Radiance (Diamonds of the First Water #3)

Chapter Thirty-Four

E dward decided it was time to end this lark before someone became injured.

“Are you sure they are the ones?” he asked Radiance since he had yet to lay eyes upon the stones.

“I am certain.”

Her belief was good enough for him. Edward addressed the man who had the demeanor of being in charge of this entire operation.

“Mr. Fogg, are you? I understand the reputation of your market is most important to you.”

“Yes,” he said. “Have you been to Levy’s or Mendez’s markets? They are like flea-swaps compared to my establishment.”

“I have been to them, and you are correct. Thus, I think you would wish to know that you have a forger and a thief in your midst.”

The crowd gasped, drowning out Mr. Fogg’s expletive.

Radiance tensed beside him, but Edward thought their best chance was exposing the true criminal.

“Mr. Sully was responsible for forging and replacing two gems previously located in Queen Victoria’s royal jewelry. Show him,” he said to Radiance.

Opening her reticule, she withdrew the two stones, showing them to Mr. Fogg.

“They are not Mr. Sully’s to sell,” she said, “and the Queen has charged us with retrieving them.”

In the blink of an eye, Sully grabbed for the gems with his free hand, snatching one while sending the other one flying. Radiance was knocked to the ground in the process.

Releasing Sully, Edward reached down and pulled her up, knowing the crush of people could surge forward at any moment and injure her.

However, as soon as she was on her feet, in her most commanding tone which he’d come to admire, she ordered, “Get the jewels, Edward!”

Surprised to hear his name from her lips, regardless, he did her bidding. Leaving her with Sarah, he ran in the direction of the exit. The crowd had slowed Sully without meaning to, and Edward spotted his retreating form. Before the jeweler could reach the first of the three doors, Edward tackled him to the floor, knocking the wind out of him. The man lay momentarily stunned.

Kneeling atop him, thinking Sully might do something desperate, such as swallow the stone, Edward pulled his gun out of his pocket and pressed it to the forger’s temple.

“Put the stone down.”

The jeweler did as he was told and quickly! Tucking the sapphire and the gun away, Edward pulled Sully’s arms behind his back and looked for something to secure them.

“A heavy chain if you will,” he asked a nearby vendor. And for those who hadn’t heard the discourse at the other end of the room, Edward added, “This man is a thief.”

In the marketplace, that was anathema, and soon, he had the cooperation of those around him. Using a proffered gold chain, Edward tied Sully’s hands together. Another chain went around his feet.

Satisfied the man was incapacitated, Edward addressed the crowd.

“Will someone send for a constable?” Then he left Sully on the floor while he returned to make sure Radiance was unharmed.

In fact, she was still searching for the other jewel, which had skittered amongst the hundreds of feet.

“I have it,” called a soft voice, but it didn’t belong to Radiance.

The dark-haired woman who’d addressed Edward earlier now held it aloft. Ignoring everyone else, she approached him.

“Is this the stone you seek?”

Previously, while searching for Radiance, he hadn’t appreciated the view provided by the beauty’s low velvet neckline. But now, as she thrust herself close, it was all he could see.

However, when she offered the emerald to him, Radiance stepped to his side.

“That is the one. Thank you.” Smoothly, she relieved the woman of it and dropped it into her reticule. “I think our business is concluded here, sir, don’t you?”

She was positively sparkling with her accomplishment. In the meantime, Fogg and the man with the curly beard were having heated words, probably the former blaming the latter for allowing all this trouble into his market.

“We must wait for the police to arrive,” Edward said, but his relief at the caper’s end had him making a jest. “Unless you think we should make room for Sully in a cab and take him to jail ourselves.”

“I tell you, sir,” she began, “I almost want to take him directly to the Palace and present him to the Queen and Prince Consort ourselves.”

“I imagine you would, but you’ll get the credit. Don’t worry.” With that, he withdrew the sapphire from his pocket and gave it to her.

