Page 89 of The Alibi Club

Holly shrugged. “If a man can get over me telling him he lives like Peter Pan on steroids,” she discreetly pointed to Rick, “then maybe there’s hope for us all.”

Jamie felt momentarily buoyed by her comment. Maybe.

Drinks arrived along with a platter of coconut shrimp. Holly picked one up, but they were too hot to eat yet, so she got started on what they’d come to discuss first. She was all business.

Holly began, “So, I work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Antiquities Division. My boss, Basil Grimsby, is a floundering idiot not deserving of the position of Antiquities Director, but that aside—he’s also a gambling addict. There is this incredibly rare necklace that we’ve had in our possession since last summer called the Golden Cobra. It is an exquisite piece in the shape of a snake, twenty-two karat gold, black onyx inlays, rubies down the spine, and two perfect three-carat diamonds for eyes. It sat on the slender neck of Nefertiti when she reigned from 1353 to 1336, and it is by far the most priceless object we’ve ever had. It was slated to be sent back to Egypt yesterday. So, when I went to view it one last time, to my considerable shock, it was gone. And I think my boss stole it. Or, at least arranged to have it stolen.”

“What do you mean, gone?” Jamie asked.

“Vanished. Box and everything.”

“So, what makes you think your boss took it?” Jamie asked.

“I saw a text message that Grimsby received a week before our dinner. It didn’t make sense at the time, but he referenced the Cobra in an emoji—the Egyptians would be appalled—a sum of money, and an address. I followed up on the address yesterday, after Saturday’s theft. That address…”

Rick did a drumroll with his fingers on the table.

Holly continued, “Was Duncan Reeves’s mansion.”

Kyle whistled, then said to Shannon, “Babe, share what you found.”

Shannon munched the last bit of her coconut shrimp, wiped her mouth daintily with a napkin, and nodded. “So, following Holly’s thread, I did a deep dive on Duncan Reeves. Couldn’t be too hard to find whatever weird shit he’s into to figure out what he might have had in that safe, and lo and behold, I found something. Sure, those blood diamonds were uncut, but they weren’t illegal. Cocaine is on brand for Duncan. But what I found fits with Holly’s info. Turns out, Duncan is a bit of a rogue.”

“A lothario?” Holly inquired.

“Lothario? What, are we in eighteenth-century France? He’s a dog,” Rick countered.

“Libertine?” Holly suggested.

Shannon tilted her head and said, “I think man slut is more accurate. He dates a lot.” Shannon paused. “Well, not date, they’re more like conquests. His pattern is, he picks some unattainable, high-profile woman to approach and when she rebuffs him, he does whatever it takes to bed her.”

“How is this relevant?” Rick asked, with a concerned look on his face. “Because a lot of guys do that.”

Holly shook her head, grabbed his arm, and said, “Not anymore you don’t.”

Rick smiled goofily at her. “True.”

Shannon grinned and continued. “Well, it turns out Duncan Reeves was after this Egyptian heiress by the name of Chanel Emam. She has everything a woman could ever want: money, charisma, confidence, beauty, a powerful family. So, Duncan had to dig deep. And get this, she has a thing for Egyptian antiquities.”

Jamie gasped. “No way.”

Rick piped up. “So, you think Reeves bought the Golden Cobra from your gambling-addicted boss to impress and then bed an Egyptian heiress?”

“No, not bought,” Holly said, “borrowed.”

“Why borrowed?” Jamie asked.

Holly took a breath and then leaned in, motioning for all of them to join her. She lowered her voice as their circle tightened. “There is a group in Egypt, they go by the name the Brotherhood of Ahkenaten, who have taken a solemn vow to retrieve the treasures of their ancient empire from across the globe, at all costs. To get these pieces back to their homeland, they will use treaties, negotiations, large sums of money, whatever it takes. They are immune to prosecution, impossible to extradite, and no laws govern them. So, if Duncan Reeves has that necklace, my bet is, given his tendency to only keep women until he beds them, that he will return the necklace. Otherwise, the Brotherhood will track him down like a dog.”

“Could the Brotherhood have stolen it back from Duncan?” Rick asked.

“I’m sure they would have. But they didn’t know he had it. The last person to have possession of that necklace was Grimsby.”

“I feel like we’re in an Indiana Jones movie,” Shannon whispered excitedly.

“So, if Grimsby temporarily purloined the necklace from the museum with a view to loaning it to Duncan Reeves for a hefty sum, do you think Duncan Reeves will give up Grimsby?” Kyle asked.

Jamie pressed her lips into a line. She had read the man’s case file. “Duncan would betray his personal ethics for a jelly donut. So absolutely yes, no question.”