Carat Capers

By Dan Kelly

Carat Capers is a jewel of a story, pun intended. It’s a tale about three very intelligent and extremely greedy men, Felix Feldman, Amos Kadden and Jacob Kessner, whose desire for wealth and the power and social status that usually comes with it has them embarking on a well-planned crime spree that targets victims in many cities in the U. S. and even extends to urban areas in Europe and South Africa.

All of their victims are unusual in one respect. They possess very rare and very valuable jewels and this trio will do anything to get their hands on them, including murder. They are extremely knowledgeable in the area of precious gems, having been raised in the business, and own and run their own boutique jewelry store, The Paragon, in Manhattan.

They have acquired and are very adept in the use of extremely sophisticated equipment designed to come up with the combination to all kinds of locks on doors and safes and disarm top of the line security systems. They also have an expertise in the use of explosives and in the creation and use of disguises. When needed they have access to forged documents of the highest quality using a variety of aliases which gives them the mobility to move around undetected, leaving no trail for the authorities to follow which might lead to their capture. They have also gotten their hands on Israeli machine pistols which they don’t hesitate to use if anyone gets in their way. Using a unique sleeping gas that doesn’t stimulate any of the sensory organs, but instantly attacks the sleep center of the brain, they can easily neutralize any security force guarding and/or patrolling a target area because the gas acts almost instantaneously.

Added to these attributes is a plethora of self-confidence and good luck which the NYPD finds an intimidating combination to contend with. In short, they have quite an arsenal at their disposal.

Three disparate individuals, Lieutenant Mickey Morretti, the NYPD detective assigned to lead the investigation into the precious gems robberies, Chuck Ferguson, a private investigator and former Green Beret hired by one of the victims to help find her stolen diamond shipment and Vicki Valance, the victim who hired Chuck Ferguson and a diamond merchant, broker and collector, join forces and combine their resources to bring the people behind these robberies and killings to justice and recover the stolen gems.

Traps are set and foiled, surveillance is established and eluded and the pressure from the media, the politicians and the powers that be at NYPD for an arrest and conviction continues to build at a career ending rate. Every investigative road Lieutenant Morretti chooses to go down ends up being a dead end.

Intrigue, suspense, frustration, humor, a little romance plus a dash of puns and clichés tossed in for good measure are the ingredients of the recipe used to create this tale for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dan Kelly
• Release date: Apr 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310021787

Dan Kelly

A Little Bit About Dan Kelly the Author"May you always find a good book to read and the time to enjoy it!"After spending forty years in the real world of domestic and international banking, my writing activities being largely restricted to business plans, internal memos, advertising copy, news releases and speeches, I decided I had had enough of the real world and made up my mind to pursue something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while, immerse myself in the world of make believe just for the sheer joy of letting my imagination and creative juices run wild.Except for the occasional humorous ode for the enjoyment of family, friends and colleagues, I never had the time to indulge the more fanciful side of my nature, but since July 2007 I’ve made great progress in atoning for that neglect. My Irish sense of humor coupled with my experience in dealing with a broad spectrum of people from all walks of life and social status are proving to be a wonderful reservoir of inspiration for me in character and story development.Celestial Capers, Casino Capers, Computer Capers, Caribbean Capers, Carat Capers, Calling Card Capers, Cabernet Capers, Calumny Capers, Canyon Capers, Capital Capers, Counterfeiting Capers, Cryptography Capers and Chopper Capers are the products of my first thirteen mental voyages into the realm of make believe and I hope you will be as delighted as I was to make these trips. I am currently embarked on my fourteenth safari into the relatively unexplored dimensions of my imagination, Campaign Capers, and I am finding the expedition as thoroughly enjoyable as my first thirteen tours. I’m hoping you will too.If you'd like to contact me, feel free to send me an e-mail at [e-mail].

Book preview

Chapter 1

It’s a beautiful, balmy and peaceful Saturday morning in New York City’s Central Park and homicide detective, Mickey Morretti, is looking forward to spending an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend with family and friends, barbecuing, sipping some suds, sharing funny stories, pitching some horseshoes, throwing some darts and shooting some pool.

