The Diamond Secret

Esther touched the rough dark leather, the warmth from Cullen’s body still on it. “Thank you—again.” She noticed the street sign at the corner of St. Peter and Royal. “We can part here. The shop is right up there.”

He nodded. “I’ll watch until I see you with the police. I’ll be waiting, Esther. It’s not safe for you here alone.”

He looked as if he didn’t want to leave. “Go,” she said, her heart flooding with gratitude. But her head still buzzed with questions. So she headed toward Carlisle Collectibles and braced herself for what she might find.

And she prayed Cullen would make it to the Garden District safely.

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

Esther rubbed her temple and nodded at Ted. “Other than a couple of scratches and getting hot and dirty, I’m okay. I have a headache, but I’m fine, really.”

Mr. Reynolds stood outside the office door. “Esther, I heard all the shooting. ’Bout scared the daylights outta me. I called the police right away.”

“Thank you,” she told the elderly merchant. “I’m so glad you didn’t get caught in the cross fire.” Then she glanced beyond him. “Where’s Miss Helen?”

“Oh, she went back to our shop to tell our employees what happened and caution them. She saw several strangers hanging around today.”

Esther’s heart skipped a beat on that one. “Really? Did she talk to the police?”

“She tried, but she didn’t have enough of a description to really help, I’m afraid. She wasn’t wearing her bifocals.”

Esther couldn’t stop the sigh of relief that washed over her.

Ted watched Esther with his intense brown eyes, his bi-focals and spiky dirty-blond hair intact. Ted was a worrier. He fretted about money. He paced when they didn’t get many customers. He was always rearranging things and searching out every nook and cranny to make sure they could make a good impression on their devoted, long-standing clients. But he was good at his job and he had always been devoted to Esther and her father.

He sank down in a chair across from her after Mr. Reynolds left. “Tired of all the questions from the police?”

Esther leaned back in the red leather armchair, her gaze moving over the uniformed officers roaming around the shop. “They’re doing their jobs.”

The intruders had broken most of the items along the main aisle. A few vases and knickknacks, some picture frames and lamps—some expensive and some for show. They’d overturned chairs and ripped out the stuffing, and shot open some of the cabinet locks. And they’d tried without success to break the shatter-proof glass surrounding the estate jewelry. They’d wanted something they couldn’t find in that case, however.

Cullen and that diamond, no doubt.

Thus proving what Cullen had told her. At least they had not found the safe and her secret stash of exquisite jewels. Good thing, since the Levi-Lafitte Diamond wasn’t there, either.

“They destroyed the office,” she said, knowing she sounded redundant since the desk drawers were open and gaping and most of her papers and books were tossed to the far walls. She wanted to get back to Cullen so she could get to the bottom of this mess. But sitting here, she couldn’t help but notice the broken frame that covered the only picture her father had kept of him with her mother. According to her father, Marilyn had been five months pregnant with Esther when the picture was taken.

Ted pushed at his glasses and coughed. Then he picked up the shattered picture and set it back on the desk. “A break-in. Esther, I’m so sorry you had to deal with this.”

Mr. Reynolds came back, surprising her with a bottle of water. “Here, honey. Drink this.”

Esther took the offering, glad she had people who cared about her. “Thank you.” She smiled up at both men. “I’m okay, really. We’ve been blessed. We’ve never been robbed before.”

Esther glanced out into the shop, watching as uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives went about their work and instructed the crime scene investigators. She’d gone round and round with the first officer on the scene to get Ted

and Mr. Reynolds in the barricaded front door. They couldn’t straighten things up until the crime scene people had dusted everything for prints and extracted a few bullets. Standard procedure, according to the dour officer in charge. But there wasn’t much hope of finding anything that would lead them to the men who’d done this, also according to that same officer.

Like Miss Helen, Esther hadn’t been able to give very much of a description, either. She might have to go into the station and look through mug shots. Not that that would help. Big and burly was the only way to describe those two. If they’d truly followed Cullen across the universe, they could be international criminals. And he might be, too, for that matter. But she had no idea how to explain that to the nice officers and detectives. They’d laugh if she told them about a giant ancient chocolate diamond, too.

Her father would be so disappointed in her right now. Withholding information from the police went against Carlisle standards.

“So you didn’t get a good look?” Mr. Reynolds asked. He was obviously afraid the thugs would come back to finish the job. Or maybe rob him next time.

“I don’t remember details,” she said.

Ted patted her hand. “Maybe you’ll remember something later.”

“I saw two big men dressed in black and carrying guns. But I took off before they got up close. I was running for my life so I didn’t stop to get a picture.”

