The Blood Diamond Read Online Free PDF Page B

about.’
    Mannering said: ‘Oh? What’s the other?’
    â€˜Mystery callers, mystery packets – there’s another in the settee.’
    â€˜So that’s it,’ Mannering said, slowly.
    â€˜Not why I’ve been unspeakable, but—’
    â€˜We’ll talk over coffee,’ Mannering said.
    He led the way into the drawing-room, the largest room in the apartment. It was a treasure-house of lovely furniture, with grey and blue decor, richness of colour and of age. Small Dutch panels, exquisitely painted, hung on the walls, each with its separate light.
    Outside, it was dark: the curtains weren’t drawn. They stood side by side, looking towards the Thames, its broad, flat bosom reflecting lights from the two bridges in sight, and from the Embankment. Heavy clouds were blowing up; the window shook in a sudden gust.
    Mannering drew the curtains.
    â€˜Well?’ asked Lorna, and sat down.
    Mannering perched on the arm of her chair.
    â€˜A further adventure in the life of a certain diamond,’ he said.
    â€˜The Adalgo,’ Lorna said, heavily.
    â€˜There is one, and only one, Adalgo. It’s now in the safe at the shop. But there are a number of replicas, or similar gems. They’ve popped up all over the world. Some are real stones, very like the Adalgo at a casual glance. Some are paste, and perfect copies. After I bought the Adalgo, and put it in the window for the first time, three separate men came to see me and told me that he had the Adalgo.’
    â€˜Oh,’ said Lorna.
    â€˜I broke the news to them. They didn’t like it, and asked me to examine their gems. Two were genuine diamonds, with slightly different measurements. The other was a paste thing, worth about thirty shillings.’ Mannering laughed. ‘I spread word among the trade that I was interested in similar gems. There may be only one Adalgo, but if I could get a collection, each diamond about the same size and quality, there would be something worth having.’
    â€˜For your own collection?’
    â€˜That’s how it started. I didn’t know what I’d let loose. Many mysterious merchants telephoned the shop, they didn’t want to see me there, so I told them to bring their stuff here. Each, of course, thought he had the Adalgo. You had one this afternoon.’
    â€˜Why didn’t you tell me?’
    Mannering said gently: ‘Fuel to the fire? By then, it was an outsize mystery. I could understand finding two or three replicas and even two real stones pretty much alike, but altogether, a dozen have turned up. Odd, isn’t it?’
    â€˜Odd! It sounds crazy!’
    â€˜It’s worse. Hold tight!’ He rested a hand on her shoulders. ‘The police have been paying some attention to Quinn’s. Tanker Tring was in the street the other week, when Flick came along to see me. Our bad luck! Tring always thinks the worst. He can’t really believe that Flick Leverson and the bold bad Baron have really retired.’
    Lorna jumped up.
    â€˜Steady,’ Mannering said.
    â€˜How can he believe you’ve stopped being the Baron? Flick visits you. Whenever you get half a chance, you fling yourself into crime. You’re a friend of thieves and fences, even when you investigate a case, you thumb your nose to the police – look at this one. It shouts crime. Have you told Bristow?’
    â€˜Why should—’
    â€˜You’ve kept it to yourself because you’ve some silly notion that you’ll find excitement in it. You laugh at me because I’ve never liked the thing, but who’s really superstitious? Don’t interrupt! You are. It’s a diamond with a history, a blood- diamond, that’s why you bought it. Isn’t it?’ She almost shouted.
    Mannering snapped his fingers.
    â€˜I’ve an idea!’
    â€˜Never mind your ideas. Isn’t that why you bought it?’
    â€˜Not in a thousand years.