He’s in the park this morning to hook up with his kid sister so they can drive together to their folks’ house out on Long Island. That is where they always hang out on any holiday they have off. His sister, Cheryl, also works for the City, but as an assistant district attorney. He arrests, she prosecutes. The two of them are as close as two peas in a pod. Anybody messes with one of them they’re taking on the other as well. They’re only a year apart in age, he’s 35 and she’s 34, but he’s always teasing her with the kid sister bit. They’re both single, their jobs always getting in the way of developing lasting relationships.

They agreed to meet at 9:30 this morning which is five minutes away and Cheryl is always on time. Punctuality is an obsession with her, unlike her brother who wears a watch, but hardly ever looks at it. His job is always throwing unanticipated delays in his path so he long ago decided to go with the flow and not worry about things not going according to his time schedule. Today is a rare exception because he doesn’t want to begin his holiday by ticking off his sister.

True to form, at 9:30 on the dot his sister appears from around the bend in the sidewalk which is hidden by some shrubbery from where he’s sitting on one of the many benches scattered throughout the park. As usual, she’s walking at a pretty good clip and appears to be deep in thought about something amusing, judging from the smile on her face.

The two of them couldn’t deny they are related. They could almost be mistaken for twins they look so much alike. Both are close to six feet tall and possess athletic bodies, eyes so brown they are almost black, attractive faces that can show emotion or be as blank as a Texas Hold ‘Em gambler’s and skin the color of a light summer tan.

Hey, big brother, you ready for some fun filled down time?

An Army couldn’t keep me away.

Seconds later he found out just how naïve he could be.

Out of nowhere a Cadillac Escalade comes tearing through the park with three NYPD patrol cars on its tail, sirens blaring, warning lights flashing. Before they are out of sight, his cell phone starts doing the cha-cha in his pocket and his holiday mood is shattered when he sees that it is his division chief, Captain Clancy, calling.

Mickey, I need you over at the American Museum of Natural History. There’s been a robbery of a rare precious gem collection that is scheduled to go on display on Monday and two security guards have been killed and one is in serious condition and on his way to the hospital. The collection is on loan to the museum by Irving Silverman, the founder of Silverman’s Exquisite Gems. In case you don’t know who he is, he’s a member of a very elite group of precious gem collectors and dealers and I’ll be very surprised if he doesn’t have a lot of friends in very high places. I want no stone left unturned in your investigation, pun intended, and no wiggle room left for criticism of the department. Are you reading between the lines, Detective?

Yes sir.

Where are you now?

I’m in Central Park and only a few blocks away from the museum.

Good. Get your butt over there ASAP and keep me informed. And, Mickey, I’m sorry I had to spoil your holiday. I know how much you were looking forward to getting away from this kind of crap for a while, but you’re the best I’ve got and this mess requires the best.

Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, boss. I’ll do my best to live up to it.

When he dropped his cell phone back in his pocket, Mickey didn’t have to tell Cheryl that he wouldn’t be going with her out to Long Island. The vibes she was picking up from her brother told her the sad news.

Gee, Mickey, another holiday flushed down the toilet, huh?

Yeah, I’m afraid so.

He quickly filled her in and then headed for the museum. On his way over he’s thinking, The dollar value of this heist has got to be in the millions. I’m surprised it went down in broad daylight and the thieves were able to circumvent the museum’s sophisticated security system and deal with the security guards. From what I’ve read and heard, precious gem robberies of this magnitude usually involve someone on the inside, so I’m going to have to bear this in mind when I’m questioning folks and getting a lay of the land.

Mickey found out when he got to the museum that the police pursuit that he and Cheryl had witnessed resulted from the robbery at the museum. A security guard spotted one of the robbers, there were three of them, stuffing some of the precious gems into a case of some kind and was able to alert the police before another security guard decided he was going to play Dirty Harry and began shooting at them and then all hell broke loose. The police arrived just as the robbers were driving away from the museum. Shots were exchanged and then the pursuit began. Unfortunately, somehow the robbers eluded the men in blue.