Radiance rolled her eyes. “ Pish! I don’t care about the recognition.” She put the gem in her reticule with the other one. “I am simply excited to see how happy Queen Victoria shall be. With all the responsibility upon her shoulders, she deserves the return of her jewels and the knowledge that the forger has been captured.”

“I agree wholeheartedly.” Ridiculously, he wanted to take Radiance into the circle of his arms. “I am beyond proud of you for having solved this crime against her.”

Radiance beamed with happiness. And then he heard the sound of rattles and running feet and knew the police had arrived.

“If I’m not mistaken,” Edward said, “Minton will be set free.”

“He must be, although how Mr. Sully got his hands on the wedding brooch at Garrard’s shop is still a mystery. I suppose he will confess everything.” Then she shook her head. “Poor Mr. Neble! What ill fortune to have hired a thief, even a talented one, to be his hidden hands.”

They walked toward the other end of the market to meet the policemen, some holding their truncheons, some their noisy rattles.

“He’s a skilled jeweler but a terrible thief. If he wanted the money, he could have stayed in the shadows and let Mendelson sell the stones for a good price.”

“He wanted me to believe he had cut them. I suppose, since he cut the fakes, he thought it nearly the same thing. Moreover, he seemed to care more about the fame I could bring him for creating a singular piece for me to wear than the money, although that was exorbitant, too.”

“He’ll have plenty of notoriety now,” Edward told her. “As for Mr. Neble, he will have to hire another pair of skilled hands.”

After they explained everything to the constable in charge, there was further delay when the gold chains binding Sully had to be switched for common steel. And then there was the moment Radiance was asked to hand over the jewels.

“I think not, sir,” she said.

“It’s highly irregular for us to let you hold on to the stolen goods,” the constable pointed out.

Radiance glanced at Edward, who nodded.

“This man, although disguised, is the eminent geologist, Mr. Lockwood. Perhaps you have heard of him?”

“I am sorry to say I have not.”

“Well, how strange,” she added, sounding affronted on Edward’s behalf.

He would have laughed if it weren’t all so serious. Moreover, his cheeks were starting to feel sore from the glue, and he wasn’t sure he could even crack a smile.

“Then perhaps you have heard of my father,” Radiance tried again. “The Earl Diamond.”

“Yes, m’lady,” the constable said. “ Him , I have heard of.”

Radiance turned to Edward. “My father is generous with his support to the city’s underprivileged and also to the policemen’s widows’ fund.”

She addressed the constable once again. “Then you must agree that these jewels are better in my safe-keeping as we are going directly to Buckingham Palace, rather than with you and the thief to Scotland Yard. Although you are welcome to send two of your men to protect us,” she added.

“Yes, m’lady.”

Thus, with the blink of the lovely lady’s eye, Edward found himself being escorted to the Palace like a dignitary with police riding on the outside, their truncheons across their knees.

“I cannot dawdle too long,” she said from the safety of the constable’s carriage.

And precisely when Edward was feeling satisfied with the day’s proceedings, thinking with the danger eradicated and the forger in custody, he might ask Radiance to take up where they’d left off, she volunteered some disturbing information.

“I am going to a dinner and dance with Lord Castille this evening. And I need time to get ready.”

Suddenly, the day had turned into a dismally disappointing affair.

Radiance and Edward had an impromptu audience with the Queen and received her sincere gratitude.

“I am sure anyone who had the opportunity would have done the same, Your Majesty,” Radiance assured Her Majesty. “And I could not have succeeded if Mr. Lockwood hadn’t been there to apprehend the thief.”

The Queen examined Edward’s oddly bearded face and smiled.

After making certain that Mr. Minton would be speedily released, she bid Edward good day on the steps of the Palace and hastened home. Actually, he had gone a little quiet from the moment she’d mentioned Lord Castille while remaining utterly polite for the rest of the time they were together. If he had shown some sign of interest in renewing their own brief entanglement, then she might have had reservations regarding continuing to keep company with the viscount.

For in truth, she still had dreams of being in Edward’s arms again.

