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Remember When

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Plot Summary[]

Remember When:

She's one author - with two number-one New York Times-bestselling careers. As Nora Roberts, her novels include Three Fates and Birthright. As J. D. Robb, she offers such novels as Portrait in Death. Now she unites her separate identities in a riveting two-part novel that combines edgy suspense and romantic passion - and journeys through past, present, and future.

In Part One, "Hot Rocks," Nora Roberts introduces us to Laine Tavish, known to the folks in Angel's Gap, Maryland, as the proprietor of Remember When, an antique treasures and gift shop. They have no idea that she used to be Elaine O'Hara, daughter of the notorious con man Big Jack O'Hara... or that she grew up moving from place to place, one step ahead of the law. But Laine's past has just caught up with her. Her long-lost uncle has visited her shop, leaving a cryptic warning before dying in the street, run down by a car. Soon afterward, Laine's home is ransacked. Now it's up to her, and an enigmatic stranger named Max Gannon, to find out who's chasing her, and why. The answer lies in a hidden fortune - a fortune that will change Laine's life.

In Part Two, "Big Jack", J. D. Robb takes us to New York City in 2059, and puts Detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas on the case. The treasure that Laine and Max sought has never been fully recovered. And now someone else is pursuing the missing gems... someone who's willing to kill for them. Sharp-witted and sexy, Eve is used to traveling in the shadowy corners outside the law, in a future where crime meets cutting-edge technology. She will attempt to track down the diamonds once and for all - and stop the danger and death that have surrounded them for decades.

"Big Jack":

In New York City in 2059, someone is pursuing missing gems from a decades-old heist...someone who’s willing to kill for them. Sharp-witted and sexy, Detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas is used to traveling in the shadowy corners outside the law. And in a future where crime meets cutting-edge technology, she will attempt to track down the diamonds once and for all—and stop the danger and death that has surrounded them for years.

Map[]

Please reference the Remember When Map for locations or approximate locations of sites listed here.

Timeline[]

Approximate Story Start Date: September 19, 2059[1]

NOTE: THIS TIMELINE IS FOR THE J.D. ROBB "Big Jack" PORTION OF REMEMBER WHEN ONLY!

Day 1 - Tuesday, September 19[]

Chapter 1 (17)[]

  • Samantha Gannon returns to New York after a fifteen day book tour to find her house destroyed and her friend Andrea Jacobs, who was house-sitting, dead in her bedroom.
  • Eve Dallas verifies that Andrea’s throat had been slashed and that there was no sign of struggle. She talks to the uniform who got there first, then asks him to start a neighborhood canvas. Eve runs Samantha through her moves since she entered the house, asks her about the book tour, if she has any enemies, etc.
  • She learns that Samantha’s book is about a diamond heist that took place half a century ago and brought her grandparents together. A quarter of the diamonds – worth millions of dollars – were never found. The diamonds in total were worth over twenty eight million dollars when they were last appraised in 2003.

Chapter 2 (18)[]

  • On her way home Eve decides to let Roarke help her out with the case. They discuss his day, briefly, and Peabody's promotion, then end up having sex on the stairs on their way to her office.
  • Over dinner, Eve fills Roarke in on what she knows. They agree that the killer was looking for something specific and was interrupted by Andrea, but it wasn’t a run of the mill robbery.
  • Roarke owns Starline Publishing which bought the rights to Samantha’s book. So he knows the details behind the Forty Seventh Street heist and proceeds to tell Eve:
    • There were four members of the team: one, an inside man (Jerome Myers), the others pretended to be clients or part of the investigation team. The inside man switched the diamonds and planted them into innocent items like a ceramic dog, a rag doll, etc. Each of the members picked an item containing a quarter of the take during separate meetings with employees.
    • One of the members, a man called Alex Crew, shot the inside man and took his share, thus acquiring half of the diamonds. Then he went after the other two men, Jack O’Hara and his friend, William Young. They sent their half of the stash to O’Hara’s daughter, Laine Tavish. The insurance cop, Max Gannon, Samantha’s grandfather, and Crew both found the daughter. Gannon and Tavish fell in love, they got Crew arrested and recovered his portion of the diamonds. The quarter that he stole from the inside man was never found as he died in prison very soon.
  • Eve begins a run on Chad Dix, Samantha’s ex boyfriend and finds that he has several arrests on his record for drinking and possession of illegals. He had, however, been in Rehab. She then looks up Andrea Jacobs. Meanwhile, Roarke compiles all the information on the heist.