“I’m sorry, Esther.” Ted plopped down on a stool near her feet, then looked up at her with those puppy-dog brown eyes. “I should have been here to protect you.”

She almost laughed, hysterically. Ted was about as puny as they came. He was a sweetheart and a devoted employee, but he had severe allergies and he was terrified of everything from spiders to shoplifters. She probably would have wound up protecting him.

“No, I’m glad you weren’t here,” she said, meaning it. “I managed to get away and that’s the important thing.”

Ted didn’t seem convinced. “I’ll go out and see if I can help with anything.” He turned to Mr. Reynolds. “Thanks for calling 911.”

Esther nodded. “Yes, thank you so much. I panicked. By the time I was safe, the sirens were already wailing.”

One of the officers approached her after Ted went out into the shop. “So you were closing up for the day, right?”

“Yes,” she said, standing to face him. “I had one late customer who wanted to look at some jewelry, but he didn’t find what he was looking for.”

That was the truth. But she couldn’t allow for any more information. Or should she give the police Cullen’s name and description and be done with it?

Her head shouted yes, but her heart screamed no.

“Did you know this customer? Is he a regular?”

“No. He was traveling through.”

The officer looked skeptical. “He could have been a front—a distraction.”

Esther thought about that, but why would Cullen need to distract her? He had a gun and so did those men. They’d fired at Cullen. Had that all been a show for her? To convince her to listen to him and trust him?

“I don’t know,” she said, being honest on that account at least.

“Did you find anything missing from the jewel cabinets?” she asked the officer instead.

“Come see for yourself,” the young officer replied. “Looks like they tried to shoot the lock, but the glass held. Must be some powerful glass.”

“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.

Cullen started running to catch up. The cab stopped at the corner of St. Peter and Royal up near the square. Cullen slapped the window next to Esther.

She glanced up in fear, followed by shock, followed by dread. He had that effect on women.

“Hi,” he said as he slid in beside her. “Long time, no see.”

She glanced at the confused cabbie. “He’s a friend. Go ahead.” Then she leaned close. “You were supposed to be at the other studio. Didn’t I give you directions?”

Cullen saw the fatigue in her eyes. She wasn’t used to dealing with the likes of him. Her innocence made him feel bad about all the secrecy and shooting. “You gave me wonderful directions,” he said, taking his hat off so he could scissor his fingers through his hair. “But I wasn’t about to leave you alone back there.”

“You’ve been—”

“Watching,” he said, the one word a whisper. “I wanted to make sure you were safe.”

“How nice of you.” She pushed at runaway strands of silky russet-and-copper tresses. “Considering that I was all set to go home to a nice bubble bath and a good cup of Earl Grey before you dashed into my shop and brought thugs with you, I’d say keeping me safe is the last thing on your mind.”

Ouch. Cullen held a hand to his heart. “Wow, I felt that arrow. Your aim is perfect.”

She lowered her voice, her eyes flashing fire. “My aim is to make you see that you are a dangerous man. I should make you get out of this cab right now, but I want answers. I wasn’t honest with the police or my assistant because I want answers, so I get first dibs on questioning you. If that diamond is out there and someone unscrupulous—besides you, of course—is after it then I have to stop them. It belongs in a museum, not in the hands of greedy people.”

Her sharp, disapproving glance told him he ranked high in that category.

Now would probably not be the best time to tell her that, well, yes, he wanted the diamond all for himself. It was worth millions. Auctioned off to the highest bidder, that little bauble could bring Cullen a fortune. And that fortune could give him endless possibilities, careerwise.

But the lovely lass sitting beside him like a stiff doll wouldn’t see things that way. He was in more trouble than he’d realized. He found a lady with a conscience. This could get messy.

“What a mess,” she said, her words eerily echoing his thoughts. “I don’t have that diamond, but thanks to you, someone thinks I might. Do you think they’ll come back?”

Cullen nodded. “If they know I’m still here, yes. I’m after the diamond. They want to get to it before me. Or rather, use me to find it.”

She slanted him a golden-eyed look. “Did you know those men were chasing you before or after you darkened my door?”

He cleared his throat and glanced at the traffic moving along St. Charles Avenue. “I might have suspected it a bit, luv.”

“You knew,” she said. “You knew and you didn’t bother to warn me at all. What kind of man are you?”

He leaned in close, his whisper partly a warning and partly a suggestion. “The kind you should never let into your shop.”

* * *

She should probably not let him into her apartment, either. Or her life. But he’d started this and she needed his help to finish it. So she turned at the French doors of the two-bedroom studio inside the grounds of the wedding-cake-white mansion that belonged to her friend Lara Barrington Kincade. Long and narrow and two-storied with a quaint little balcony off the top floor, the apartment had once been a carriage house. The workshop off the kitchen and bedroom used to house horses and carriages, and later, fancy cars. Now it was full of light and roomy enough to hold Esther’s equipment and supplies.

