always a good idea to let the hired hands know that you were on top of things he thought.