As she changed for the evening’s event, she gave herself a stern talking to, albeit a silent one since Sarah was assisting her. She must not be unfair to Lord Castille. He was a good man and openly declared his admiration. Moreover, apart from Edward, he was the only one of the many suitors she’d had since coming out into society who interested her enough to encourage his advances.

If Edward Lockwood had never existed, she thought she would be content with John Castille. Perhaps not wholly satisfied, but enough to believe she could make a life with him. They had enjoyed a number of happy occasions, not only at balls and dinners but also at a concert, two plays, and riding in Hyde Park.

He seemed equally captivated by her and willing to be exclusive until they made a decision.

Yet that evening, on the dance floor, looking up at John, she was devastated to find herself in the same predicament as she had been weeks earlier — missing Edward dreadfully. And all because she’d spent a few hours in his company. She could not credit her own feelings that persisted in finding John lacking.

Frankly, she was being ridiculous!

Determined to overcome her own immature tendencies — for that could be the only reason to want what she could not have — Radiance tried to be extra attentive at the ball.

Nevertheless, the next day, waking up late after getting home in the wee hours, her first thoughts were of Edward and how impressed she’d been by his actions at the jewelry market.

Staring at her canopy overhead, Radiance hoped Mr. Minton, if not already free, soon would be. As for Mr. Sully, he would be jailed for a long time. If his sentence was similar to those who had attempted to assassinate their popular Queen, then he would probably be transported to Australia.

She wondered if he would remain a jeweler as he had been for —

Mr. Neble! Radiance sat upright, her heart pounding before she scurried from the bed, reached for her dressing gown, and then yanked the bellpull summoning Sarah.

The poor man would know nothing about Mr. Sully’s arrest. He would spend the day wondering where his jeweler was.

After attending to her morning ministrations, Radiance and Sarah set out for the House of Neble on Saffron Hill. She’d never told Edward or anyone about her private conversation with the elderly jeweler. Regarding Mr. Neble, she had been mulling over his offer, but she wasn’t yet ready to accept his proposal.

Regardless, she could help him with his sudden lack of a skilled pair of hands.

“Mr. Neble will see you now,” the clerk informed her minutes after she’d asked him to announce her. He didn’t even escort her up the stairs but let her make her own way, with her maid following.

A tap on the door and she was inside and seated, brimming with excitement.

Mr. Neble looked wretched. “I am in a dreadful spot, my lady. Deep in the suds. My jeweler has gone missing.”

“Yes, sir, I am aware of that, which is why I came to see you.”

“Aware of it?” he asked. Then his face lit with joy. “You have decided to come work here with me.”

“I am not ready to be your hands, sir. I would hate to disappoint you, which would surely happen as I have more to learn. I would also hate to dishonor the House of Neble.”

“ Bah! There will be nothing to dishonor. Mr. Sully, my jeweler, was a rare find. When he came in looking for work, he was already highly skilled yet desperate enough to join my firm in complete anonymity as I required.”

“I believe you can have that again, although it is not truly necessary, is it? As long as you are the director of the House of Neble, what does it matter if you don’t craft each piece yourself?”

Before Mr. Neble could protest, she added, “The jeweler Mr. Minton would be an excellent choice. He is not as young as Mr. Sully, but he is honest and extremely skilled.”

“Nonsense! He is a forger in jail.”

“No, sir. Mr. Sully was the forger. And now he is in jail.”

Mr. Neble was momentarily speechless. Then he shook his head. “I am astounded.”

In a few minutes, after she explained, he agreed to let her bring Mr. Minton to see him. She even had him half convinced to stop trying to fool people, too.

If he did, then he could once more be down in the shop chatting with customers, which he’d always enjoyed, as well as meeting with other jewelers who currently thought him a curmudgeonly hermit.

Yet he had one last concern. “Then everyone will know I am nearly blind.”

“You will be nearly blind in any case, whether people know or not, but far freer, sir.”

Letting him think on that, she and Sarah left to find the whereabouts of Mr. Minton.