Riddled with Deceit: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery

Jeff Jackson, formerly a Boston PD detective now retired on Martha's Vineyard following a career ending injury, is hired by his friend, Chief Madieras of the Vineyard PD, for a one time only security stint at the Pendray Inn, owned and operated by Britt Prajna, the best friend of Dr. Zee Madieras, the island's acting M.E. who happens to be the Chief's daughter and Jeff's childhood friend. The Lakshmi Emeralds, mounted on a sole broach worth $5 million, are being returned to Britt having been stolen from her family over sixty years ago and having circulated on the black market ever since. Gemologist Victor Gaines of Gaines and Associates Auction House in Boston recognized the emeralds after they were brought in by their unsuspecting owners, Regina and Freddy Fields, who were having them appraised. While Britt's godfather, lawyer Willard Gilford, and Gaines personally handled the transfer of the emeralds back to Britt in conjunction with Thornbury Securities, headed by Jeff's former Boston PD associate Mike Vinson, Mike and his team in conjunction with Vineyard PD are handling the event at the Pendray when Britt will be displaying the emeralds for the first time to the Who's Who of the island. One of the more professionally attuned attendees at the event is Rebecca Lane of the Vineyard Art Museum, while reporter AJ Sharma of the Culture of India Magazine is on the island doing a story of the emeralds. One somewhat unwelcome attendee is Britt's cousin, Lloyd Prajna, who plans to contest Britt as the rightful owner, she who plans to display the emeralds by wearing the broach for a week before signing them over to the Smithsonian for the world to enjoy. Shortly after the event, Britt is attacked in her home and seriously injured, while the emeralds end up being stolen from the inn's safe. This incident follows an attempted theft of the emeralds outside the auction house when the transfer was being made. With an occasional lead from Jackie Shawl, an investigative reporter with the Vineyard Gazette who is also writing about the emeralds, Jeff, Zee and the Captain investigate the theft and assault with all of the above as possible suspects. The case takes on a new urgency when Zee has to take on her usual professional role of M.E. as one of the players is found murdered, the signs being that it was associated to the theft of the emeralds.—Huggo