Page 108 of Gem Warfare

“Me neither. Let’s get Laura Reynolds in here,” he said, scratching his head. “I want to know what the hell just happened. She said the ruby and all the diamonds were real.”

“She’s waiting downstairs. She’s been so excited about it and I’m sure she wouldn’t get something like this wrong,” I said, thinking about the ruby.

“That’s what I can’t figure out.” Garrett picked up the phone on the table at the side of the room. “Lieutenant Graves,” he announced, “can someone bring Laura Reynolds to Conference Room B? Yes, right away. Thanks.”

When Laura arrived within minutes, Garrett waved me to silence, instead instructing she should sit in the seat Mr. Lavelle had just vacated. “Can you look over the remaining jewels?” he asked.

“Of course! I see the emeralds and sapphires have been removed. Did Rachenstein take them?” she asked. “Gosh, I can hardly contain my excitement!”

“Yes,” I said, “but we’d like you to take another look at the remaining ones.”

“Of course! I assume there’s some question of their ownership from their own experts. I’m not sure what else I can add but I’ll do whatever I can. I’m surprised they didn’t take the ruby. I’ve been researching it and I’m convinced it’s the Queen’s Ruby too. Why didn’t they take it?” she asked as she pulled out her own magnifying lens and plucked the ruby. She looked at it, turning it over in her hand and frowned. “I don’t understand.” She glanced up. “What is this?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, playing innocent.

“This isn’t the ruby you brought to me.”

“What do you mean?” I repeated.

“Well, just that. It’s… it’s not a ruby. It looks like one but it’snot.” Laura glanced around. “Is this a joke? Are you playing a trick on me? Is there a camera in here?”

“Tell us what you see,” said Garrett.

“It’s a fake,” she said, peering at the ruby again, turning it this way and that before putting it down. “Yes, I’m sure of it. It’s fake. Take a look for yourself.”

I picked it up, turning it over in my palm but I couldn’t see a thing different from the ruby I’d handled before. It was beautiful but was it lighter? I couldn’t be sure. I passed the gem to Garrett and he did the same.

“Paste?” said Garrett as he tossed the jewel onto the depleted stack with a sigh.

“Not quite. Lab grown. It’s one of the best lab-grown jewels I’ve ever seen,” said Laura. “Expensive.”

“Not Queen’s Ruby expensive,” I said.

“No, definitely not that. A fraction of that.”

“How am I supposed to explain this to Rachenstein’s representatives? And Chief Davis? I told them it was a ruby and handed them a fake.” Garrett ran a hand over his hair and covered his mouth with his fist.

“I can’t tell you that,” said Laura. “All I know is the first ruby I examined was real. I will swear to it. There is no way I could make a mistake like that. And you said they took the other stones? It was easy to match them to Rachenstein’s collection once I knew where to look.”

“And the diamonds? Apparently, they’re mostly real but they didn’t claim them. They said they weren’t theirs,” I added.

“Decent of them. I got a call on my way here. The diamonds were stolen from a merchant that went out of business a long time ago. Insurance paid out on the theft so I imagine the insurers will want to collect them now they’ve surfaced. Wait a second… You said mostly?” Laura pushed the diamonds with her finger, then examined them one after another, pushing some outof line with her fingertip. When she finished, six gems were out of line. “These six are fakes. I know every one of them was real when you called me in.” She looked up. “How could this have happened?”

“Dammit!” snapped Garrett. “I’m going to chew the evidence sergeant out for this!”

“Did I get someone into trouble?” Laura asked.

I shook my head. “No. Trouble just walked in and helped itself,” I said, thinking back to a few days ago when Cass Temple walked out of the police station and feigned innocence.

Laura stood. “I can’t say I know what that means but I hope you get to the bottom of it. I’ve sent you an email about the diamonds and I’m happy to add that I authenticated the ruby and that it’s not the one you showed me today,” she continued. “I hope we can work together again, although under better circumstances.”

“I appreciate that. I’ll get someone to walk you out,” said Garrett. “Then I need to work out exactly what happened.”

“I think I know,” I said. “I have a theory I still need to iron out but you’re not going to like it.”

“And an arrest to make,” he added, “but I’ll like that.”

“Sounds like a busy day,” said Laura.

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