After interviewing the surviving security guards and staff, Mickey finds out no one has a clue as to how these people got into the museum and into the safe where the gems were being kept. There are no signs of force used to open the safe and no signs of forced entry into the museum. Sherlock Holmes where are you. Hell, I’ll even settle for Colombo.

Chapter 2

A week later another precious gem robbery takes place in the Diamond District of New York City. This one involves a courier service and the haul is valued at over four million dollars. This one takes place at around four o’clock on a Friday afternoon and involves the use of a C4 type of explosive to blow open the vehicle’s doors. No one is killed this time around, but two couriers are badly injured by the explosion. The diamond shipment’s intended destination was the office and ultimately the safe of a private gem dealer, Victoria Valance.

This robbery also falls into the lap of Mickey Morretti because of the size and nature of what was stolen. He’s hoping that he’ll make better progress with this investigation than he has with the museum robbery which so far has been zilch.

Mickey is convinced that these robberies have been committed by professionals who know what they are doing and have buyers, probably private, for their merchandise. "Hell, a lot or perhaps all of these gems are probably headed out of the country somewhere. This time it was diamonds. At the American Museum of Natural History, sapphires, rubies and emeralds were taken and some fabulous looking diamonds weren’t touched. What’s with that?

"The media is having a field day with these robberies and the heat is coming down on Clancy for results. The dollar amount of the loot is staggering. Four million plus for the diamonds and ten million plus for the museum gems are numbers that are definitely attention getters.

"Precious gems are surrounded by state-of-the-art security and their transportation is deeply enmeshed in secrecy. For these robberies to have been successfully pulled off there had to be inside help, but I’ll be damned if I can find anything that makes anyone jump out from the crowd of possibles as a person to look at more closely. There are a lot of people involved in the operations of the companies involved and anyone of them could be in cahoots with the robbers. I’m just going to have to keep shaking trees and hope that something useful will fall from the branches."

A couple more weeks go by without any new developments and the media has found other fish to fry, but Clancy is still in the pressure cooker and blowing more steam off at Morretti with each passing day. As if things weren’t bad enough, he’s been getting daily phone calls from Victoria Valance which is really driving him up the wall. As he’s pondering the mess he’s in, his office phone rings and when he answers it he finds out that there’s a new player in the game.

Lieutenant Morretti, my name is Chuck Ferguson and I’m calling to inform you that Ms. Victoria Valance has hired me to find her stolen diamonds and the individuals who took them. I’m a licensed private investigator, based here in Manhattan, with extensive operations around the globe. I want you to know that I will not willingly or knowingly do anything to interfere with your investigation and am hoping that we can work together on this. I will share with you any pertinent information I’m able to uncover and hope you will be willing to do the same.

Mr. Ferguson, I’d appreciate any information you can pass on to me that would be helpful in solving this crime, but as to my sharing information with you involving an ongoing investigation I don’t know how that would fly with my boss or the district attorney. There are legal, professional and personal pitfalls associated with what you are asking.

"Well, I wanted to make the offer and hopefully convince you that I’m an asset not a liability.

I appreciate the gesture, but I’ll pass, at least for now.

Suit yourself. Happy hunting.

"Damn, all I need now is for the museum to hire outside help and Clancy will really blow a gasket. For now, I think I’ll keep this bit of news to myself."

Chapter 3

After making his pitch to the Lieutenant, Chuck calls Ms. Valance to arrange a time for them to meet to review her operation and the people involved. They’ve never met and have had only the one phone conversation when she called to hire him. His services have been recommended by an insurance investigator friend of his who is hoping Chuck can deliver and get his insurance company off the hook for a claim against the policy covering the stolen gems.

Ms. Valance, Chuck Ferguson here. I’ve just informed the police that I will be working for you regarding the recovery of the stolen gems and the identification of the thieves. I did that because I don’t want to ruffle any feathers by going behind their backs and getting stymied if I need their cooperation on something. We aren’t going to have a full-fledged working relationship, but I wasn’t warned off either. I want to come over to meet with you and get a detailed description of your operation and a run down on the people involved. When would be a convenient time for us to get together? The sooner the better.