Chapter 3 (19)[]

  • Eve and Roarke go back to the scene. He says that the house is in a safe neighborhood and if the murderer had studied the alarm in advance, he could have the doors open in under four minutes. An amateur would have taken longer. As they’re discussing the alarm, a man from across the street questions them. Eve asks him about Andrea and the day of the murder.
  • After he’s gone, Eve gets Roarke to break open the locks, which he manages in about two minutes. They try to trace the killer’s moves and imagine how Andrea was killed. They also attempt to recreate the murder with Eve standing in for Andrea.

Day 2 - Wednesday, September 20[]

  • At Cop Central, the next morning, Eve nags the ME’s office for results and then brings Peabody up to speed.
  • They head to the offices of Tarbo, Chassie, and Dix to question Chad Dix, Samantha Gannon’s ex. He gives them his alibi, which doesn’t clear him completely, for the evening in question and agrees to submit to a screening for substance abuse. He claims to have been friends with Andrea and admits to having read Samantha’s book.
  • Their next stop is Work or Play, the travel agency where Andrea worked. Everyone claims to like her and the owner of the agency agrees to do whatever she can to help them.

Chapter 4 (20)[]

  • Next, they go to speak with the manager of Maid in New York, the cleaning company Samantha employs. She, after some argument, gives them the details of the Gannon job and sees that Tina Cobb, the maid assigned to the job, has not confirmed that she finished her work at the Gannon residence the day before, or turned up for her job on that day.
  • At Tina Cobb’s residence, a man tells them that he hasn’t seen her in the last few days and directs them to the bodega across the street where her sister, Essie, works. Essie says that she hasn’t seen Tina since Saturday, that she was seeing someone called Bobby and had had a date with him Saturday night. They search the Cobb home but find nothing.
  • Eve thinks that Tina is dead. They check for recent Jane Does and come up with a young girl who was found, burnt to death, in Alphabet City. Baxter and Trueheart are handling the case.
  • At the morgue, Eve harasses ME Duluc for an update on Andrea. Then she is sent to ME Foster for information on the Jane Doe. They confirm that the victim in the morgue is Tina Cobb. Her skull was broken before she was set on fire.

Chapter 5 (21)[]

  • Eve finds Samantha Gannon and Nadine Furst waiting for her outside her office. She deals with the latter, getting rid of her, then settles down to speak with Samantha in the lounge. They discuss her book and Tina Cobb. Samantha gives Eve a list of all the people connected to the heist.
  • Eve runs some probabilities in her office and reads the sweepers’ reports of the scene.
  • Dallas, Peabody, Baxter, and Trueheart exchange notes on their cases. Nobody has ever met Tina Cobb’s boyfriend, Bobby, and Eve decides to have EDD examine the transmissions Tina received from him. They conclude that Bobby was probably the killer, that he seduced Tina for the codes to the Gannon home and then killed her to eliminate any risk. They divide the work among themselves and schedule a meeting for the next morning.
  • Eve and Peabody go back to the Cobb house to go through Tina’s belongings. They find a box in which she seems to have kept mementos from all their dates. One is a napkin from a restaurant called Ciprioni’s.

Chapter 6 (22)[]

  • Eve goes home to an empty house, as Summerset is on holiday and Roarke is running late. She works out while listening to an audio version of Samantha Gannon’s book. She works for a while in her office when Roarke comes home. While he showers, they discuss his day.
  • They go to Ciprioni’s for dinner. Eve manages to speak to Carmen, the waitress who served Tina and Bobby. She remembers him and describes him to them and agrees to speak to a police artist.
  • Focus shifts to the killer, who watches Nadine’s report and makes plans to get to know Samantha Gannon much better.