Until now, Esther had loved this place. She’d always felt safe here inside the massive compound. She’d never do anything to jeopardize her friendship with Lara. But bringing Cullen Murphy here might do that.

“You get one chance, Cullen. One more chance to tell me what’s going on.” She opened the door and waved him inside. “I don’t suffer fools easily. If I don’t like what I hear, I will be forced to alert the local authorities.”

Cullen looked around and smiled. “Charming.”

Esther agreed, thinking, even though his gaze swept over her rather than his surroundings, surely he was referring to the apartment. “Are we clear?”

“As clear as that exquisite Irish crystal in the hutch,” he said, pointing to a long display cabinet by the dining table.

“Good.” Esther took a calming breath. “My friend was kind enough to let me rent this for as long as I need it. I love her quirky decorating style and how the light plays through all the windows. It’s my getaway from the Quarter. It’s quiet here, especially when she’s in Europe. I’d like to keep it that way.”

He gave her a curious nod, then stood near the white leather sofa to admire an abstract painting by a local artist. “A very generous friend.”

“Yes,” she retorted, her tone brooking no argument. “Part of our agreement for me to live here and keep an eye on things was discretion, one hundred percent discretion. I aim to honor that.”

“Noble of you.” He looked bemused but didn’t press her for more details. “Friends such as you are hard to come by.”

“And people like you are hard to understand.”

“You have a dazzling wit about you, luv.”

She grinned at that. “Sit down and I’ll find us something to eat.”

“I am starving,” Cullen said. “I had a long flight and an even longer layover in Atlanta. American airports are as tedious as an ancient dig and not at all as exciting.”

Esther took that in but decided she’d drill him after they’d both had time to catch their breaths. But instead of sitting, he paced and checked, going from window to window, his actions calculated and precise. And nerve-racking.

“You think they’ll show up here?” she asked while she made turkey sandwiches and sliced fruit and cheese.

“I don’t know. No one followed the taxi as far as I could tell. But all of these windows—”

“I have a good alarm system.”

“They’d know how to disarm it.”

“Is that your way of trying to calm me down?”

“I’m being realistic. I brought this on you, Esther. So I intend to protect you. I’m sorry.”

She stopped spreading mayo and stared over the white marble counter at him. He seemed sincere, but it could be an act. “What if you were in on the whole thing?”

He glowered. “Is that what you’re asking?”

She frowned. “Is that what you’re trying to tell me? You did say you used to be a criminal.”

He shook his head. “I wasn’t in on anything. I had one purpose—to see if you had the diamond. I’m strictly legal now. I was willing to split the sale fifty-fifty, same as what I talked about with your father. But I’m not willing to see you get hurt.”

She slapped bread together and slid the plate with his sandwich toward him, purposely trying to ignore the little shiver of endearment that danced down her spine. Cullen had a way of looking at her that left her unsettled and completely confused. But he needed to explain how deeply her father had been invested in finding this diamond. “Sit down and we’ll talk.”

After pouring them both iced tea, in two vintage crystal goblets, Esther sat across from him, her fingers playing with the fringe on the bright blue place mats. “My father always wanted to find the diamond. But he was more of a dreamer than a doer, so I find it hard to believe he actually acted on his dreams. He never quite got over my mother’s death.” She shrugged, pushed at her hair. “And then, he had me to deal with, of course.”

Cullen drank down some tea then looked over at her. “But he loved you. You’ll see that when you read his letters. He always told me if anything happened to him, to make sure you got the letters back. I think it was his indirect way of having a record of his feelings. And maybe other things.” He shot her a glance that bordered on a plea.

Had her father brought Cullen here as some sort of matchmaking ploy? Or maybe so she’d have a good friend. She was alone in the world, but perfectly capable of providing for herself. She didn’t need a babysitter or a bodyguard.

But maybe her father had planned on this. Maybe he’d deliberately cultivated a relationship with a handpicked companion. After all, her father had tried hard to control her every move when she was younger.

Ridiculous. Her father wouldn’t have done anything so crazy. But he would have thought about the diamond and keeping her from danger. So…Cullen was her protector?

Double ridiculous.

“He never spoke about his feelings. He kept everything buried inside while he obsessed about other things.” The jealousy she felt at Cullen’s closeness with her father stuck in her throat, stifling her breath. She grabbed a strawberry to wash it away. “I shouldn’t resent you, but I do for some reason.”