Page 52 of Gem Warfare
I never thought I’d see him again.
Yet here he was, youthful and joyful, smiling in his expensive private school blazer.
“Gideon Black,” I read aloud to the empty office. “Everyone’s buddy. Played on the cricket team, earned his black belt in karate, fluent in three languages. Destined for great things or great devilry. Hard to tell.”
“Sorry ‘bout that,” said Solomon as he exited the office. He paused. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I think I just did.” I beckoned for him to join me and he rounded the desk, stooping to look at the screen.
“Who’s the kid?”
“You don’t recognize him?”
“Should I?”
“Ben Rafferty.”
Solomon frowned. “I feel like I should know that name.”
“Remember that job we did for the dating agency Million Matches? When I was pretty new on the team? We were hired to find a thief targeting rich women.”
“I remember.”
I pointed at the screen. “That’s him. Gideon Black is Ben Rafferty.”
“I see it,” said Solomon, frowning as he leaned in for a closer look at the smiling boy on my screen. “How did you find himafter all this time? Wait. Have you been looking for him all this time?”
“No! I was looking for the boy in the photo that Garrett retrieved from the body found at the end house.”
Solomon straightened. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“I wish!” I slumped against the seat back. “How can this be?”
“So Ben… Gideon Black could be the son of the body found in a shallow grave just a few houses over from your parents’?” asked Solomon slowly, like he couldn’t quite believe what he was asking.
“The two men are definitely connected somehow,” I said. “They’re the right age for father and son… and it doesn’t seem like he lived with his dad but I don’t get it… Ben is a master criminal, a conman, a jewel thief, and he’s brilliant at evading capture. And we’ve got this body in a shallow grave with millions in jewels on him. Does Ben… Gideon… have something to do with this?”
“Are you suggesting Ben…Gideon…what are we calling him now?”
“Gideon Black, I guess. Thatishis real identity.”
“Let’s prove that. Get Lucas on the phone.”
I reached for my phone, punching in Lucas’s extension. I quickly gave him the rundown and asked him to find proof of Gideon Black as fast as he could. “He’s on it,” I said to Solomon who simply nodded.
“Are you suggesting Gideon Black killed the man in the grave?” he asked.
“As much as Gideon Black is a criminal, I never thought he was a dangerous one. I just don’t see him as a killer. A confidence trickster, yes. Killer, no.”
“Let’s not count it out.”
“Ben… Gideon… heck, I’m not sure I can keep his name straight… is a thief, not a killer. Even if he did murder thatman, is it really feasible that he left millions in jewels behind? It doesn’t make sense.”
“He would have been just a kid then, assuming the body was buried close to twenty years ago, a young adult if not. It could have been his first crime. Perhaps he bungled it,” said Solomon.
“Don’t criminals usually escalate? He wouldn’t start at murder and work his way down to theft.”
“Point taken.”