Radiance (Diamonds of the First Water #3)

Chapter Twenty-One

R adiance hoped Edward didn’t start spouting forth a lie about her wanting him to make her a piece of jewelry and, thus, bringing her own personal geologist with her. She could tell at once that Mr. Neble was sharp as a tack, and such unnecessary deceit would be disrespectful.

“Sir, we wish to speak with you about a matter of extreme importance relating to the Queen.” She considered how best to approach the delicate matter.

“We were recently visiting Mr. Minton,” she added, seeing Edward startle out of the corner of her eye. “He was found guilty of replicating one of the Queen’s sapphires and stealing the real one. Do you know him?”

Mr. Neble hesitated. “I do not know him personally. However, I know of him. The jeweler’s community is a small one. If you were visiting with him, then you were at Newgate.”

“Indeed, we were.”

The old man nodded. “A very strange thing to think an old jeweler like him would want to risk everything on such a scurrilous endeavor.”

Mr. Neble could have been speaking about himself.

“Forgive my boldness, sir, but there was another forgery.”

Edward shook his head. Radiance shrugged one shoulder. She probably ought not to have spoken of it outright. But how else would they learn the truth?

“There was, indeed,” Mr. Neble said, and nothing more.

Edward leaned forward and said, “We won’t insult you by pretending not to know that the other piece with the fake stone, the coronet, was cleaned —”

“Originally made, occasionally cleaned, and rarely, if needed, repaired,” Mr. Neble declared, “by me!”

“And that is why we’re here,” Radiance said, keeping her tone so mild she might have been speaking about how many spoonsful of sugar were best in tea, rather than a terrible crime perpetrated against Queen Victoria.

“Did you make the sketch?” Mr. Neble asked.

“I did, sir.”

“Then you’ve seen the diamond, haven’t you?”

“I have,” she agreed.

“May I ask how? Was it at the Great Exhibition?”

“Yes, sir. I saw it there.”

He paused. “I didn’t go.”

She thought he sounded sad and wondered if his poor knees had kept him from enjoying one of the wonders of the ages. There was also the matter of the many lamps and spectacles.

“I didn’t need to go to a crowded, badly lit place like that,” Mr. Neble continued. “I’ve seen the best jewelry in Britain and made some of it myself. Probably nothing else of any interest at the so-called Crystal Palace.”

Radiance decided to leave off her usual raving over the exhibits. It would be like rubbing salt in a wound.

“We cannot help wondering how you managed to clear your name, sir,” Edward interjected, surprising Radiance with his directness, “when Mr. Minton was unsuccessful.”

“I didn’t need to clear it because I didn’t do anything wrong,” the jeweler said.

“Mr. Minton said the same thing,” Radiance told him. “Yet he was not believed.”

Mr. Neble sat up a little straighter, only long enough to sniff loudly and proclaim, “But I own the House of Neble.” Then he hunched over again with a sigh.

Edward spoke again, “May we ask how the circumstances differed?”

Mr. Neble picked up a magnifying glass and looked again at the drawing he still held. Then he set both down.

“I cannot know how they differed because I have never spoken to Mr. Minton.”

“Don’t you wish to find out who tampered with the coronet you created?” Radiance asked. “Aren’t you curious as to who took the emerald and replaced it with a tourmaline?”

The older man shrugged. “It has nothing to do with me.”

Radiance sighed. They were getting nowhere.

“Would you at least tell us whether the Lord Chamberlain brought the coronet from the Palace, or did you collect it?”

“It has been a long time since last I was at Buckingham Palace or at the royal family’s prior residence of St. James’s, although I enjoyed more than one meeting with the king there. It would be difficult now,” Mr. Neble said.

As if embarrassed by his failing legs and eyesight, he added, “Even if summoned, I wouldn’t go to the Palace like a lackey. My father was a master jeweler. I am a master jeweler. My son, had he lived, would be, too.”

“I am sorry for your loss,” Radiance said softly.

She glanced at Edward. “Who last brought the coronet to you for cleaning?” he persisted.

