“Where else? A bar. I only figured out what they were up to after one of our guests came to me and said she was afraid she’d been ripped off. She’d decided to sell a watch she’d inherited. Begged me not to tell her husband because she was embarrassed. After I looked into it, we set up a sting. We got a female undercover agent to sell them a ring we’d had a certified gemologist appraise at fourteen thousand dollars. They offered her two hundred and eighty dollars. We had the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the sheriff’s office, St. Pete Police, several different agencies involved, because these other two had been working this scam all over the state.”

“There were three of them? I thought you said it was just Chuck and Rooney,” Letty said.

“They had a woman working with them. A redhead, and she was a knockout. They used her as window dressing, to gain the trust of these old ladies. Because how could a sweet-faced girl like her possibly rip them off?

“Rooney and the woman were staying right up there in unit six,” Joe went on. “Our undercover agent said she saw thousands and thousands of dollars in cash, boxes and boxes of gold and silver coins when she went to the room to sell the ring. But when the raid went down, the room had been cleaned out. Rooney and Chuck were long gone. Along with all the money and jewelry and coins. The only person arrested was their female accomplice.”

Letty felt sick. “The female accomplice was arrested? Do you remember her name?”

Joe screwed up his face as he thought about it. “Something with a T. Teresa? Or maybe Tammy?”

“What was she charged with?”

“Fraud. Her lawyer worked out some kind of deal with the district attorney’s office. I don’t even know if she did time.”

“What about the two men?”

He shrugged. “Gone. Mom had pretty much figured out that Chuck was a loser, although she didn’t know he was a criminal loser. She’d kicked him out of her apartment, but was letting him stay in that room where you’re living now, if you can believe it. I’ve got no idea what happened to Rooney.”

“Kind of a funny name, Rooney.”

“I think his first name was Declan, but everybody just called him Rooney. Even his wife.”

“Wife?” Letty said. “He was married to the female accomplice?”

“So she claimed,” Joe said.

Letty took another sip of the hard cider, but it had grown warm and now, she thought, had turned her stomach sour. She emptied the rest into the sand.

“How long ago did all this happen?” she asked.

“Let me think.” He opened the cooler and offered her another drink, but she shook her head. “No thanks.”

“Maybe five years ago?” he said finally. “None of the money or coins or jewelry was ever recovered.”