After the last of the buckets of golf balls was unloaded and in MacGyver's living room, Jack drove the truck back to the rental agency. Mac weaved through the obstacle course downstairs and dove onto his couch. Grabbing the remote, he turned on his TV and pressed play on the VCR. He kicked his shoes off and pulled a throw blanket over him. As cowboys on horses raced across the plains, MacGyver dozed off into a deep sleep.
xxx
Refreshed from his much-needed sleep, Mac indulged in a full body stretch, threw the blanket off him, and stood up. Man, that was just what I needed, he thought. Refreshed, MacGyver attempted to make his way to the kitchen for a glass of juice, having forgotten about the twenty buckets of golf balls dotting his downstairs.
"Ouch!", exclaimed Mac as his toe collided into a bucket, causing its contents to spill onto the floor.
Jack had better have found a pro shop that will buy these golf balls, thought MacGyver.
Mac opened his fridge, and it was bare. Time to go food shopping. He hopped into his Jeep for a quick run to the market. Just the basics, fresh fruit, vegetables, yogurt, and tofu.
The man in the black sedan who had followed Jack and MacGyver back from the self-storage, watched and waited until Mac was out of the parking lot. He got out of his car and hurriedly walked over to the houseboat. The suspicious man was tall, in his early fifties with dark wavy hair, wearing black jeans, a black turtleneck, and a black leather jacket. He grasped the doorknob with hands wearing black leather gloves. In MacGyver's hastiness to leave, he had forgotten to lock his door. He often left his door unlocked, which led to unwanted guests. The man looked to the left and the right before he opened the door and quickly walked in, shutting the door.
xxx
As Mac turned onto the main street, he thought, "Dang, I should drop off the film with my photos of the desert geckos at the Phoenix Foundation to be developed." MacGyver turned his Jeep around and pulled back into his parking space at the marina. He walked briskly back to his houseboat.
Mac turned the doorknob and realized he had forgotten to lock the door.
"I have to stop doing that," MacGyver reminded himself.
As he pushed the door open, Mac felt a whoosh of air and the impact of a fist smack into his jaw. He opened his eyes and was able to see the man who had followed him and Jack, run out the door, almost knocking him down. Rubbing his jaw, he surveyed the room. He was not happy with what he saw.
The golf balls were still there, all right. All of the buckets were empty and the golf balls strewn all over the floor. MacGyver carefully stepped through the golf balls and grabbed from the freezer. a slushy and moldable ice pack, handmade from saltwater, that perfectly fit his aching jaw.
As steam was building up in Mac's head, Jack walked through the door.
"Amigo. Why did you dump out all the buckets?"
"Why would I dump out all these buckets? So, I could slip and fall on them? A guy came in while I went out to the store. I surprised him. He left his business card on my jaw. He must have been looking for something. Perhaps these golf balls are worth more than they appear. It looks like he didn't take any. I guess he didn't find what he was looking for," MacGyver observed.
"I've got good news. I found a pro shop that will take the golf balls off my hands. They can't tell me what they will pay me until they look at them. I returned the truck and since I came here by my motorcycle, I need you to help me load them up in your Jeep and take them over to the pro shop. It's at Pleasant Spring Golf Course, which is not too far from here," Jack beamed.
Mac knew that he should call the police, but they would probably laugh at him. Mac thought that the sooner these golf balls are gone, the sooner this nightmare will be over.
As MacGyver picked up the golf balls, some felt lighter than they should. He studied one closely.
"Jack, have you noticed that some of these golf balls are lighter in weight than others?"
Jack picked up two golf balls, one in each hand, and compared them.
"You're right. What does that mean?"
"I don't know but I know how to find out," Mac said inquisitively.
MacGyver cleared off his work bench and clamped the golf ball in question into a vice. He got out his hack saw and cut open the golf ball while Jack watched with curiosity.
The golf ball slipped open, and Mac removed it from the vice. When he separated both halves, out fell a sparkling diamond.
"I'm rich. I finally did it!", Jack exclaimed. "Forget the pro shop. We're taking these to a jeweler. Do you have another saw? We've got to free these babies."
"Hold it. If someone took the time to hide them in golf balls and then broke into my houseboat to retrieve them, there's a good chance they are stolen. We need to take these to the police," MacGyver reasoned.
"Finders, keepers. I paid for these fair and square. How much do you think they are worth?" Jack argued.
"If they are real, a pretty penny. If they are fake, nothing. I know a test we can do."
Mac got a glass and filled it with cold water. He sat down at his work bench, donning a pair of safety glasses. MacGyver motioned with his hand for Jack to stand back. Jack obliged.
Mac carefully picked up the gem with a pair of pliers with his right hand and with his other he ignited a long-handled butane lighter. Carefully, he held the gem to the flame as the second hand on his watch ticked past 40 seconds.
"If this is real, it will not shatter in the glass of water. Real diamonds have a high sensitivity to heat," MacGyver looked over at Jack, who had a puzzled look on his face.
"That means it needs to get very hot before a diamond is damaged. You see, a diamond would not be affected by heat, at least not at this degree, but a lesser stone would fracture when heated. So, when a lesser stone hits the cold water, it would fragment or shatter." Mac explained.
MacGyver dropped the gem into the glass, and it fractured into tiny pieces.
"Yikes!" Jack exclaimed as he jumped back.
"What does it mean if it explodes?" Jack hoped for the best.
"It means, better luck next time. But we'll let the Phoenix lab confirm that," Mac explained.
"If these are fakes, why would someone break in to steal them?"
"Maybe someone replaced the real diamonds with these and whoever came looking for them didn't know," MacGyver deduced.
"A double cross!" Jack exclaimed.