“He’s got someone with him,” says Gavin.

“Take down his number,” says Belle. “We’re going to need some extra eyes. Looks like we’re heading into California.

“What have we got so far? Carl meets with Mr. X, who arranges a meeting with Mr. Y. Mr. X pays Carl and goes to Vegas with the rest of the money. We don’t know how much he got either. Mr. Y meanwhile takes the jewels to meet with Mr. Z. Then Mr. Z meets with Mr. X in Vegas. I don’t get it. Why give X money for jewels when Z and X are partners and Z and Y are partners?”

“Most likely because X and Y don’t know that they’re dealing with the same person. Z probably set both guys up so they don’t guess his identity.”

“So, somehow, Mr. Z is our man. He is the link to the whole operation.”

“Possibly. It would help if we have his identity.”

“The picture’s in your phone, right?” Belle nods. “Let me get it sent to headquarters and see what they come up with.”

——————————————————————————————–

“Here’s your mail, Mr. Schuster,” says the clerk at the front desk. Sneaking into the apartment building behind Shikes, Nicholas sits in the lobby and picks up a magazine.

“Any messages?” asks Shikes.

“No, sir.”

Shikes collects his mail and takes the elevator up to his apartment. Nicholas gets up and walks out. In the foyer, he looks up Schuster’s name and apartment number.

——————————————————————————————–

“David, I wanted to talk to you about this Damian Stone business,” says Blanche.

“Fire away,” says David.

“It may bring a lot of negative publicity for us.”

“Don’t worry,” says David. “Dad already has a PR person working on that.”

“That’s not going to help if we’re called to testify.”

“That might not happen. They might not need to get our story at all.”

“Do they have enough to go on?”

“It was a witnessed homicide. All the defense can do is claim temporary insanity.”

“And they may claim that was due to circumstances surrounding what happened at your house. I deeply regret my impulsive actions.”

“It’s a Golde trait apparently.”

——————————————————————————————–

“Darling, I have to leave town,” says Carl.

“Why?” asks Melanie.

“Certain circumstances have made it almost impossible for me to stay. I think we should all relocate.”

“Have you forgotten that I’m married to William?”

“Walk out on him. The girls will need to go elsewhere to re-establish themselves.”

“I can’t walk out on William. Neither can the girls. They owe him for setting them up in business.”

“Well, they can no longer run that business. Besides, they’ve already moved out of the house. I think you should do the same.”

“Are you in trouble again? If so, I’d rather stay here.”

“Look, sweetheart. I don’t like to get nasty with you, but if you don’t come with me, you’re going to regret it.”

——————————————————————————————–

“I wonder if you should have stayed behind to watch Mr. X,” says Belle.

“Too late to start wondering,” says Gavin. “Mr. X may be in the passenger seat as we speak.”

“They’re stopping for a break.”

“Good,” says Gavin. “I need a break, too. Let’s load up on supplies.”

Belle gasps.

“What’s wrong?”

“That’s Justin Van Ness.”

“Who?”

“That boy with Mr. Z. He’s Justin Van Ness. My mom allowed him to stay with us when he came for his sister’s funeral.”

“Your mom’s not a very good judge of character.”

“My mom likes to give everyone a fair chance,” says Belle, defensively. “After all, you were given a chance to be a writer. She felt sorry for Justin under the circumstances. Besides, we don’t know what his role is.”

“Hopefully, we’ll know soon.”

——————————————————————————————–