My afternoon is free from two o’clock on. How about we meet here at two?

I’ll be there at two.

The next phone call he made was to a contact of his in Paris. If there was anything going on in the world of precious gems that Jacques Prevot didn’t know about, it wasn’t worth knowing. Jacques and he had first connected during an investigation of a De Beer security debacle involving a Saudi Sheik and a prominent gem broker in Paris, the prominent gem broker being Jacques Prevot. Chuck was able to get to the bottom of that mess and clear Jacques of any suspicion of complicity regarding diamond shipments being tampered with.

Hi, Chuck, when are you coming to Paris again? It’s been over a year since we’ve had a chance to share some good French food and excellent wine.

Depending on your reaction to why I’m calling, it might be pretty soon.

Chuck clued him in on the two recent gem robberies and his recent hiring by Victoria Valance. I was wondering if there have been any unusually large precious gem robberies elsewhere and/or if there are any rumors going around concerning how the stones are being unloaded.

I heard about the robberies in New York, but I haven’t heard any rumors concerning the destination of the take. There was one unusual robbery here in Paris about a month ago where only tourmaline gemstones were taken which had a Euro value of about three point five million or three point nine million dollars at the current rate of exchange. Although they don’t get the publicity diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds get, top quality tourmalines can go for as much as $45,000 a carat. I haven’t a clue as to who might be the potential buyers for these stones, but obviously there are some out there if someone is willing to go to the trouble of stealing so many of them.

Jacques, please sniff around and see what you can dig up. I sure would appreciate it. The size and closeness of these robberies lead me to believe that there might be more to come and that they’re part of a bigger game plan. Where what you might uncover will lead me I don’t know. I’m just looking for anything that might put me on a scent that will lead me to the loot and the culprits who zeroed in on my client.

I’ll get right on it, Chuck. What’s the best way for me to contact you?

He gave Jacques his cell, office and home phone numbers and a promise to come to Paris as soon as he could arrange it and moved on to his next and final call.

Paul Hoagland has worked for the Cullinan Diamond Mining Company in South Africa for over twenty years as their Chief Operations Officer and Chuck is hoping to tap his vast knowledge of the security and secretiveness surrounding the diamond industry. Their paths first crossed when Chuck was working on an embezzlement situation involving one of Cullinan’s accountants and they’ve developed a friendship through their love for deep sea fishing. They manage to get together a couple times a year to enjoy the briny deep.

It took three tries to get through to him and when he did it was only for a minute. Chuck, you really caught me at a bad time. I took this call because I know you’ve been trying to reach me. We’ve just had a large shipment of diamonds on its way to Brussels waylaid and the police and the top brass are all over my ass with tons of questions that I only have feeble answers for.

Very quickly then, that’s why I’m calling. There have been a couple of spectacular precious gem robberies here in Manhattan and one in Paris also and I was calling to get your input as to how these people might be getting the intelligence needed to pull them off. When things settle down there a little, please give me a call and perhaps we can help each other. I’ve been hired by one of the victims to recover her stones and identify the thieves.

Will do, Chuck. Before Chuck could say goodbye, Paul was gone.

"Well now, isn’t this an interesting coincidence? Or is it? My gut’s telling me that these robberies are connected somehow and that there will be more. Out of the blue, three spectacular gem robberies take place within a short time frame and everyone is clueless as to who might be behind the thefts. I don’t believe in coincidences. I think my best approach to helping Ms. Valance is to focus on finding a common thread that ties them all together. Time isn’t on my side either. The more that goes by the greater the likelihood the gems will be widely disbursed and damn near impossible to trace. Get a move on, Ferguson; this definitely isn’t going to be a slam dunk.

Chapter 4

At 2:15p.m, Chuck shows up at Ms. Valance’s offices, running late due to the troublesome gate in the parking garage in his office building failing to open again and having to wait for the parking attendant to manually open it. The tenants have been raising a ruckus over the damn thing for months, but so far their complaints have fallen on deaf ears.

