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Let me start at the beginning. There’s a woman who works here at the Met, Victoria Browning, and we’ve become really good friends. One night, two weeks ago, we were at a club, drinking entirely too many Manhattans, and she told me about the legacy surrounding the Koh-i-Noor diamond. Not the curse everyone’s heard of, no, the explanation for the curse. Get this—she told me there are three diamonds that are supposed to be married together, and when this happens, if the person holding the united stone is sick—not just of a cancer or a bad heart—he’ll be healed forever. Yes, forever.
At first I thought Victoria had downed too many drinks, but then I thought of my mother, her brain destroyed by Alzheimer’s, and I’ll admit it, I started to pay attention. A huge diamond that could make you immortal? I thought of the romance of it, the mystery, and, well, the possibility there really could be magic at work here, a sort of magic I’ve dreamed of all my life. Just imagine—three pieces of one huge stone, Nicholas, put together, and they’d heal.
Victoria then told me the Koh-i-Noor is one of the three pieces, someone in Europe has the second, and she believed a man here in New York has the third. She didn’t tell me his name.
The next day, I realized I was still hooked. I had no real hope of getting the stones together, but verifying that a man right here in New York City had one of the three—I realized I had to know. And I said why don’t we go see this man and verify if he does indeed have the second stone. Hey, maybe we could work a deal. Then maybe we get our hands on the stone in Europe, and maybe we could borrow the Koh-i-Noor.
Victoria said we might be able to get two of the stones, but the Koh-i-Noor, no way the Royal Family would ever loan it out for a mad experiment like this. But I was enthralled; I wanted to try, to be the one to bring the magic to my mother. You doubtless think I’ve lost my mind. You’re probably right. Still, Victoria stared at me like she was looking deep into my soul. She was clearly intrigued by the idea, and I knew I had to convince her to go see this man. She finally agreed. And I laughed and said it’s our own quest, Victoria, ours alone.
She didn’t tell me the man’s name until we reached the thirty-fourth floor of a huge Midtown building—Andrei Anatoly. I had no idea then that he was a Russian mobster, probably evil to the core. He let us in, and Victoria came right out with it and asked him if he had a special diamond in his possession.
Anatoly stared at her, then at me, like he was memorizing our faces, which, as it turns out, he was, and then he threw back his head and laughed and laughed. He told us he didn’t know what we were talking about, and ordered us to leave.
The next day, I was notified that two hundred thousand dollars had been wired into my account with a note that said, “Leave it alone.” I asked Victoria if she’d put the money in my account, but she said she didn’t know anything about it. She said it could be Anatoly wanting us to back off. Why would a mobster do that? I asked her, but she only shook her head. I offered to split the money with her, but she insisted I look at it like a windfall, and use it for my mother. I could tell she didn’t want to pursue this any further, either.
I think now it was Victoria who gave me the money. Why? Because she felt guilty about telling me about the diamond, and she was worried about what Anatoly might do.
I kept the money, Nicholas. Another stupidity. But when I thought of my mom and how she needed it so desperately—I needed to keep it to help her.
Even though I backed off, the next day I saw two thugs following me. I knew then Anatoly hadn’t sent the money, and I knew I was in trouble.
I met a Russian man, Vlad Kochen, in the cafeteria in the Met. He told me he saw men following me, and that he could take care of it. I felt ridiculous going to Bo with this, especially because of the money, and besides, what on earth could I say to him? So I paid Kochen to watch my back. He said to trust him, he would take care of it. Sure enough, the next day the young thugs were gone, but there was another man watching me. He was older, thin, white-haired. And there was something about him that scared me more than the young thugs. I asked Vlad about the man, but he didn’t know who he was.
To be safe, I asked Vlad to get me a pistol.
That’s all, Nicholas. What will happen now? I don’t know, but I’m going to send the money to my mother. I don’t care who sent it to me, Mom needs it.
As for Victoria, she is avoiding me. I think she’s very sorry she ever said anything to me about the three diamonds. Maybe she’s afraid, too.
I have to say life is never what you expect. All my life I wanted some magic, something that was of the unknown, the inexplicable. I laugh thinking about being careful about what you wish for—I miss you, Nicholas. I hope you are well and happy and that you haven’t strangled Penderley, or the other way around.
And the screen went blank.
89
Nicholas had to stop himself from throwing the laptop across the room. Why hadn’t she come to him sooner, called him, anything? She might not be dead.
He said, “I wondered why Lanighan wanted the Koh-i-Noor specifically. I mean, what would he do with it? Now we know. You were pretty close to the mark, Mike. He’s sick, and he wants the stones because he thinks he can put them together and heal himself. We need to call Ben and Zachery. I think it’s pretty clear now what was stolen from Anatoly’s safe yesterday.
“The white-haired man—the Ghost—he stole the third diamond out of the safe after he murdered Anatoly and his sons.”
Mike said, “Sounds right. Ben called while the video was playing. Let’s call him back.” She dialed Ben, who answered immediately.
“Finally, I’ve been waiting for you to get back to me. The NGI facial-recognition database found a match with Interpol crime scene footage from two decades ago, an attempt on François Mitterand’s life. We’ve identified a man named William Mulvaney, aka the Ghost, early sixties, six-foot-one, thin frame, white hair. We were right about all of it. He not only killed Elaine and Kochen and attacked you guys, he also killed Anatoly and his sons, but we still don’t know what he stole from the safe.”
Mike said, “I know what was in the safe.” And then she told him about Elaine’s tape, what she’d done, finishing with, “Supposedly, the three stones together can heal sickness. We t
hink Saleem Lanighan believes it, and he’s the money behind the theft and the attacks.” She paused, then said, “Ben, Elaine had nothing to do with the Koh-i-Noor theft, nothing at all. She was innocent in all of this.”
Ben was silent for a moment, then said simply, “Good. That’s good. But if Elaine wasn’t involved, why did Mulvaney feel he had to kill her?”
Nicholas said, “Because she found out about the third stone, and he couldn’t take the chance of her telling someone. Or, very possibly, because Anatoly told him to.”
Ben sighed. “So needless, all of it. You also need to know, we’ve verified that Mulvaney flew into Paris last night.”
Nicholas said slowly, “It’s all coming together. Thanks, Ben.”
A brief pause. “You guys be careful. Savich has hooked up the surveillance on Lanighan whenever you’re ready to start watching him.”
