Page 36 of Grave Danger

The kitchen suddenly shook with the sound of crashing glass in the other room. Zahra screamed. Jack instinctively searched for some form of protection, but the only thing readily available was his prized autographed Carl Yastrzemski baseball bat.

“Sorry, Yaz,” he said as he grabbed it from the display shelf. He told Zahra to stay put and ran into the reception area. His assistant was coming down the stairs, having heard the crash from the second floor.

“Stay right there, Bonnie!” said Jack.

She froze. Jack stood in the doorway and assessed the damage. The lobby area had once been a living room, and the huge picture window overlooking the front porch was shattered. What remained of the tempered glass was in pellet-sized pieces, strewn across the Persian rug and surrounding wood floor, glistening like diamonds in the streaming sunlight. Lying on the rug in the middle of the room was a metal pipe about the size of a relay race baton.

“Somebody threw a pipe?” said Bonnie, utter disbelief in her voice.

“Did you see anything from upstairs?” Jack asked.

“No,” she said, her voice quaking. “I just heard an awful crash.”

Jack stepped carefully across the room, the glass pellets crackling beneath the leather soles of his shoes. He noticed handwriting along the side of the pipe. It was in black marker or maybe black paint pen, and it ran from one end of the pipe to the other along the smooth cylinder, framed by the piping thread at each end. Jack lowered himself into a squat and read the message:

“Final warning,” the top line read, and then on the next line: “Stop trying to prove Ava is dead.”

The message continued onto a third line. Jack took a pen from his pocket and rolled the pipe a half turn so he could read the rest. It was a signature of sorts:

Someone Who Knows.

Jack inserted the same pen into the opening on the right and stood the pipe on end. Stuffed inside was a clear plastic baggie that had been compressed to about the size of a golf ball for a tight fit. Using the pen, Jack dragged the baggie from inside the pipe. With the release of compression, it blossomed on its own inertia, and as the clear plastic unfolded, the baggie revealed its contents.

“Bonnie, call the police,” said Jack.

Zahra entered the room from the kitchen. “What is it, Jack?” she asked.

“Someone’s wedding ring,” he said.

Bonnie raced back up the stairs and dialed the police.

Jack stayed where he was, afraid to even guess who that “someone” might be.

The afternoon session began at 2:00 p.m., but not in the courtroom. Counsel and their clients were in Judge Carlton’s chambers.

Jack had notified the judge and his opposing counsel within minutes of the arrival of the police at his office. The Miami-Dade Crime Scene Investigation Unit collected the pipe, the message, and the plastic baggie in sealed evidence bags. The judge summoned counsel and both parties to his chambers for a session that was closed to the public. Detective Charlene O’Hara from the CSI Unit was with them. The pipe and plastic baggie, each marked by an evidence tag, rested on a felt pad on Judge Carlton’s desktop. Beside them, also tagged, was the ring.

Judge Carlton started the session with the necessary legal formalities.

“Ms. Beech, for the record, I understand that your client has consented to make an identification of the ring.”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Very well,” said the judge. “Mr. Bazzi, please step forward.”

Farid rose from his chair, stopped before the judge’s desk, and looked down at the evidence on display.

“Mr. Bazzi, do you recognize the ring in front of you?” the judge asked.

“Yes, Your Honor.”

It was the first time Jack had heard Farid’s voice—unless it was Farid who had jumped him outside his office. His voice here, compared to the muffled mouth full of cotton, didn’t move the needle on that question.

“How do you recognize this ring?” asked the judge.

Farid stared at the ring for what, to Jack, seemed like a very long time. Finally, he spoke in a solemn voice. “It belongs to my wife. It is her wedding ring.”

“By ‘wife,’ do you mean Zahra Bazzi or Ava Bazzi?” the judge asked.