The receptionist announced his arrival and she was instructed to immediately escort him to Ms. Valance’s office. The suite of offices is impressive in that although the furnishings and the pictures on the walls are expensive the ambience projected is one of discrete, understated elegance without a hint of ostentatiousness.

The ambience is a perfect backdrop for Ms. Valance in that she is quite elegant in her own right.

Chuck’s thinking, These surroundings suit this lady to a T. She is drop dead gorgeous!

Victoria Valance is five foot ten inches tall, has dark, wavy, auburn hair worn down to her shoulders, dark blue eyes that appear almost iridescent, a flawless face so captivating in its attractiveness that no red blooded male could resist gaping at it and a body that would make another Victoria’s lingerie green with envy.

Ms. Valance, I apologize for being late. I had some trouble getting out of my parking garage due to a faulty gate.

Shit happens. Don’t give it another thought and please call me Vicki. Ms. Valance or Victoria is for my grandmother.

Her response blew Chuck away and had him reappraising his first impressions of her. His conversations on the phone led him to believe she was strictly professional, all business and perhaps somewhat aloof. Her appearance somewhat enhanced his initial take on her, but now she appears to be more down to earth and approachable. There’s more to this woman than I first thought.

"Vicki it is. What I need to get started is a list of all your employees and their assigned duties and responsibilities. Next I’ll need the name of the courier company involved in your theft and the people at that company you or your employees interact with. Then I’ll need your hours of operation and the details of the work flow in each area, including the methods of communication employed with your customers and couriers. Once armed with this information, I can launch my investigation. I have already put some feelers out to people I know in the precious gem market to be on the lookout for any scuttlebutt concerning the recent gem thefts and will be getting their input regarding how these people might be accessing shipping information, getting specifics on where the stones are being kept at any given time and bypassing very sophisticated security systems.

I suspect that your robbery is related to some other recent precious gem thefts and will be looking for a common denominator which I’m hoping will lead me to your property and the bad guys.

I know about the American Museum of Natural History robbery, but I haven’t heard of any others of that magnitude.

Chuck told her about the tourmaline gemstones robbery in Paris and the Cullinan diamond robbery in South Africa.

Since 2000, there have been some major gem robberies, but never so many so close together. You might be on to something thinking that somehow these robberies are related. It’s a reasonable hypothesis to start off with at any rate.

Okay then, let’s get started. How often do you want to be updated and by what means?

I’m not a control freak, Chuck. You come highly recommended and to me that implies you know what you’re doing. I don’t want to bog you down by demanding daily written reports of your activities. That would just be a waste of time. When you have some progress to report, call me on my private cell.

She gave him the number and then they got down to business. Five hours later they were talked out and starving and she suggested that have dinner together during which they could discuss anything that hadn’t been covered so far or just relax.

There was no way he was going to say no to her invitation. She was not only a treat for the eyes, but he was getting to like her. She was a tough business woman, she wasn’t going to let anything get the best of her without a hell of a fight, she was very smart and to top it all off she had a great sense of humor.

Although he isn’t God’s gift to the female population, he doesn’t have difficulty finding a date if he is so inclined. He is six feet tall with a soccer player’s body which he keeps in shape with a regular gym routine and a healthy diet, has curly dark brown hair and gray eyes set in a ruggedly handsome face whose nose has been broken a few times and has a killer smile when he chooses to flash it. He isn’t a fancy dresser, but he isn’t a sartorial misfit either. His social life isn’t boring, he just has too little of it due to the demands of his work and growing business, so an opportunity like this is just too good to pass up.

I’d be delighted. Whom should we bless with our presence?

Do you like French cooking?

Oui M'dame!

Do you speak French?

Very little and very badly.

How about Le Bernardin over on West 51st Street? Have you ever eaten there? They have great food and an ideal atmosphere to relax in.

I’ve heard of it, but have never eaten there. I usually eat on the fly and, frankly, paying those kinds of prices for a meal gives me indigestion and spoils the experience.

My treat or are you one of those MCPs who insists on paying for everything when out with a lady? This last was said with a challenging smirk on her face.

