Mac and Danny arrived at Eddie Waddle's home, which was also a big mansion just outside the city. "Wow, I've never visited so many rich people," Danny said.

"Sometimes I wish I had my own house," Mac replied.

"Lindsay wants us to have one too someday."

Mac rang the doorbell to the house and they heard it echo through the house. "You think a snooty butler will come to the door?" Danny asked.

"Who knows?" Mac asked.

Soon, they heard someone unlocking the door and it opened. "Yes?" the woman at the door said.

Mac showed her his badge. "I'm Detective Mac Taylor," he said. "We need to talk to Eddie Waddle."

"Come right in."

Mac and Danny went into the foyer and looked around them. There was a bench in the foyer. "Sit here while I fetch Mr. Waddle," the maid said.

Mac and Danny sat down. "What is this? The waiting room?" Danny asked quietly.

"I guess," Mac replied, wishing that he had worn a tie. He felt like he was at a high society social event. Then again, he was dressed like he was always dressed when he met people. He thought he needed to think more about how he looked. He had stopped wearing a tie but maybe that was not the right thing to do. Nothing wrong with looking neat.

"You nervous?" Danny asked.

"Nervous?"

"Yeah. I guess you are. No one answers a question with a question unless they don't want to answer it."

Mac frowned and folded his arms. "I should have worn a tie," he said.

"I don't think I've ever seen you nervous about anything."

"Are you kidding? I have been nervous about plenty of things."

"Not so's anyone would know it."

Just then, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Soon, a gray-haired man who looked to be in his fifties came to the foyer. "I'm Eddie Waddle," he said in a booming voice. "You wanted to see me? Come with me."

Mac and Danny felt like they were being summoned but the followed the man outside to a patio that was shaded and had an outdoor table. "Have a seat," Waddle said as he sat down in one of the chairs.

Mac and Danny sat down, not wanting to be impolite. "Have some lemonade," Waddle said. "I promise it's not spiked."

"No thanks," Mac said. "We're here about the Faberge egg you bought at an auction about a month ago."

"What about it? I bought it legally."

"Yes, you did, but did you know the man who sold it at that auction?"

"Pierre Manicotti…no I didn't know him, but I had been to his restaurant and when I found out he had those eggs, I wanted to buy more of them. He had shown me another one but I have not heard from him again."

"Well, he's dead," Mac said.

Waddle frowned. "Dead?"

"Yes, as in, murdered."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah," Danny said, getting tired of the going back and forth. "How badly did you want those other eggs?"

Waddle stared at him. "Are you actually accusing me of murdering him?" he asked. "You must be joking. Would I risk all this just for those eggs?"

"They're worth millions," Mac said. "And I have seen plenty of rich billionaires who thought they could do anything they wanted and get away with it."

"Not this one. You don't know me, and I did not have anything to do with a murder! Yeah, I contacted Manicotti about those eggs and I inspected one of them but he never got back to me with a price." Waddle leaned on the table. "How many did he have?"

"We're not sure, but all of them were not in the collection. Did you buy another one from him?"

"No. I just told you, he never got back to me."

"Did anyone else bid on that egg when you bought it?" Danny asked.

Waddle thought a moment. "Of course, two others bid on it, but there was one who was very aggressive but I guess I went over his limit and I won out."

"You remember who that was?"

"John Gordon, you know, the big banker…he owns half of Long Island."

Mac wrote that down. "Did he ask you about it after the auction?" he asked. "Did you see him talking to Manicotti?"

"I don't think Manicotti was in the room. I think he was a little nervous about selling that and didn't want people to see him, and yes, Gordon did ask me about it after the auction. Wanted to buy it from me. I told him it wasn't for sale."

"Did he seem angry about that?"

"I don't know. Everyone acts strange at an event like that when they're dropping that much cash. He had already bought a diamond necklace and I guess he was at his limit for spending that night."

Mac thought he believed this man. He did not seem hostile in any way and did not seem like the type who would commit murder…and he was even polite to them when they were asking him these questions. "Thanks for your time," Mac said.

"You're welcome," Waddle replied. He stood up. "You can check me out if you want. You'll find out that I obtained what I have legally."

Mac stared at him a moment. "Then that would make you very unusual," he said.

"I am."

Mac and Danny headed back toward the house to leave. "You believe him?" Danny asked.

Mac shrugged. "I think I do mostly," he said. "He doesn't seem to have any hostility and doesn't really have a motive since he could afford to buy whatever he wanted."

"So, you think this John Gordon could have something to do with it?"