Day 3 - Thursday, September 21, 2059[]

Chapter 7 (23)

  • Roarke gives Eve the little info he had collected on the diamonds. The police and investigators had looked for Crew’s ex-wife and son, hoping that they would have the remaining diamonds, but had not been able to find them.
  • At Central, she fills Peabody and Feeney in. At the meeting, Eve asks Peabody to summarize the case, much to her shock. Baxter has found nothing new about Andrea Jacobs. Eve asks her team to find the missing ex-wife and son.
  • Eve and Peabody go to the scene of the heist and try to imagine how it was carried out.

Chapter 8 (24)[]

  • They visit Samantha Gannon at The Rembrandt. Eve is impressed by the security there until she is informed that Roarke is in the room with Samantha. He has offered Samantha, and her family, private security. She agrees.
  • Eve asks Samantha about Crew’s family and why it wasn’t included in the book. Samantha says she swore to her grandparents that she wouldn’t talk of it because the son was only a seven year old child when the heist took place. She asks her grandmother for permission.
  • Laine and Max had found Crew’s family, Judith and Westley Crew and questioned them. They thought Crew may have given his son a toy with the diamonds in them. Afterward, Judith disappeared with her son and they assumed that she was protecting him from Crew. Eve asks Roarke to find them.
  • Eve meets Dr. Mira for lunch in the Cop Central Eatery. After some small talk, they turn the discussion to the case. They thrash out the murderer’s character and then examine the possibility that he is Crew’s son.

Chapter 9 (25)[]

  • Eve stops by the lab for an update from Dickie Berenski. He tells her that traces of a sealant used on construction sites, Flame Guard, was found on Tina Cobb. Eve asks Roarke for a list of all the properties in Alphabet City that he is renovating. Peabody goes off to check on the police artist, Yancy’s progress with Carmen. Eve reports to Whitney.
  • Peabody and Yancy report to the Commander as well, bringing the artist's sketch. Yancy believes that it's not very accurate even though the witness really tried. 
  • Roarke sends Eve the list of construction sites.
  • Eve and Peabody visit the sites on the list.
  • Peabody researches the sealant.
  • The killer reflects on his position as he relaxes in his lap pool. He hasn’t been able to find Samantha Gannon and considers and rejects the alternative: going to Maryland and speaking to the older Gannons. He is tired of being the good son to his father and is more appreciative of the criminal’s blood he shares with Crew.

Chapter 10 (26)[]

  • Eve heads straight for the shower when she gets home. After, she finds Roarke and Feeney in the computer lab, where they’re making some headway in finding Judith and Westley Crew.
  • They agree to take a half hour break. Feeney heads for the pool; Roarke talks Eve into some quick sex.
  • They think that, since the killer has been put in his thirties by Carmen, he might not be Crew’s son, but another friend or relative. They also believe that he may work at, or own, or live at, a construction site.
  • Roarke offers to use the unregistered to get information on Crew’s family. Eve refuses because no one is really in any danger and she can’t justify it.

Chapter 11 (27)[]

  • They go back to working on their respective searches. McNab contacts her with the information that two of the transmissions to the Gannon residence have been traced - one to a cyber club, the other to a public phone booth. Eve tells him to go check out the club with Peabody.
  • Over dinner, Eve tries to trace the killer’s steps from the club to the Gannon home. They consider the option of baiting him.
  • Steven Whittier reflects on his life, his marriage, and his incompetent son over a cup of tea. His son, Trevor, arrives then and advises him to make a fortune by selling the story of his life, just as Samantha Gannon has. When Steve refuses, Trevor asks for details, anyway. Steve remembers that his father, Alex Crew, had come to the home where he lived with his mother. After that his mother kept changing their names and moved to different places every few years. Trevor decides to go visit his grandmother, who’s in a care facility now, the next day.
  • At about the same time, Eve and Roarke discover Steven Whittier and his building company. She decides to go meet him the next day.

Chapter 12 (28)[]

Day 4 - Friday, September 22, 2059[]

  • At a briefing in her home office, Eve informs her team about Whittier and his son and delegates jobs to each person. Roarke offers to come along with her when she interviews Whittier; she says she’ll think about it.
  • Eve goes to the construction site on Avenue B that Whittier owns. After a short search, she finds a site where a lot of blood had been spilled, and cleaned. In less than an hour, the construction crew has been replaced by cops and sweepers. They find a fingerprint that matches Tina Cobb’s.
  • Eve and Peabody go to speak with Steven Whittier. They question him about his activities on the nights of the two murders. Then she asks him about Alex Crew and the last time he saw him. Steve remembers that Crew had given him a toy bulldozer that night. He’d always kept it safe but suddenly, he can’t find it.