Well, on those terms and barely disguised caveat how can I refuse?

Laughing, Vicki called and made a reservation for eight o’clock which fortunately was available and then she closed up the offices and they headed for the elevator.

Chapter 5

Chuck and Vicki drove in their own cars and arrived at the Le Bernardin with a couple of minutes to spare, allowing the valet to take care of parking their cars or they definitely would have been late and lost their reservation.

The food, the wine and the atmosphere were everything Vicki said they would be. There wasn’t much conversation during their meal as they concentrated on enjoying every morsel and sip as the cuisine and libation defied description. Although the presentation was exceptional, the only way one could really appreciate the food was to eat it. After putting the finishing touches on their delightful dining experience with an out of this galaxy raspberry crème brûlée, they sat back and relaxed over a snifter of a wonderful French cognac that Vicki had ordered.

This is a new experience for me, Vicki, as I’ve never had cognac before. I’m a Bushmills or Jameson single malt whiskey neat guy when it comes to spirits, as befitting a gentleman of Irish heritage. Occasionally, I enjoy an English Newcastle Brown Ale as a chaser when my family isn’t around to get on my case for doing so.

Laughing Vicki asks, Do you like the cognac?

Yes I do and I’m surprised that I do. I thought it would have a sweet taste, but this one has a spicy taste and yet has a pleasant flowery aroma.

Not all cognacs taste and smell alike. Each one is quite unique and the serious connoisseurs will pay as much as $45,000 for a bottle of special cognac.

I like an occasional drink as much as the next guy, but not that much. Pausing for a moment he then leads the conversation in another direction with, I’m curious, Vicki, how did you get into the precious gems business. It’s a somewhat closed society isn’t it?

Parts of it are, yes, but doors were opened to me through my dad when he passed away and left me his business which he’d been in for over 40 years. I’ve managed to grow it and earn the respect of the people who count in the industry. I’ve been collecting and brokering precious gems for over ten years now and I thoroughly enjoy it when people aren’t ripping me off. Speaking of which, do you need anything else from me that will help you with your investigation?

Can you think of anyone that might hold bad feelings towards you, bad enough to orchestrate a courier robbery of one of your shipments, a competitor, a client, someone whom your beating the pants off as a competitor, someone who is jealous of your success, a dissatisfied customer, anybody.

No one immediately comes to mind, but I certainly will give that some serious thought.

Another thing I’d like to look at is a complete list of your current and past customers.

You’ll have it first thing tomorrow morning, but what do you hope to find?

I’m not sure, but I’ll know it when I see it. I’m looking for a common thread between all of the recent robberies and I’m going to have to turn over every stone if I hope to find one.

Okay, my customer base and those who I deal with as a collector and as a broker are too numerous to send to you via email. After what’s happened, I’d feel more comfortable handing this information to you in person and not couriering it. Would you mind dropping by the office tomorrow morning say around 9:30. I should have everything together by then.

No problem. Glancing at his watch he’s surprised to see that they’ve been in the restaurant for over two and a half hours. He can’t remember when he’s enjoyed dining out more. It’s getting late. Are you ready to head for home?

Now it’s her turn for watch glancing after which she says, Wow, it doesn’t seem like we’ve been here that long. I didn’t even get a chance to ask you a bunch of nosy questions to get to know you better under the guise of attempting to confirm your PI credentials.

Smiling Chuck responds with, Well, perhaps we could do this again and you can ask all the nosy questions you want and it’ll be my treat. How about it?

Smiling she comes back with, You’ve got yourself a date, mister.

Vicki paid the bill, they handed the waiter their parking stubs and then they headed for the valet stand.

On his drive home Chuck’s thinking, Man, what a night this has been. That lady is definitely something special. I wouldn’t mind getting to know her better, but that’s not likely to happen. We definitely travel in different circles. Hell, the tab for tonight had to be close to a grand. If we ever do go out to dinner again, where would I take her that could compete with the Le Bernardin and I could afford? Ferguson, there’s no hope for you. Where women are concerned your knack for speaking before engaging your brain is phenomenal and that’s an understatement if there ever was one.

