Grant watched the video intently, to the point where it faded to black at the end. He asked, “Why didn’t she show this to Detective Rollins?”

“She did. She gave him a copy on a flash drive.”

“Well, the video definitely proves the existence of the diamond, assuming it’s real and not planted for some reason. The guy behind the tree, though, is very hard to spot. Maybe Larry missed it. If you hadn’t pointed it out, I’m not sure I would have seen it.”

“Did you see the uniform?”

“Beyond the hat, I couldn’t make out his clothes.”

“Looks like a Confederate uniform. Re-enactor maybe. I’m sure your team can enlarge the images.”

Detective Grand shook his head. “So we may be looking at the murderer…a few weeks later, he pulled the button for real.”

“See if your guy, Larry Rollins, spotted it. Laura Jordan told investigators that her husband had been carrying that diamond; at least it was locked in his van the day he was killed. She said the detective, maybe Larry Rollins, told her there was no physical or forensics evidence of a break-in found on or around the van. He added that the case wasn’t closed, pending autopsy results, although the investigation, thus far, has failed to produce an indication her husband’s death was anything but a tragic accident.”

“Larry’s a bull dog. Prior to what you’ve shown me, everything I’ve heard about the death pointed to a really bad accident. It looked like some Civil War re-enactor got so caught up in the movie stuff he forgot it’s all make believe and that he was supposed to be firing blanks.”

“Maybe that’s the way someone designed it to look. But now, on this video, you have physical and visible proof that Jack Jordan was being stalked by somebody.” O’Brien reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out a flash drive. “The entire video is on here. This is your copy.”

“Why is the rest of the video, the stuff Jack Jordan says about the Civil War contract and the diamond, now on YouTube? Did you do it?”

“It’s on the Internet because Laura Jordan, the widow, thought it would validate her husband’s death as a murder because of his find in the river. Pulling up a diamond in the real rough — the river mud, and putting it on camera as part of his Civil War documentary is an astonishing find. He was producing a documentary about the last days of the Civil War and how some of the Confederate brass exited in the eleventh hour and escaped to Cuba and then England.”

“But why kill the guy? If somebody broke into his van, and he wasn’t in it, why shoot him on the movie set?”

“Maybe it wasn’t just about the diamond.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe it was about something else. It could have something to do with the discovery of the contract between England and the Confederacy. What if someone didn’t want that to become public? What if they didn’t want that information to become part of Civil War history…and were willing to kill to hide the secret?”

“Who the hell would do something like that?”

“Dan, a lot of Civil War re-enactors live and breathe this stuff, the heritage and legacy of the Old South…or the North, for that matter. Maybe one of these guys wanted to keep the history books from being rewritten in terms of the Civil War and England’s collusion with the South.”

Grant looked at his watch. “How the hell did you get involved in this thing, Sean? How’d the widow, Laura Jordan, find you?”

“She didn’t. Another widow did.” O’Brien reached in his folder and removed the photo of the painting. He slid it across the table to Grant.

“Who’s that?”

“I think her first name was Angelina. And I think her husband’s name was Henry. That spot she’s standing next to is on the St, Johns River, very near the same place where you saw the sniper with the rifle following Jack Jordan.”

“Where’d you get that photo?”

“From an elderly man who believes the woman in the picture was his great, great grandmother. You see, Dan, her husband was killed, too. Just like Jack Jordan — on a battlefield. But Jack didn’t know he was fighting a war, because someone he knew, maybe trusted, killed him. And now, after lying in the river mud, the finding of the diamond and its mention in the contract between England and the CSA will open more than spirited historical debates. It’ll open old war wounds, and the battle for ownership of that diamond could cross international borders.”

Detective Grant let out a long breath. “Anything else?”

“Yes.” O’Brien slid the photo closer to Grant. “I found that spot on the river. I found it because I was trying to locate the place where the woman in the photo stood at the time of the Civil War. I’ll give you directions. In that picture, the cypress tree is small. On the video it’s huge. The spot where this woman stood is almost the same place where the stalker on the video was standing.”

Grant grinned. “So is this some kind of providence? Was a ghost from the Civil War directing you to a place where a potential shooter was tracking a man who would be shot by a Civil War rifle 160 years later? Sean, is this a crazy, ironic coincidence?”

“When it comes to crime, I never believe in anything being coincidental.”

“And I’ve never believed in ghosts.”

“No ghosts. Just an old photo. Near the tree, on the ground, you’ll find a cigar stub, some change, and a Civil War Minié ball. I’m assuming all of it fell out of the guy’s pocket.”

Grant nodded. “I know you, and I’m betting you’re also assuming the bullet is probably identical to the one that killed Jack Jordan.”

O’Brien said nothing.

“All right.” Grant pushed back his chair to stand. “I think there’s room in my caseload to work with Larry Rollins. I’ll see what I can arrange internally. If all this is what you think it is, this investigation just shot way beyond my pay grade and jurisdiction. We could be talking about intercontinental diamond theft and sales. Much as I dislike working with the feds, looks like I’ll be putting in a call to them.”

“You won’t have to. The diamond’s appearance on a viral video, coupled with the information about its history and original ownership, will cross international borders and agencies with the speed of light. You’ve got a head start on the investigation…but not for long.”

Laura Jordan poured a cup of coffee, sipped, glanced out her kitchen window and almost dropped the coffee cup. It was Saturday morning, 7:37, three days since she uploaded the video of her husband finding the diamond and talking on camera about the Civil War contract between England and the Confederacy.

And now a half dozen local and network TV news trucks were parking on the quiet residential road in front of her home, technicians fine-tuning the huge satellite dishes atop the trucks, reporters sipping coffee from paper cups, adjusting earpieces, looking at notepads. “Oh my God,” Laura whispered, clutching her worn terry cloth robe and peeking between the kitchen curtains.

There was a loud knock at her front door. She felt her heart jump, the taste of the coffee acrid and bitter in her mouth. She paced the floor for a second, trying to compose herself. Be calm…just face it. She had told Sean O’Brien that she could do it. And now the day had arrived. The news media were knocking at her door. She glanced at a family picture on the dining room wall of Jack, Paula and herself at the beach, kneeling — a sand castle in front of them.

The knock returned. Louder. Little Paula walked slowly into the kitchen, face creased from sleep. She held a stuffed giraffe to her chest, her pink pajamas with yellow ducks wrinkled and uneven from another night of tossing and turning in her bed. “Mommy, somebody’s at the door.”

“I know sweetheart. I’ll answer it. You go wash your face, and I’ll make you some pancakes.”

Paula smiled, turned and went toward the bathroom. Laura set the coffee cup on her kitchen counter, tied the robe tighter around her waist and walked down her foyer to the front door. She opened it, the morning sun cresting the tree line, shining in her face. She counted seven reporters and at least that many camera operators. They looked like a mob, some professionally dressed, the others in T-shirts and faded jeans. A tall reporter introduced himself, saying he was with CNN and added, “Mrs. Jordan, we don’t mean to intrude, however your number is unlisted. The video of your deceased husband is raising enormous speculation and questions. A few minutes ago, the video has been viewed 127-million times. We’d like to ask you a few questions.”