Page 15 of Resolution

“Because it’s worth a lot of money…which I’m not short of, mind you…but still, to think that some fiend violated my house just like that, makes me sick to my stomach! Oh, I know my damned insurance company has someone working on the recovery, but I can truly say, the man is odious. I don’t think he could find his way out of a paper bag.”

“Who is it?” I asked.

“The company is Brown, Butterfield, and Spaulding Insurance and the recovery agent is Tomlinson…Rick Tomlinson,” he said, waving at my desk. “Please feel free to write it down.”

I picked up a pen and wrote it down, though, I didn’t need to. When I glanced up again, Leopard was wrinkling his nose, looking a little sick to his stomach. “He’s a terrible man—revolting, I tell you—and I don’t think he’s doing anything to find my sweet little pin which is why I decided to come to you and ask for your help…since you’re already working on Tawny’s recovery.” He was nodding and practically bouncing in his chair. “Maybe her jewelry and my little pin were stolen by the same hooligans who broke into my house…oh, my dear little house.”

I somehow doubted the man had a sweetlittlehouse.

“Daddy…don’t get so upset,” Trevor whined, batting his eyes up at Leopard. “It’s terrible for your blood pressure.”

I hadn’t noticed until then that the boy was wearing false eyelashes.

Leopard finally went quiet as he reached for his boy’s knee, patting it, while smiling adoringly at him. I was glad for the reprieve. “Thank you, love.” He leaned forward and pursed his lips. Trevor got the message and put his phone in his lap as he pecked Leopard on the lips.

“How much longer are you gonna be, Daddy?”

“Almost done, precious.” He looked between us before leaning forward again. “Do you think you can help me, Mr. Mathis?” He glanced at Miguel. “Mr. Huerta, I’d be ever so grateful if you could help me.”

“Sure,” Miguel said. “Our office manager, Judy, will have a contract drawn up to retain our services.” He stood up, glancing over at me with glittering eyes before looking back at Leopard. “Raven will take down your details and that of the missing pin while I go and have her prepare that for you.” He hightailed it out of the room before I could even protest…coward.

Both men turned to eye up Miguel’s ass as he walked out of the room before turning back to us with stars in their eyes.

“Beautiful man,” Leopard said. He waved his hand at me. “I should say that you’re both gorgeous…absolutely stunning men.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you lovers? Tawny said you’re a couple and as soon as she told me that, I knew I needed to retain your services immediately.” He bounced in his chair again.

I smiled. “Yes, we are.”

He clasped both hands, wringing them. “Oh, how lovely. You make a beautiful twosome…and you work together too…lovely, just lovely.” He smiled. “I’ll refer all my friends.” He leaned forward again. “Tell me…do you recover other things? I mean, besides jewelry? I have a friend who—” Trevor let out an aggrieved moan. “Oh, yes, anyway, what do you need from me?”

He really was a very nice man. “I don’t suppose you have a picture of the missing pin, Mr. Leopard?” I asked.

“Oh, of course. Silly me.” He chuckled and then stood up, fishing his wallet out of his back pocket and passing me a picture, the same one I’d seen in Tomlinson’s file folder. He pointed at it. “As you can see, it’s in a terribly ugly setting.” He wrinkled his nose. “The gold is just so dark. I’m sure it’s not fourteen karats.” He laughed nervously, looking up at me. “I’m not even sure it’s gold to be honest.”

Miguel walked back into the room. I stood and passed him the picture as he took his seat. He looked at it before passing it back. “Nice pin.”

“Yes!” Leopard exclaimed, then glanced at Trevor who just rolled his eyes. “Sorry, precious. I just can’t wait until they find the pin. I told you I want to make it into a ring for you.”

I glanced at the kid’s hands again.Where’s he gonna put it?

“Would you please give us some details on the theft, Mr. Leopard?” I asked. “You said it was in your house?”

He sat forward. “Yes! Someone broke in and stole it!”

I scribbled notes while he talked. “Where did you keep it before it was stolen?”

He nodded. “In my jewelry box which is located in our bedroom…on my dresser. I keep all my casual jewelry in there. I don’t keep many fine jewelry items there, since as you can see, the really good stuff is with me most of the time.” He lifted the mass of chains including the giant jewel encrusted B, holding them out to show me, just in case I’d missed them. “I had just made an appointment to have it reset at my favorite jeweler. In all honestly, I had nearly forgotten about the appointment which is why I hadn’t even bothered to look for the pin. But when the break-in happened, I instantly went looking for it. It was gone! Hooligans!”

Trevor sighed again.

He glanced at him. “Almost done, precious.” He turned back to us. “I’d taken my dear, sweet boy out for a little dancing that night.” He glanced over at him and patted his knee again, smiling. “My boy loves to dance, and I just love watching him with his friends.”

Miguel cleared his throat. “The break-in, sir. What can you tell us about that? Was anything else taken?”

“Yes…well, almost nothing. Like I said, I kept the pin in the box on my dresser. They seemed to want that and nothing else. Of course, if they had seen all this—” He held up the pendant again. “I know the fiends would have taken my jewelry as well. Thank God we weren’t home at the time!”

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