“Maybe she just works for the Falcon?” Celine offered, feeling Henry's pain.
“It's possible, but my gut tells me otherwise.”
Professor Brookert, “So where are we at? It seems like we have fulfilled our contract with Dr. Schaeffer, but we still don’t know who killed Mickey.”
Mike, “We also know of a crime about to be committed, namely selling stolen merchandise. It's likely there are three other murders which were part of this deal. Maybe we should call the chief and put an end to this, let them sort it out downtown.”
“You might be right, Mike. I want to catch the bastard who killed Mike, but waiting until I have proof, might be a mistake. He's dead. I've accepted it and all that's left is to lock up the killer. There's only one concern and that is Dr. Schaeffer, I don’t feel right about letting him get caught, even if he is guilty of buying stolen art. Are you okay with that, Mike?”
Mike wasn’t okay with it, but he understood Henry, and his loyalty to his friends. It didn’t surprise Mike that Henry would be as loyal to his clients, too. He had learned that from Mickey. “No, I understand.”
It was decided they would all be in the office by 7:00 a.m. Henry needed to sleep on his plan.
***
Patrick looked at her, “You have an idea. I can see it.”
“We have been doing business a long time, my friend. I'm not going to sugar coat it; I think our chances are not very good. Once they realize we don’t know where it is, they won’t have any reason not to put us both down.”
“You make us sound like dogs.”
“To them, we are lower than dogs. You have their ‘Eye’ and they want it back.”
“I’m starting to rethink my decision to handle this piece.” Patrick was nervous, losing his game face, and turned to humor, feebly.
Katarina’s mind, working like a world class chess player, “As long as we offer the hope of recovery, they'll not risk losing the ‘Eye’, by killing us. If they believe there is a chance of delivering the ‘Eye’, it will keep us alive. It's not a priceless artifact to them; it is the center of their way of life. They've been searching for it for years. This may be the closest they've come to getting it back.”
Patrick felt inadequate for asking, “What is this thing? I thought it was just a really old, and priceless, watch.”
“If we live, I’ll tell you all about it. I'll need you to follow my lead.”
Patrick nodded and she leaned back, closing her eyes. He considered himself a master tactician, but couldn’t imagine how she planned to deliver it. If they lived, he wouldn’t wait around for the story, he was retired from the stolen art business.
***
Henry drove past his apartment, but decided to go to his house instead. Her smell would still be on his pillow, and that would just cloud his mind. He crossed the bridge and was home before he knew it. His brain was on autopilot. Henry knew he would need to confront her, he knew she had either killed Mickey or knew who did. He wasn’t sure which was worse, the thought of her sharing his bed, after having killed his mentor, or her going to the wake knowing who had.
She wasn’t the smart, funny, beautiful woman he knew from before, she was just a woman. He tried to figure a reason he could accept, but he knew why, greed. The conversation he would have with her, started to play in his mind. Henry grabbed a beer and sat down at his kitchen table. Henry could hear her excuses, her justifications, her blaming someone else, or her admitting it and begging for mercy. None of the stories had a happy ending.
Henry thought about what Mike had said and though he wanted to feel sorry for himself, he knew he couldn’t. Tomorrow, they would let the captain know everything. Henry needed to figure out how to bring down Patrick, stop the auction, keep Dr. Schaeffer out of it, and get Katarina to confess or give up the person who killed Mike. There were enough cops who loved Mickey that simply storming the auction would net everyone involved. He was sure that could be arranged. But how could he keep his client out of the fray? In fact, he needed Dr. Schaeffer to let him in on the location of the auction.
There was one thing which bothered him, still. It wasn’t just Mickey’s murder, someone had murdered the two Greek guys, and Mr. Brown in his brown suit. He got out his notebook and flipped through the pages. He found the page, Mr. Brown beaten to death in his home. He just couldn’t imagine Katarina beating someone to death. Obviously, it was someone from her organization. Henry didn’t have proof that she was the Falcon, just his gut telling him it was her. It was his same gut which said she didn’t kill Mr. Brown and those two drunken Greeks. Katarina must have a team.