"Well, he is now a suspect."

They went out and got into the Avalanche. "Don't you think that he was a little too cooperative?" Danny asked.

Mac considered that. "I don't know," he said. "He's hard to figure, but I think I did believe him about the egg."

"That guy could have gotten someone to rough up Manicotti and maybe they got carried away when they couldn't get him to tell them where the treasure was."

"I don't know. A man like that can afford to hire professionals, not people who would get carried away."

"You're probably right."

Mac called Adam and told him to find everything he could on John Gordon and they would get the information after they went to visit Arnold Watts. He headed on over to Arnold Watts' house which was a Penthouse in the city. "I wonder what he pays for this," Danny said as they went into the building.

"No telling," Mac replied. "Let's just see what his opinion of Manicotti is."

They went through the trouble to get into the elevator to the Penthouse and went up there. As they left the elevator, two guards met them. "Your weapons have to stay with us," one of them said.

Mac stared at him a moment. "That's not going to happen," he informed him. "We came to talk to Arnold Watts, and he can either talk to us here, or down at the station."

"Let them in," someone said.

Mac and Danny looked around to see a man standing at the door to the Penthouse apartment. He had brown hair that was curly and looked like it had a mind of its own, and he wore glasses. "Come inside, Detectives," he said.

Mac gave the guards another withering look and then went on into the apartment. "I know what you're here about," Watts said as he closed the door.

"And what's that?" Mac asked.

"You're here about Pierre Manicotti. I heard about his murder."

"And you knew we were coming to see you?"

"I figured you would show up eventually. I'm sure you know that I bought a necklace from him at the auction and that I was interested in more of the treasure he had. I was surprised that he had the Faberge eggs."

"Did he tell you how many he had?" Mac asked.

"No, he would not be specific. He said that he had more and that he would discuss selling more to me, but he would not tell what all he had. I knew that there were more of those eggs. They were supposed to be lost."

"Well, obviously he found them somehow. We know of six now. There are two that are unaccounted for. We don't know if he had them or not."

"Will they be auctioned?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Why! I wanted those treasures! I got the necklace and was hoping to get the rest."

"You got upset because you couldn't get the rest that night? Did you meet with him later?" Mac asked.

"I met with him. He wanted to discuss a price. I wanted to pay him that night but he would not take it. He said he had to check with his resources."

"Resources? What resources?"

"I don't know. Maybe someone knew of the value of those treasures."

"Who do you ask about the value of something like that?" Danny asked.

Watts paused a moment. "I don't always ask the same person about that," he said. "There are lots of people in the city who can help with such things as that."

"So, what happened when you wanted to pay a price that night and he wouldn't have it?" Mac asked. "Did you meet him at the restaurant? Did you kill him to get what he had there to show you?"

Watts frowned and glared at Mac. "That is absurd!" he said. "Are you accusing me of murder?"

"Did you kill him for what he had?"

"I refuse to answer that!"

"Why? It only takes a simple yes or no."

"I will not answer such an absurd question."

"I don't think it's such an absurd question," Danny declared. "You shouldn't mind answering that question if you didn't do it. You think because you're wealthy that no one can suspect you of murder?"

Watts looked thoroughly angry now. "You get out of my apartment," he demanded.

"Why don't you just calm down?" Mac asked. "Next time we show up, we'll have a search warrant…and you will be going downtown with us. How would you like that?"

Watts straightened his jacket with a tug at the lapels. "I would like it if you would leave my home now," he said in a haughty way.

Mac stepped closer to him. "You can remember this…if you had anything to do with this murder, this won't be the last time you see me," he said. "And we 'will' find out."

Mac and Danny turned and left the apartment. "We should have run him in," Danny said as they were going toward the elevator.

"We don't have enough evidence to run him in," Mac replied. "We have to find something that would put him in that restaurant or that ties him to that murder, whether he paid someone to do it or whether he did it himself."

"What about guns? Maybe he has some guns registered in his name."

"Maybe he does. We should check into that and see if he has any registered that are the same caliber as what killed Manicotti and his butler and maid. Maybe he even has the bullets registered."

"That would be too easy, wouldn't it?" Danny asked.

"I would love it if it would be that easy."

"Me too, but it never is, is it?"

"Not most of the time."

They got back to the Avalanche and headed back to the lab. It was getting dark outside now and Mac wondered if they had that treasure at the lab yet. It kinda made him nervous to think of all that being there but there would be no way anyone could get in there to it…except he remembered when someone got into the lab after all those drugs. He just hoped no one was that desperate…