Unknown Victim by Kay Hadashi (top 10 books of all time txt) 📗

dead body she’d found earlier that day. But the second half of her project still needed to be handled. That meant a lot of shoulder work in the sun raking grass and weeds into piles.

Gina made small mounds here and there, just big enough to heap into a rickety old wheelbarrow she found in a shed at the back of the house. She took that out to the middle of the field where the old vegetable garden had been and made one large haystack.

Flinging the last few handfuls of grass into the wheelbarrow, her hand found something hard. It wasn’t a rock, but something shiny and metallic that fell through and clunked to the bottom of the pan. Picking it from the grass, she found a wristwatch.

“This is new,” she said, picking away bits of chopped grass. She looked at the brand on the face. “Rolex?”

She looked more closely, and sure enough, the letters spelled out the famous brand of expensive watches. There were no scratches on it, not even dirt or grime. The clasp, however, didn’t seem to latch properly.

“This would’ve been right next to the porch, but I never noticed it before.”

The weight of it was heavy in her hand. The second hand continued to tick around in a circle. She looked at the back of it for any sort of markings or engraving. There was none, except for the usual corporate logo and serial number.

“Who drops a Rolex and doesn’t bother to look for it?”

She tried to remember seeing watches on the wrists of any of her crew that day, someone that might’ve snagged the watch on a tool, breaking the clasp, and not noticing when it slipped from their wrist and dropped to the ground.

“Except that minimum wage workers don’t wear Rolexes.”

She looked at the steps up to the porch and then back toward the bridge. She found it right where someone would’ve walked from the bridge to the house, but not near where her crew parked their cars and pickups. The only other people around there had been the CSI technicians who’d come to search the area, and the morgue drivers that collected the body.

“I doubt CSI techs wear Rolexes. Not on the job, anyway.”

She rubbed her thumb over the crystal, bringing up the shine. The more she looked at it, the more questions it gave her than answers.

“Something funny about this thing.”

She put it on her wrist and tried clasping the band. Even though it didn’t work quite right, it was obvious the watch had fit a man’s wrist, not a woman’s.

After slipping the watch into a pocket, Gina dug into the grass she’d already picked up, searching for anything else that might be hidden or overlooked. Once it had been pawed through, she figured only the Rolex had been lost.

As much as she didn’t like the idea, she got out the business card Detective Kona had given her and called.

“A Rolex?” he asked, once she’d explained twice why she’d called.

“Very nice looking one, also.”

“You think it has something to do with the body you found this morning?”

“It’s so clean, it obviously hasn’t been out in the weather or in the dirt for very long, if at all. And I found it right near the porch. What should I do with it?”

“Hock it at the nearest pawn shop. Whatever you do, don’t tell them your real name. Grab whatever money they offer and run.”

“You’re kidding, right?” she asked.

“Not entirely. I tell you what I’ll do. I’m almost off work. I’ll drop buy in a few minutes and take a look at what you got. Okay?”

While she waited, she took a few pictures of the watch from various angles. Half an hour later, a vehicle came across the bridge. It was Detective Kona’s blue sedan. He parked next to the house and Gina met him there.

“Detective Kona, I wasn’t expecting to see you again. Thanks for coming by.”

“I was hoping not to come back, Miss Santoro. Show me what you have.”

She held out the wristwatch to him. Using his pencil, he hooked it and took a close look without handling it. “Men’s Rolex. Like you said, it looks new. It’s not dirty or scuffed. Where’d you find it?”

“Here.” Gina pointed to the spot where she’d stopped raking grass. The rake was there, leaning against the bamboo porch railing. “You can see where I stopped raking. That’s where the watch was. At first, I didn’t recognize it as a watch, but just some shiny piece of metal. I picked it up to toss out of the way, but once I had it in my hand, I noticed it was a watch.”

“You’ve handled it?”

“Yes.”

“Then what did you do with it after you picked it up?” he asked.

“Sorry, but I wiped off grass clippings and dirt. I doubt you’ll find any fingerprints on it other than mine.”

“Why is that important?” he asked.

“I don’t know. To see if it belonged to the dead man?”

“If his prints were on it, that would mean it belonged to him?” Detective Kona asked.

“Wouldn’t it?”

“Unless he stole it from someone else. Tell me again about finding it.”

Gina went through her weed whacker and raking story again. “When I saw it was a watch, and that it looked new, I was surprised. I figured one of my crew might’ve lost it while working. Then I noticed it the brand, and figured it couldn’t be from one of them. Then I wondered if it had belonged to one of your CSI techs. Crossing them off the list, I figured it might’ve been the dead man’s.”

“Why not one of your crew?” he asked.

“They’re laborers that work for minimum wage. That watch probably costs more than what any one of them might earn in a year.”

“Not like the county pays CSI techs enough to afford Rolexes,” Detective Kona said.

“That’s why I crossed them off my list of possible owners. Not many ordinary working joes can afford a Rolex.”

“If it’s authentic. Even the fakes are expensive.”

“That’s something else I’ve