Diamond Deceit Read Online Free PDF

could have said that just to save face.
    â€œI wish he’d said something to me about the money,” Marcia said, sighing deeply. “Miss Burton still owes me a final payment, and I don’t see how I can ask her for it now.”
    Giving Marcia an apologetic smile, Nancy said, “I’m afraid I don’t know anything about how jewelry design works. You’ll have to explaineverything you did with the necklace before I can figure out who might have taken the diamonds.”
    â€œOkay,” Marcia agreed. “First Miss Burton showed me the old necklace and said she wanted a new setting for the diamonds—there were a dozen stones,” she began.
    â€œDid she leave the old necklace with you then?” Nancy asked.
    Marcia shook her head. “No, she took it back while I worked on the design for the new setting. That took about a week. After she approved the design, she brought the old necklace back and left it—that was on a Monday, I remember.”
    Nodding toward the safe, Marcia added, “The settings and diamonds were safely locked away every second I wasn’t working on the necklace. I was finished with the new necklace by Friday, and Miss Burton picked it up the same day.”
    So Marcia had had the necklace for four days, Nancy thought, doing the arithmetic in her head. Marcia—or someone else—would definitely have had the time to switch the diamonds for fakes. Glancing at the desk, Nancy noticed a pile of bills. She glimpsed a red “past due” sticker on one of them.
    If Marcia or Len needed money, that would give them an even bigger motive, Nancy reasoned. She couldn’t rule out the possibility that someone else was involved—someone like Cy Baxter.
    â€œYou’re positive the stones in the old necklace were real diamonds?” Nancy asked.
    Marcia nodded emphatically. “They were real, all right. The only difference in the necklace Miss Burton brought in and the necklace she picked up was the setting. The old necklace was heavy with gold. My design emphasized the diamonds.”
    Marcia opened a drawer in the work desk and sifted through some files. Pulling a photograph from one of the files, she held it out to Nancy.
    â€œThis is beautiful,” Nancy said. The necklace in the photo featured diamonds of different sizes set in a fanciful and elegant design. “Joanna Burton must have been very pleased with it.”
    â€œLen said she absolutely raved about it,” Marcia said proudly.
    â€œLen?” Nancy was surprised.
    Marcia nodded. “I wasn’t here when Joanna came to pick it up.” Marcia’s hands were moving constantly as she spoke, and Nancy glanced down to see what she was doing. Marcia had on a gold charm bracelet, which she turned around and around on her wrist.
    â€œWe saw charms just like those on your bracelet when we were at Cy Baxter’s shop this afternoon,” Nancy commented.
    â€œThey’re all Cy Baxter charms,” Marcia said, smiling. “Charms are his trademark. That’s why I don’t make them here. I didn’t think it would be fair to him.”
    Nancy was impressed with Marcia’s loyalty to the man. He obviously considered Marcia a traitor, though. The real question was, did Cy resent Marcia enough to set her up for diamond theft?
    â€œCy said he noticed scratches on the necklace when Joanna Burton brought it to him to be appraised,” Nancy said, watching Marcia carefully for her reaction.
    â€œScratches?” Marcia was genuinely horrified. “I’m sure there weren’t any when I left the necklace for Miss Burton.”
    â€œCould Len have made some adjustments before Joanna picked it up?” Nancy asked, glancing at all the tools lying around.
    Marcia laughed. “Len would never touch a piece of jewelry. He’s much more comfortable with a sledgehammer. It may not look hard, but setting jewels is delicate work requiring