Gemstone Butterfly

Uncle Benedict wheeled himself to the phone, dialed a number, waited a moment, then said, “George?” He waited a bit longer, then gave the address of the apartment where Stella Lynn had once lived. “In the backyard, there’s a galvanized trash can with the number 519 on it. There’s a broken whiskey bottle inside. I want you to carefully preserve that bottle fragment, remove the dust to get fingerprints. Fix any fingerprints you find to preserve them longer. And I need you to take photos. Oh, you’d better take someone with you in case anyone asks you to identify the bottle; you’ll have a witness. Your record isn’t exactly spotless… Who is he? … Okay, he’ll do… If anyone questions you, flash your badge, say you’re a health inspector complaining about some violation… Yes, put them on the defensive… Let me know when it’s done. Goodbye.” Uncle Benedict hung up the phone and turned to Peggy: “It’s being taken care of. If you need anything else, just say so.” His eyelids drooped, and he nodded off.
Peggy took some elaborate precautions to ensure she wasn’t being followed, then retrieved the photos she had left for quick processing. Back in her apartment, she examined the nine photos carefully, feeling quite disappointed. In one photo taken by the beach, a young, handsome man in tight swim trunks with golden curly hair smiled charmingly, his physique robust, yet Peggy gained no useful information from him. There was a photo of a car parked by the beach, and two photos of Stella Lin in a swimsuit. These two photos would never pass any censor’s review anywhere at any time. Clearly, the swimsuit was cleverly assembled from three pieces of Indian tie-dye headscarves, accentuating the curves of her body. This was not swimwear meant for actual swimming. One photo showed the rear of a car with a young man pulling two small suitcases out of the trunk. The background featured some tiny wooden cabins with garages. Peggy tried to see the car’s license plate, but unfortunately, the man was standing right there, nearly obscuring all the numbers except for the last three digits, 861.