Chapter 25
As reliable as ever, Verity not only arrived the next day but was earlier than expected. The morning light surrounded her as she recounted the tale her cousin had provided. Evelyn had listened in rapt attention and then hurriedly searched for Asher to share with him.
“Your grace, might I have a word?”
The voice came from behind her. Evelyn cringed when it was Asher’s mother who found her instead, in the foyer at the front of the house. She pushed her smile onto her face, hid the papers Verity had given her in the folds of her dress, and then turned around slowly.
“Of course,” she said demurely. “How are you today? And please, call me Evelyn.”
She asked the dowager duchess every time, but the older woman just smiled in that polite way of hers.
“Your grace, do you remain satisfied with our arrangement? Are there not household responsibilities that you would like to retain for yourself?”
Evelyn rubbed her forehead. This was the last thing she needed right now.
“I am happy with our arrangement, but will follow your preference,” she said.
“It was only that I heard you were to go to the country residence soon, so I thought we could discuss what will be required of you there.”
Returning to the country residence? Who had said that?
“I am unsure of what my plans are,” Evelyn said, biting her lip. It was an option, yes, but after last night, she had nearly forgotten it entirely.
“I understand how these marriages work,” the dowager duchess said in what was likely supposed to portray a kind manner. “If you ever need to discuss what it might look like, please do ask.”
That, Evelyn would most certainly never do.
“Well, I must find Asher,” she said, maintaining her forced smile, “Good day, your grace.”
With that, Evelyn turned, walking away as fast as she could without making it obvious that she was practically running.
She finally found Asher in the sitting room, and a slight thrill ran through her as she wondered whether he was waiting for her. The morning sun shone on him where he sat in the corner of the sofa, reading his newspaper, and highlighting the beautiful bone structure of his face.
She wasn’t sure that she would ever become used to it.
“Good morning,” he said, a smile lighting his lips when he saw her, and she had to fight the urge to run over and jump into his lap, to continue what had occurred between them last night.
Fortunately, she suppressed it.
“Good morning,” she said. “Verity was here.”
“I heard,” he replied, folding his newspaper and providing her with his full attention. “How was she today?”
“She was fine,” she said. “Verity is always fine.”
“Much like you.”
“I suppose,” Evelyn said, waving his words away, for she had much more important things to discuss. “She had a conversation with Lord Eastclere – her cousin.”
“Of course,” Asher said, leaning forward in interest.
“She told me something about the Paragon Diamond. Apparently, it contained a hidden chamber.”
“Within the diamond?”
“Yes. It was designed decades earlier within its setting, originally for notes regarding the diamond’s origin.”
“However…”
“However, the marquess believes that it might have later been used for other purposes, and he wonders if perhaps the reason the diamond was stolen was not for the diamond itself, but for what was hidden inside of it.”
“Which was what?”
“He didn’t know.”
“How could he not know?” Asher exclaimed. “It was in his possession.”
“She didn’t say. But she did note that only a select few knew about the compartment. Including your father and Lord Norwood, both of whom wanted the diamond.”
“Interesting,” he murmured.
“She also gave me this,” Evelyn said, pulling out the folded document from her skirts, laying it flat on the table before her.
It was a blueprint of the vault that had been sabotaged in the robbery.
“Verity said the marquess agreed we could see this. Perhaps we can determine how the vault was sabotaged.”
“We?” Asher said with a smirk. “Or you?”
Does it matter?” she asked, looking back over her shoulder at him, noting he was staring at her bent over the paper.
She took a seat on the sofa beside him, their thighs pressed against one another as they looked over the document together.
“I’ll be honest, Evelyn, I am not entirely sure what I am looking at,” Asher said.
She pulled out her notebook and set it on the table beside the blueprint. “When we were studying the vault, I took measurements. We can compare them to the original blueprint and see if there were any differences.”
“Smart,” he said, and she smiled at him before concentrating for a few minutes, the two of them sitting in focused silence.
