Unknown Victim by Kay Hadashi (classic books for 11 year olds .TXT) 📕

slipped it on her finger. She assumed that since it did not have a tag on it, the price was in the home mortgage range.

“What do you think?” he asked.

She held her hand up and waved it in the light. “I think any man that could afford something like this would give it to someone besides me.” Gina took it off and handed it back.

He got another ring, the largest and flashiest in the tray. “This would be lovely on your hand.”

She slipped in on her ring finger, took one look, and slipped it off again. “Yes, lovely on a hand with dirty nails. I’d look fabulous digging in the garden wearing that.”

He smiled politely while putting away the tray.

“Thanks for letting me fantasize,” she said. “And for the information about the watch."

“It’s been my pleasure. What is your name?”

“Gina.”

“I’m Grayson. I hope to see you here again.”

“Thanks. I think the stores downstairs are a little more my speed.”

He got her attention again with a polite flick of his hand. “We’re having an unadvertised sale next month, if you’d like to participate.”

Gina couldn’t get out of the store fast enough. Too many shiny baubles, and the mention of a sale, were bad news for someone from Little Italy with a few bucks in the bank. It wouldn’t be hard at all to…

Grayson had followed her out. “Miss?”

She turned back to him. “Yes?”

He let the shop door close behind him and looked up and down the mall walkway. “Even though I just made a point of the inauthenticity of your timepiece, I know someone who might be interested in owning it.” He smiled, but nervously this time. “As a way of getting it out of the fine jewelry marketplace, of course.”

“Of course. How would I find this collector?”

“Through me, naturally.”

“Naturally. What would it be worth to your friend the collector?”

“A hundred.”

If there was one thing Gina could do, it was horse-trading, and it couldn’t be that much different in Hawaii than in Cleveland. “You just got through telling me how well made it is. I’d expect more than that,” she said.

“Are you interested or not?”

“I’d be much more interested in a much higher price.”

“I…my friend couldn’t go much higher.”

“For the price being offered, the free info about it was worth more to me.” Knowing she could always go back at a later date, she gave him a smile as though she’d won the trade, even if no horses had been swapped. “I might see what others have to say about it. I can always use it as a gift, like you said.”

He seemed frustrated, even angry as he returned to his shop.

“I can never go back in there,” she said, hurrying to the steps down to the lower levels. “What I’d like to know is what do I do with a fine quality fake Rolex?”

She found a juice shop, and when paying, the cost of the drink seemed like nothing after the store she was just been daydreaming in. She found a table near lush tropical plantings to sit for a while, and to think about what she’d learned from the jeweler.

“Just because it’s fake, that doesn’t mean it had nothing to do with Danny’s death.”

Little doves pecked at the ground around her shoes, the same kind that cooed in the mornings at the estate.

“Okay, what do I know about dead man Danny? He died within a few hours of being dumped on my front porch two days after Christmas. He had very little in his stomach, only a partly digested cheese sandwich. All he had in his pockets were a broken pocketknife, an empty wallet except for one black and white picture of a lady and kid, and a Tuyo beer bottle cap. He had freshly mown park grass on his shoes, and his white T-shirt and dark trousers had seen better days. On the day he died, he wasn’t wearing the windbreaker that I saw him wearing on previous mornings.

“He died when someone stabbed him in the liver with an ice pick, an injury that took a couple of hours to kill him. He drank at Bunzo’s Bar, or at least had his last beer there, apparently a Tuyo, but not within a day or two of his death, because he had a zero blood alcohol level and no beer in his stomach, according to the coroner. The only place I’ve been able to find Tuyo is at Bunzo’s, and they had exactly two bottles missing from a case, the one I drank, and maybe the one Danny had. But I don’t know if Danny actually drank a Tuyo, or if he just happened to find a bottle cap and kept it for some reason. But why would he do that? There’s no reason for anybody to keep a bottle cap from what is possibly the worst beer on the planet.

“Did he keep it, just so he knew what to avoid drinking in the future? That doesn’t make sense, either. I know the name of Tuyo beer is burned into my taste buds forever more. No reason to keep a bottle cap to remember that stuff.”

She was interrupted from taking notes on a napkin when her phone rang. It was a call from Millie.

“Now what have I done?” she muttered, wondering if she should answer it. “Probably fired. I can pack my stuff and move into a cardboard box at the park where I belong.”

“Gina? This is Millie Tanizawa. I’m wondering if you have time to meet this afternoon?”

“Yes, I suppose we should. I’ve been meaning to explain about the delays at the estate.”

“What delays?”

“The fish pond hasn’t been dug, and I’m nowhere near ready to do something with the Japanese garden.”

“I was just there a few minutes ago and everything looked fine. There’s another reason we’d like to meet with you.”

“We?”

“The rest of my family. We have a few ideas to share about the work you’re doing.”

It almost felt like she was being taken home by her boyfriend