“A Lord Chamberlain, as you surmised.”

“There is only one, isn’t there?” Radiance asked.

Mr. Neble frowned. “There have been many,” he said. “Sometimes they retire, sometimes they die, you know. We all die.” His tone became brusque. “I have work to do, so you must leave. Unless that is, the two of you need a wedding ring.”

She shot Edward a look. What was it with these jewelers and their desire to create a ring for her nuptials? She decided to be frank.

“By the time I marry, sir, I may be skilled enough to make my own wedding ring.”

“How can that be?” Mr. Neble asked.

“I am learning from Mr. Bonwit.”

“Is that so? Bonwit? A good jeweler,” he declared.

Without another word, he donned two pairs of spectacles, one over the other. Surely there was a better way to get more magnification than that. She’d seen some impressive magnifying lenses at the exhibit.

Mr. Neble seemed unbothered by the extra weight on the bridge of his nose or around his ears. Picking up what appeared to be a blue topaz with pincers, he brought it close to his face, squinted, and shook his head.

Setting it down, he next captured a sapphire in the tiny metal points. Again bringing it close to his face, he nodded with satisfaction.

Radiance was about to rise, feeling defeated when Edward pressed their case.

“Did you perform the coronet’s last cleaning here in your workshop?”

Nearly dropping the gemstone, Mr. Neble bristled. “Of course I did it. Who else?”

“There is no need to raise your voice,” Edward said. “I am simply asking if you are the only jeweler here. Do you have apprentices? If not, how will the House of Neble continue?”

Mr. Neble started to sputter. “That is none of your business.”

“I believe we should go,” Radiance said, fearing the older man would become apoplectic should they continue to aggravate him.

“Very well. You cleaned the Queen’s coronet yourself,” Edward persisted. “Who better since you made it? And then you handed it back to the Lord Chamberlain?”

“No, to a footman,” Mr. Neble said. “I saw his livery, plain as day.”

“Thank you,” Radiance said, thinking there was nothing the poor man saw plain as day anymore. He was no help as far as she could tell. He might have seen the livery, but he probably could not make out the footman’s face, nor identify him.

Rising to her feet, she waited for Edward to do the same. Then they bid Mr. Neble good day and left. Radiance didn’t think her geologist realized how the jeweler’s pride over his failing health was trapping him in his workroom.

About to tell him her thoughts, there, on a crowded street in full daylight, Radiance was shoved sideways into the brick building. She didn’t even see the person who knocked her over. Her shoulder struck first and then the side of her head before she crumpled to the ground in pain.

When Radiance opened her eyes after having squeezed them shut against the discomfort, Edward was beside her. Crouching low, he took hold of her hand.

“Can you stand, my lady?”

“Yes.” Although her head was throbbing, and her shoulder ached.

When he helped her to her feet, she wobbled alarmingly, feeling as if the pavement were swaying like a ship’s deck. She gripped his hand more tightly until the sensation passed.

“Let’s get you into the carriage.” Like a docile lamb, she let him lead her to her father’s brougham.

After he assisted her inside, Radiance couldn’t help collapsing onto the squabs beside her maid. By the time Edward had instructed the driver to take them back to her home and climbed in, Sarah had dropped her penny dreadful onto her lap.

“Blimey!” she exclaimed with an unladylike curse.

“Don’t swear,” Radiance admonished in a soft tone.

However, her normally silent maid was in grand form.

“What monstrous misfortune has befallen m’lady?”

Edward rolled his eyes. “She sounds like a Covent Garden actress. Probably those histrionic tales she’s always reading have fueled her dramatic speech.” He leaned forward and touched Radiance’s hand. “Are you injured?”

“I think not. At least, not greatly and nothing of a permanent nature.” She touched the side of her head then looked at her glove. The barest smear of blood . “I have an abrasion on my temple.”

Instantly, Edward took her chin in hand, despite Sarah looking on. Tenderly, he turned her head before touching the scrape. Again, she saw a little blood.

“The shallowest of grazes,” he assured her. And she did, in fact, find him a reassuring person, regretting the instant he released his gentle hold of her. Then she touched her own shoulder just as gingerly.

