Page 77 of Once a Hero

“Or to show a buyer,” Beatrice said. “We know from extensive research that Molyneux wouldn’t pass off making a buck.”

“Isn’t the brooch box a reproduction?” Jake asked.

Beatrice nodded. “It is, but do you know who made it for us?”

Jake shook his head.

“The same jeweler who made the original amber brooches in 1976. He wrote down everything he did and he photographed the original.”

“When we explained to him why we need a second set of amber brooches, he was interested in redeeming his reputation—and possibly himself,” Kenichi said.

“It must have cost you a fortune.” Jake turned to Beatrice.

“There was no other choice. Everyone has tried to get Molyneux. What if we have a practical way take her down?” Beatrice asked. “I want her alive to stand trial. In prison, she might have more opportunities to repent and seek God’s forgiveness for all the many murders she had ordered over the years.”

“That’s what we told the jeweler,” Raynelle added.

“It was the truth.” Beatrice leaned back in the office chair.

“Unfortunately, it got the jeweler killed two days later.” Kenichi shook is head. “Such a waste. He was super talented.”

“The good news is that before he died, he told us what we need to do next, but we need all three brooches for the hidden code to be visible.” Beatrice tapped her iPad and showed it to Jake.

He leaned toward the iPad. “What am I seeing here?”

“The design of the original brooches. We’re missing one.” She pointed to the empty tray in the middle of the sketch. “There is a latch, and underneath is an engraved map.”

“That missing brooch is the key.”

“Who told the jeweler to put the map in the brooches?” Jake scrunched his eyebrows together.

“Dad. He must have thought that would get Molyneux out of his hair,” Beatrice said.

“The jeweler told you that, right? Can you believe him at all?”

Beatrice wondered what was going on in Jake’s mind. “Five years and ten million dollars later, the information better be good or we’d be set back ten years in our search for the Amber Room.”

“Well, you’ve certainly done more work than my entire division combined.”

Beatrice didn’t answer him. Truth be told, she was weary. She wanted this to be the last job she did with Benjamin. After this, she wanted to find a community college somewhere and teach. Teaching seemed like a stable job with a stable income—not that she needed either one. The trust fund their second adoptive parents left them was enough to take care of them for the rest of their lives.

Beatrice sighed. “I’m assuming you still have your one-amber brooch?”

“Yes. In my pocket.”

“What a safe place that is.” Kenichi rolled his eyes.

“We have a safe in my office,” Beatrice offered. “And actual safe built into the wall.”

Jake didn’t reply. Instead, he asked, “Where’s the original brooch box?”

Kenichi looked up from his laptop. “No one knows. If Chisolm were alive today, he might be able to tell us.”

“A lot of things have been lost to history,” Beatrice said. “For all we know, searching for the Amber Room is fruitless. Yet all we really want is to be the first to get there for leverage against Molyneux. I pray she will be arrested peacefully.”

“She wants the Amber Room so badly that it will be a trap for her,” Jake said.

“Exactly.”

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