Chapter 6

As the month of June draws to a close, summer is starting to make itself felt in New York City with the temperature soaring into the 90s and the humidity trying to keep up with it. It’s mid-morning on a sunny, cloudless Saturday which promises to be another scorcher and three nondescript gentlemen are boarding a private plane which will take them to the Cove Haven Resort in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania.

Their outward appearance belies the ruthless criminal minds that are amassing them enormous amounts of illegal wealth along with the power and status that goes along with that kind of money.

Felix Feldman, Amos Kadden and Jacob Kessner are in their late 40s, slightly overweight and balding. They look like they came out of the same mold. They’re not handsome, they’re not ugly, they’re just average looking. They’ve known each other since they were kids in grammar school and are as thick as thieves, pun intended, and are driven by their craving for wealth and all of its trappings and they don’t care how they get it. They weren’t underprivileged growing up. They all came from upper middle class families who worked in the jewelry trade. They just want more, a lot more, and if murder and mayhem is required for them to get what they want, so be it. That’s another thing they have in common, no conscience. This is where the similarities end though.

Feldman, the leader of the trio, is the idea guy. He’s soft spoken, somewhat reserved, cool under pressure and is exceptionally knowledgeable when it comes to precious gems. He’s also a certified diamond cutter, a skill that has come in handy a number of times over the years.

Kadden is the social butterfly with contacts in the precious gem market all over the world. He has a special talent when it comes to discretely probing for inside information concerning the location of specific gems, who owns them and the impending movement of those gems from one location to another.

Kessner is the man-in-the-field guy with detailed knowledge of security systems, safes, and other locks of all kinds. If there is a weak link in the group, it’s Kessner because he has a vicious hair trigger temper which creates all kinds of problems when he loses it.

The three of them are partners in a boutique jewelry store located in mid-town Manhattan, The Paragon, which serves as an excellent cover for their true vocation, pilfering precious gems along with smuggling and counterfeiting same.

This morning they’re headed for the Poconos to meet with their Parisian counterpart, Pierre Lavelle. He’s a private precious gem collector who is just as committed and ruthless as they are and has an impressive network of under-the-radar unscrupulous private collectors who have the financial resources to buy just about anything if they are so inclined.

During the flight, Felix gets a disturbing phone call from a police connection he has who tells him about the potential trouble that might be coming their way, namely Chuck Ferguson. Felix asks, What do you know about this guy?

From what I’m hearing, he’s been around the block a few times. He owns an international private investigation firm, has connections in a lot of places, not all of them available to the general public, and some of these connections are in the precious gems arena. I wouldn’t take this guy lightly.

I hear you. Thanks for the heads up. You can expect a little gift as an expression of my appreciation.

Turning to his travelling companions he says, The waters have just gotten a little muddy. It appears there’s a new player in the game who could be trouble. He’s a private eye by the name of Chuck Ferguson who’s been hired by one of our victims, Victoria Valance. Find out everything you can about him. I want to know where his offices are, who works for him, where he hangs out and who with, his daily routine, etc. You know the drill. Before we consider other options, let’s try to determine the corruptibility of the man, any of his employees, friends, associates, blah, blah, blah.

Amos Kadden suggests, "Perhaps we should cool it with the remaining U. S. robberies on our agenda until things quiet down a little more and move ahead with what we have planned elsewhere. I never liked the idea of having two large robberies going down so close together in Manhattan, too much publicity, too much media coverage, too much pressure on the police to find out who is behind them. That kind of atmosphere can produce clues that would otherwise remain uncovered. Nothing unanticipated has occurred and we’ve gotten away clean with the museum and Valance scores. If we keep our noses clean for a while here in the States, there can be no slip ups or unfortunate happenstances to put us in a bind. Let this gumshoe, do they still call PIs that? Let him do his dog and pony show for his client. He’s not going to find anything that will point at us nor is he going to find any of the stones. They’ve already been delivered to the buyers who certainly aren’t going to be shooting their