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Jeweler first, then, he decided. It would be a quick distraction.
He’d dealt before with the independent jeweler downtown. Given that this was the lunch hour, he was relieved as soon as he walked in to see the owner behind the glass counter, his nearly bald head bent as he studied something in his hand through a loupe. The store was deserted, too, which was good. Tony was almost to the back before Steven Thurman looked up.
His smile seemed genuine. “Detective Navarro. Dare I hope you’re in search of an engagement ring for a beautiful lady?”
The image of a beautiful lady popped up right before Tony’s mind’s eye, and his fingers twitched at the memory of her luscious curves. Damn it. He’d never kissed a woman when he was on the job. Never even thought of kissing one…until he set eyes on Beth Marshall.
“Afraid not,” he said, also smiling, if crookedly. “I promise I won’t go anywhere else when—” if “—the time comes. Today’s business.”
“Something for me to look at?”
“Yep.” Tony pulled the sandwich bag from his pocket and set it on the glass counter.
It happened that the store’s diamond jewelry was displayed in the case right beneath. He saw immediately that the pendant and earrings were as fine, or finer, than anything Thurman’s Jewelry had for sale.
“Ah,” Thurman murmured. He produced a small, soft cloth, on which he shook out the pieces. “What do you need to know?”
“Well, first, are those diamonds? And a rough value, if you can give me that.”
It wouldn’t be the first time the jeweler had provided this service, which he never charged for. He considered helping the police to be his civic duty, he had insisted, the first time Tony had come in.
Where Tony had felt clumsy picking up anything as delicate as these pieces, Thurman’s touch was deft. He chose the pendant first, turning it over and peering through the loupe.
“The setting is platinum, as I suspected.” He flipped the pendant over, studying the stone at length through the monocular loupe which, he had once explained to Tony, offered a 10x magnification.
“It’s the standard for grading diamond clarity,” he had said absently.
Now, he made humming noises as he set aside the pendant and peered intently at each earring. At last, he put them on the cloth and looked at Tony. “If you want a thorough appraisal, I have a fellow who stops by on a regular schedule. He’ll be here next week—”
“That’s not necessary. Yet,” he amended. “The, er, owner will likely need that eventually. As I said, a rough idea of quality and value is all I need for my purposes.”
“These are very fine, as I imagine you’ve guessed. We grade diamonds by color, cut and clarity, as well as size. These are remarkably colorless—which is positive, for a diamond.”
Which meant nothing to Tony, but he nodded.
“Clarity, also excellent, although I thought I saw a tiny inclusion in this diamond.” He nudged it with his finger. “Round cut.” He paused. “I believe the earrings are two carats each, the pendant three carats. The earrings alone would sell in a retail store for a minimum of ten thousand dollars, perhaps significantly higher. The pendant, perhaps the same. And those are conservative estimates.”
Tony came close to gaping. Christine Marshall’s lover—and Tony had no doubt she’d had one—had spent upwards of twenty thousand dollars on some pretty jewelry for her? What was she supposed to do with them, when she couldn’t wear them around her husband? Or had she slipped them out of the house and put them on before she got to work, like a middle-school girl wearing clothes her mother wouldn’t allow? Well, Christine had certainly worn them when she was with her lover.
“Thank you,” he said, tucking his shock out of sight.
“Let me put these in boxes to protect them.” The jeweler disappeared in back and returned with two black velvet boxes. He gently stowed the pendant and earrings, hesitated, then put both boxes into the sandwich bag and handed it over. “Tell the owner we charge ninety dollars for a full appraisal, which is fairly standard. I might be interested in buying these myself, should he or she decide to sell.”
