Plot

Stu goes international to fetch a black vase from duplicitous art dealer, while fending off tight-lipped tough guy Iron Man Brown. An Oklahoma oil tycoon left the seemingly worthless vessel to his English niece and nephew who hire Stu, but won't tell him why they'll pay anything to retrieve it.—David Stevens

Stuart meets with Brits Frederick Cain and his sister Venice Cain, who have been in Los Angeles so far for two days, are in town on undisclosed business and are staying at a residential hotel. Their cottage at the hotel was burglarized, and although nothing of great monetary value was stolen, they want to hire Stuart to retrieve one item that went missing: a vase. Stuart is initially hesitant to take the case because they won't disclose why they are so determined to get the vase back beyond such information, if known, potentially and drastically affecting their future, and the probability that he will find it is fairly low especially without any leads and without the vase having any real value for anyone else. All they do mention is that the vase was designed and made by their recently deceased uncle, oil man Adam Cain, who lived his entire life in Oklahoma and, due to life circumstances, had never left the state despite wanting to see the world. Shortly after accepting the case and parting company with the Cains, Stuart encounters a man who he knows is using an assumed name - John Brown - is dangerous, and wants the vase himself, he willing to pay more for it than the Cains. He only wants it for ten minutes before Stuart can hand it back over to the Cains. Stuart does not accept the deal both in his integrity and his utter contempt for Brown. Following up on a lead and on the Cains' okay, Stuart heads to the country of San Dede in South America. Stuart will find that this will be only be the first of many stops in this investigation, which takes many twists and turns he doesn't expect, some of a seemingly very precarious nature. If he is able to see the investigation to its intended conclusion, he may find that it comes full circle in more ways than one.—Huggo