Blind Alley - Iris Johansen [60]
Eve turned back to the pedestal. “Did Jane get anything?”
“A package. She thinks it's from Sarah Logan.”
“Again? She just sent her a leash from Morocco a few weeks ago. . . .” Her hands were moving, sculpting, and her tone was absent. A moment later Jane knew she was completely absorbed in the work and no longer with them.
“Where's Quinn?” Trevor asked as he finished stacking the bills.
“At the precinct. Christy set up a conference call with Scotland Yard and the Rome police to discuss Aldo.” Jane gave him a cool look as she sat down on the couch. “And the local Italian police have found no trace of any tunnel in the countryside outside of Herculaneum. And no villa belonging to a Julius Precebio.”
“I told you they wouldn't find it.”
“Because you did your best to hide it. When this is over, you're going to have a lot of questions to answer.”
“Hmm.” Trevor was tearing the strip on the FedEx box. “I'm duly intimidated.”
She scowled. “You are not.”
“No, but I'd hate to disappoint you.” His smile faded as he opened the lid. “There's another package inside.” He moved away from the couch on which she was sitting to the screen door. “It's small, velvet, and doesn't look like it would contain a dog toy for Toby. I think I'll just open this on the porch.”
She tensed in spite of herself. “Stop it. Aren't you overreacting?”
“Perhaps.” He looked in the FedEx box. “No note.”
“Maybe it's in the velvet box.”
“Possibly.” He dropped the FedEx box and slowly opened the blue velvet box.
“What is it?”
“A ring.”
“Jewelry?” Relief surged through her as she jumped to her feet and followed him across the room. “Let me see it.”
“In a minute.” He was holding the ring up to the light.
“Now.” The ring was a broad band of intricately carved gold and the stone it held was a brilliant pale green, too pale to be an emerald, probably a peridot. “Do you think Sarah would send me a Borgia poison ring or something?”
“No.” He held the ring away from her. “But I don't believe this ring is from Sarah. Why don't you call her while I look it over?”
Her gaze shifted from the ring to his face and what she saw there made her eyes widen. “Why?”
“Call her,” he repeated. “If it's from her, it will give you the opportunity to thank her. I'll stay here and wait for you.”
She hesitated, tempted to refuse and confront him. Then she went inside, picked up her phone, and dialed Sarah in Carmel.
Trevor was standing underneath the porch light when she came out of the house five minutes later.
“She didn't send it,” Jane said flatly. “She didn't know anything about it. Aldo?”
He nodded. “My guess.”
“Why would he send me a ring? That's a peridot, isn't it?”
“I don't think so. It's similar and most people would mistake it for a peridot.”
“Then what is it?”
“It's a vesuvianite.”
“What the devil is that?”
“When a volcano erupts the tephra sometimes forms a glasslike substance that can be polished and refined to resemble fine gems. You may have seen helenite, the dark green stone that became popular after the Mount Saint Helens eruption.”
“But this came from Vesuvius?” Her gaze was fastened in sick fascination on the ring in his hand. “I was joking, but could it be some kind of poison ring?”
He shook his head. “I examined it. It's exactly what it appears. He obviously didn't mean to kill you.”
“It's beautiful. . . . Why would he want to give me something this beautiful?”
“How does it make you feel?”
“Angry, confused.”
“And afraid?”
Was there fear at the core of her emotions? She only knew she felt chilled and shaken. “It's only a piece of jewelry.”
“That's disturbing the hell out of you.”
“And that's what he wanted. He wants me scared and panicked.” She reached out and touched the gold of the ring. It was warm from Trevor's touch but it didn't pierce the chill surrounding her. “And he wants me to know he's not forgotten me.”