Laced

Dr. Sharkey was smiling expectantly. “Now I have to remind you that this is temporary. If you want me to complete the job and make you a permanent cap, I’d be more than happy to. The lab work will take a little time.”

“No,” Bobby said immediately. “Thank you, but no. We’re flying to Los Angeles, and I’ll see my dentist-”

“Didn’t you say your dentist was in New York?”

“He is,” Bobby insisted. “He is. We had plans to go to Los Angeles first.” Get me out of here, he thought. He yanked the bib off his chest. “Thank you, Dr. Sharkey.”

“Take a sample of this paste,” Sharkey instructed. “If it falls out, and I don’t think it will, just…”

If it falls off, I’ll consider myself lucky, Bobby thought desperately.

Sharkey opened the door to the waiting room. “Mother will take care of you.”

A

“He’s all set to go,” Dr. Sharkey said cordially, walking over to the reception desk.

“They’re paying cash,” Mother Sharkey a

Dr. Sharkey scribbled on a form and handed it to his mother. “We don’t accept cash!”

His mother nodded almost imperceptibly, having heard this joke at least a thousand times. “We have an emergency coming in. Don’t put away your special paste. It’s another broken tooth.”

“This is our day for emergencies!”

A

With a crazed look in his eye, Bobby lifted his upper lip.

A

“It’s not okay!” Bobby yelled. “It’s horrible. I look like Goofy. We’ve got to get a flight out tonight.”

“No!” A

“I want to go to Los Angeles,” Bobby insisted as they drove down the block.

“No, Bobby. Listen to me for a minute. They recently discovered priceless Claddagh rings…”

Inside the dental office, Dr. Sharkey poured himself a cup of tea from the shamrock-covered thermos.

“How’s Daddy?” he asked his mother who, surprisingly, was engrossed in a program offering tips on home decorating.

“I checked on him a little while ago. He’s fine.”

Upstairs in the living room, Seamus Sharkey was sitting near the window, unseen by people in the street. He passed his time reading detective novels and watching the clients who ventured in and out of his son’s dental practice. Ever since a walk-in client had bolted without paying six years ago, he made sure to write down the license plate numbers, makes, and models of every patient’s car. He also recorded his impressions of the patients themselves.

Too many dishonest folks in this world, he thought. You can never be too careful. During di

Seamus leaned forward. Another car had pulled into the driveway, and an older woman was being helped out of the backseat. It seemed odd that a casually dressed yet upscale-looking young couple would be driving around in such a beat-up old wreck. Once again Seamus picked up his notebook and pen from the table next to him.

They don’t need a security camera with me around, he thought proudly. Da

25

Keith Waters had been at the office since early morning. He had slept fitfully, aggravated by the fact that Jane and John Doe were ruining Jack’s honeymoon. I’m going to do everything I can to track them down, he told himself.

The results of the inquiry into the credit card the couple had used at He

So they were in this vicinity not very long ago, Keith thought. But there’s no chance they’ll darken the doorstep of that post office again. They have probably cut the credit card in half by now. He sighed. Identity theft was becoming an epidemic, making it that much easier for people like the Does to keep on the move.

Keith looked over their file. Besides the event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that Regan and Jack had attended last year, the Does had also left behind their calling cards after heists in Chicago, Miami, Birmingham, Dallas, Atlanta, London, and Sydney. I guess they’re not multilingual, Keith thought. It appears they’re only comfortable operating in English-speaking cities. Let’s hope for the Parisians’ sake that they don’t take up French.

Their modus operandi was always the same. They would attend expensive charity galas using false names, pay for the tickets with a fraudulent credit card, and then disappear like Cinderella after they had made their mark. And also like Cinderella, their appearance would change dramatically after the big ball. Jack and his team had worked hard to find a link between the stolen credit cards but had no luck. Keith continued to read the file.

The people who ran the events always remembered a lovely couple who melted into the crowd and then never took their places at di

He

“I suppose it could have disappeared during the cocktail party. I just don’t know,” the woman had said, tearfully.

No calling card had been left, but it still may have been the Does’ handiwork. If they were in town for the holidays, they might have wanted to pull off a job to get themselves in the Christmas spirit. They might even have been staying at the Bridges. Security was often lax at some of the exclusive galas held at big hotels. If someone hadn’t bought a ticket for the event, it would be obvious that person didn’t belong there when it came time to be seated for the di

One man had made a career out of crashing parties in New York City, had even written a book about it. But he hadn’t been a jewel thief.