Chapter 13 (29)[]

  • Eve remembers that Chad Dix, Samantha’s ex, also had a collection. She thinks that Trevor has stolen the toy and sold it to him, without knowing that the diamonds were in it. She decides to visit Dix.
  • Trevor visits his grandmother in the nursing home. He tries to get her to tell him about the last time she saw Crew. She tells him about the bulldozer; he gives her a shove; she falls, hits her head and loses consciousness.

Chapter 14 (30)[]

  • Eve finds Dix’s office empty – he’s at an outside meeting – and is unable to find the bulldozer, as well.
  • Trevor has drinks with Dix. He asks him to return the bulldozer. After some negotiation, he agrees.
  • Eve gets a call from Baxter informing her that Trevor visited, and hurt, his grandmother. From the restaurant where Dix had his meeting, she learns that he left with a man whose description matches Trevor's.
  • Trevor guides a drunk Dix up to his home.
  • Eve & Peabody head to Dix's home where they are informed by the doorman that Dix and Trevor just went up.
  • She asks Roarke for the blueprints of the building and for security to shut down all the elevators. They make a plan to get the other residents out of the building. McNab is sent to the door to play messenger.

Chapter 15 (31)[]

  • Trevor plans how he is going to make Dix’s death seem like an accident. He gets him to open the display case where the bulldozer is and when he is distracted, he hits him on the head. Just then the doorbell buzzes.
  • It’s McNab pretending to deliver a parcel. Trevor tells him to leave it with the security desk.
  • Eve decides to go in. She gets Roarke to open the locks on the door and Feeney to shut down all the security cameras and emergency exits.
  • Trevor uses an unconscious Dix as a hostage but Eve distracts him by claiming that the diamonds were already out of the bulldozer and this whole setup was a plan. She shoots him, tells him what she knows about the murders and then arrests him.

Epilogue - Unknown Date[]

  • The Whittiers, the Gannons, Roarke, the entire investigation team, and Commander Whitney are gathered together. Steven Whittier breaks the bulldozer; Eve removes the diamonds from the protective padding; Roarke examines the diamonds and verifies that they are real.
  • After her press conference, Eve returns to her office to find Roarke waiting for her. He tells her that he is going to buy the diamonds for her. They walk out with plans to spend the evening together.

Character List[]

List of Main Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Secondary Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Recurring Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Minor Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Peripheral Characters Appearing or Mentioned in this Book[]

Deaths[]

Victim Cause of Death Weapon Perpetrator
Andrea Jacobs slash across throat stiletto Trevor Whittier
Tina Cobb severe trauma to head, torso, set on fire baton


Trivia[]

  • In 2010, the two parts that make up this book were released as single titles. Hot Rocks is the "Nora Roberts" single title, and Big Jack is the "J.D. Robb" single title.
  • Roarke gives Eve diamond earrings in Memory in Death for Christmas; the diamonds were from the Forty-seventh Street Heist, referenced in Big Jack.
  • Roarke gives Eve designer perfume for Valentine's day in Innocent in Death; the bottle is decorated in diamonds from the Forty-seventh Street Heist, referenced in Big Jack.

Other Covers[]

Additional covers here

BR edition cover UK edition cover German edition cover German Book Club edition cover Russian edition cover Brilliance Audio edition cover
BR edition cover UK edition cover German edition cover German Book Club edition cover Russian edition cover Brilliance Audio edition cover

Footnotes[]

  1. ↑ Remember When, Chapter 19: Eve asks Samantha Gannon's neighbor if he was around last Thursday night; Andrea's last debit transaction was at 11:45 p.m. Thursday. After that, Chad gives his whereabouts and Eve tells Peabody that Chad had the information ready even though it was six days ago. Eve asked Steven Whittier's whereabouts on September 14, meaning the book started on Tuesday, September 19. Note: this means the case overlaps with Divided in Death.

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