“I was momentarily stunned,” she recalled. “Did you see him?”

“I caught a glimpse. Nothing out of the ordinary about him, a man with a black cap pulled down low and wearing a baggy brown coat. Not a gentleman, I warrant.”

“With that, I would agree,” Radiance muttered wryly.

“Are we going to Scotland Yard?” Sarah asked, her eyes like saucers.

Radiance frowned, then winced at the twinge on her temple. “Whatever for?”

“To give your statement to a sergeant or a detective,” her maid said. “Someone attacked you, m’lady, probably hoping to crush your head, shatter your skull, and let your brains ooze out. Or at least leave you senseless, maybe even dead.”

“Sarah!” Radiance admonished. “Those stories have addled your mind.”

“Not at all, m’lady. But you and Mr. Lockwood are investigating a crime, aren’t you? Just like in some of those stories. The criminal always tries to stop anyone from discovering his wicked behavior.”

Radiance locked her gaze with Edward’s golden-brown one and, at the same time, feeling the hair on the back of her neck rise. She knew he was thinking the same thing. Sarah might be right.

“We don’t even know who the forger is,” Radiance said. “My maid’s idea is absurd, isn’t it, sir?”

She wanted him to say it was a preposterous notion. Edward didn’t.

“We’ve asked questions of a number of people,” he pointed out.

She nodded slowly. “And even though we don’t know much more than we did before, the forger doesn’t know that. We might be missing something obvious.”

“I do not know if there is an obvious perpetrator,” he said, “but I am beginning to believe Mr. Neble was given favorable treatment over Mr. Minton.”

“At last!” Radiance said. “Then this wasn’t an utter waste of time, although close to it.” Not to mention having cost her a pair of soiled gloves and an unsightly scrape.

“On the contrary,” Edward said, “I think we learned a great deal.”

She was rubbing her shoulder with her other hand and paused. “How? What do you mean?”

“Mr. Neble is nearly blind, don’t you think?” he asked.

“Yes, I do,” she agreed.

“I wonder who else knows his vision is so greatly impaired?” Edward mused. “Someone might have taken advantage of his situation. After all, Neble was extremely defensive about the cleaning and who might have done it.”

“He was, but the poor man’s son died.”

“I fail to see why that fact has any relevance. Still, someone else must be doing the work for the House of Neble. Even with two pairs of spectacles, he mistook a topaz for a sapphire.”

“What if he mistook the man who collected the piece for a royal footman when he wasn’t any such person?”

Edward nodded. “I was wondering that, too, but another jeweler would still have had to make the fake stone and set it in the coronet. And the little crown made it safely back to the Palace. If a stranger had returned it, wouldn’t someone have noticed?”

They sat in silence for the remainder of the journey to her home. In a minute, they would part, and they would have no reason to be close again until the next meeting of the Koh-i-Noor committee.

If only he would invite her to a concert or perhaps to the Cremorne Gardens in Chelsea. They were all the fashion, now that Vauxhall had gained a reputation for seediness, although many still thought the latter to be greatly amusing.

“Mr. Lockwood, do you enjoy music?”

“I would be a savage if I didn’t. Why do you ask?”

“London has many good venues for listening to music, don’t you think?”

“It does,” he agreed affably, but his brain was clearly still focused upon the stolen gemstones. “Do you have any further suggestions for continuing our investigation?”

Radiance decided to try again. “We could discuss that very topic during a walk at Cremorne Gardens. Have you been there?”

He appeared surprised. “Once or twice. Hasn’t everyone? Haven’t you?”

“No,” she admitted. “Yet I should very much like to.”

“I recommend you see a balloon ascent if you go,” he said. Then he frowned. “I think our next discussion should be with the Lord Chamberlain.”

Radiance sighed. Perhaps the man simply wasn’t interested in her despite the fabulous kiss, which she had hoped to repeat at the earliest possibility. Yet it was seemingly more and more impossible.

“Yes,” she snapped. “We must go see Lord Exeter.”