Lenora Worth - The Diamond Secret

“We have some very rare, one-of-a-kind jewels,” she replied, motioning to Ted and hoping he’d go into the storage room and check the vault behind the secret wall her father had built years ago. She discreetly pointed to the storage room door.

Ted dashed away while she talked to the police. Esther studied the three main jewel cases, each ring and brooch, each elegant necklace and sparkling bracelet with matching earrings etched in her brain. “Nothing’s missing that I can tell.”

The officers nodded, wrote in their little notebooks, then suggested she padlock the doors for the night.

Ted came back up the aisle and helped her. “Safe is intact,” he said under his breath.

One of the officers approached them. “You can call the alarm company first thing tomorrow, but for now you need to do something to protect your property.”

“We can use the hurricane shutters,” Ted suggested. “You know, we’ll put up that plywood we used when the last big one came through, on the inside of the door. Then if we tug the shutters closed and lock them. I can sleep down in the showroom.”

“No,” Esther said, startling not only Ted but a nearby officer. “I don’t think you should stay here tonight.”

“You shouldn’t stay here alone,” Mr. Reynolds said from his spot near the broken doors. He hovered, worry on his aged face. “Wanna come over to our apartment?”

Esther would have, under any other circumstances. The couple attended her church and treated her like their own daughter. She could use that kind of comfort tonight. “Thanks, but no. I’m going home. I’m exhausted.”

Esther had to get rid of the police and Ted before she could meet up with Cullen. She had to find out the whole story about this mess.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’ll stay at my own apartment tonight. Surely they won’t go there.”

“Can you call a friend?” the officer suggested.

Ted bobbed his head. “One of your church friends maybe.”

She almost laughed at the irony of that. Cullen probably hadn’t graced a church door his whole life. But her friend and absent landlord, Lara, was a devout churchgoer. She’d be safe in her studio at Lara’s private compound. Only, Lara wasn’t in the States right now. But what about Cullen Murphy? Would she be safe with him?

“I’ll be okay at my place.” She waited for the police to finish up, then turned to Ted. “Now we’ll need the hammer, some nails and that plywood. And you know I’ll need you to help me pull the storm shutters down. I always have trouble with that.”

Esther had learned years ago that keeping Ted busy was the best thing for her sanity and his. He hurried to his tasks.

“I’ll help,” Mr. Reynolds said, hobbling to catch up with Ted, his red bow tie askew.

“Do you know of anyone who’s angry with you? Or out to do you in?” the officer in charge asked, his thick New Orleans accent sliding over the quiet office.

“No, sir.”

“Have you ever seen the two men who came in here before today?”

“No, sir. Never.”

He scowled, doubt clearly written all over his face. “Think hard. You might know them and not realize it.”

Why did police officers always seem so jaded and cynical?

Maybe because, here in this city, they saw pretty much everything?

“I can assure you, I don’t know them.”

“If you remember anything else, let us know,” the officer said. Then he and his men finished up their business.

Two hours later, Esther felt guilt tickling at her conscience when she finally convinced Mr. Reynolds to go home and told Ted they’d done all they could for now. They’d cleared up some of the debris and secured the doors and rechecked the inventory. The safe hadn’t been touched.

“I rode my bike to work this morning, but maybe I’ll take a cab home,” she told Ted. At least she had her car at the carriage-house apartment.

Ted held his hands against his waist. “Want me to ride with you?”

Then she’d feel obligated to invite him in and she couldn’t do that. Not tonight. “No. I’m really tired. And you’re still sick from that cold. You need to rest, too.”

He gave her a disappointed nod. “You’ll call me if you need anything, right?”

“Of course. I promise.”

Ted found her a cab, then stood on the street corner watching as the car pulled away. He waved and she turned and waved out the back window, thankful for having someone to help her through this. Had she mentioned her late-day customer to Ted? She couldn’t remember. She’d have to tell him about Cullen sooner or later. Esther put that out of her mind, however.

Even though she was exhausted, she was eager to have a sit-down with Cullen Murphy and find out the real reason he’d disrupted her life.

Because things weren’t adding up. He’d come to the shop searching for the diamond, but he thought the diamond could possibly be buried in the swamp. He claimed he’d corresponded with her father, yet Esther had never before seen a letter come in from Cullen. Did he have a map? Had her father sent him clues? Or had her father kept things from her, maybe even a post office box?

Her father had never once mentioned he had someone else interested in this quest for the Levi-Lafitte Diamond. But then, Jefferson Carlisle hadn’t been a man of many words. He’d done his fatherly duties by teaching Esther right from wrong, reading to her from her favorite books when she was younger and spinning tales to entertain her when they were both lonely. Then he’d given her a solid art-and-history education at Tulane.

Her father had been quiet, studious and dependable. And lost in the world of antiques and rare jewels. Esther felt he would have told her of his discovery, since he did often talk about the possibility of finding the diamond. It had been a constant subject in the weeks before his death, to the point of making him ill. But he’d never once mentioned that he might have found the diamond.

What were you hiding, Father? she silently wondered. And more to the point now, what was Cullen Murphy hiding?

FOUR

Cullen watched Esther coming out the back door of the boarded-up shop, the squirrelly man who must be Ted with her. Together they worked to put a padlock on the broken door. Esther held a flashlight while Ted wrestled with the chain and lock. Cullen’s first instinct was to go and help, but he was here only to make sure Esther got safely to the Garden District.

He couldn’t leave her behind to the mercy of Charles Hogan’s dangerous men. Those men would be back. They’d been chasing Cullen for months, but he’d always managed to shake them off. Hogan fancied himself a serious collector, but the man wouldn’t know taste if it bit him in the ear. He wanted the chocolate diamond, though. That much Cullen knew. And if he knew Hogan, the man didn’t just want to show off the diamond in some glassed-in display.

Hogan ran with a nefarious crowd. If he wanted the diamond, it couldn’t be for good. Cullen had heard tales of gunrunning and illegal weapons, maybe even drug smuggling. And now he’d brought Hogan’s men right to Esther’s door. It was up to him to find that diamond before they did and to protect Esther, too. Not exactly what he’d had in mind when coming to New Orleans.

The best-laid plans…

After Esther and Skinny Ted locked everything up tight, Cullen followed them out onto the street next to the on-site studio. If she planned to walk, he’d be right behind her. If Skinny planned to tag along, Cullen would be right there behind him, too.

They talked back and forth in what looked like an argumentative way and then Ted hailed a taxi and opened the door for Esther. Ted watched until she was in the cab, then reluctantly turned and hurried in the other direction.