Finally, she glanced over at him as it all began to settle into place, the puzzle pieces locking together in her mind.
“Some of the measurements do not align,” she said, pointing in front of her. “Look at the diamond’s setting. The top was already lifted so that someone could easily slip the diamond out from within.”
“Then it would look like no one had been there,” Asher murmured. “But why would it matter if they ended up taking the diamond anyway?”
“Maybe they never meant to,” Evelyn said. “Maybe they meant to remove the diamond, take out what was within, and then put the diamond back into the vault without anyone knowing what they had done. Perhaps they ran out of time to do the job as planned.”
“So then they left with the diamond and removed its contents elsewhere.”
“It’s a possibility.”
“If we can figure out why they wanted it, or what was in the diamond, we could discover who stole it.”
“Or possibly, who is trying to place the blame on us and why.”
Asher nodded.
“Your father was always interested in the diamond, was he not?” Evelyn asked, tapping a finger against her chin.
“He was.”
“Would he have any information on it?”
“If he did, it would probably be in the study,” Asher said, standing from the sofa, holding his hand out toward her.
She placed her hand in his, letting him lead her out of the room, enjoying the warm press of his palm against hers.
When he wound his fingers through hers, it felt more intimate than even coming together had been, so much so that she stopped walking.
“What is it?” he asked, looking back over his shoulder, his brows raised, those blue eyes glinting at her.
“Nothing,” she said hurriedly, pasting a smile on her face so that he couldn’t tell she was affected. She tried to walk forward again, but he tugged on her hand to stop her.
“Don’t do that,” he said with a frown.
“Do what?”
“Pretend nothing is wrong. Smile at me like you would everyone else, hiding what you’re truly feeling.”
“I don’t—”
“Evelyn. You do it all the time. I understand with others, but please don’t do it with me. I’d rather know the truth.”
He was right. And she didn’t want to lie to him, but she also had no desire to tell him exactly how she felt, only for him to kindly tell her that he didn’t want anything more from her, that they were an arrangement and nothing more.
“I just want this all to be over, is all,” she said, and he nodded, his brow furrowed, his expression grim, but he kept their hands together as they continued to his study, not releasing his grip until they were within, the door firmly shut behind them.
“Do you know where we should start?” she asked.
“I have some ideas,” he said. “I’ll show you where my father kept all of the information on important documents, as well as his ledgers for the parliamentary committee work. It has to be one of them.”
She nodded, each of them going to the sections he pointed out.
Evelyn found more parliamentary committee paperwork, which contained a great deal of information on subjects she would find interesting if she had the time to truly look through it.
She filed the information deep in the recesses of her mind, promising herself to return to them once she had more time to do so.
They worked in silence for what must have been nearly an hour before Asher finally called her name.
“I think I’ve got it,” Asher said in wonder from across the room.
“You do?”
“Yes,” he said. “Here, with all of the information on my mother’s jewels. My father bought her quite a few over the years.”
He took an entire file of papers off the shelf and placed it between them, opening it to a few pages that proved the diamond's authenticity, including its provenance.
“How did your father know so much about this?” Evelyn asked.
“I remember the diamond being displayed here when I was a child, but I don’t think it was for long,” Asher murmured. “It appears my father practically gave it to the Marquess of Eastclere – the father of the current one.”
“Why would he do that?” Evelyn asked. “It has extreme value. Were they friends?”
Asher pursed his lips. “Acquaintances. They sat on parliamentary committees together. The deeper my father delved into these investigative committees, the more secretive he became. I do recall him meeting with the former Marquess of Eastclere from time to time when I was a child.”
“So maybe Eastclere became the one man your father trusted. Perhaps he gave him the jewel in case something happened to him.”
“And the current Marquess of Eastclere never truly realized what was within – just as I didn’t.”
“Here,” Evelyn said, opening the book between them. They were standing close together on the side of the desk opposite Evelyn’s chair, studying the pages.
“Look at this,” Evelyn said. “A history of how it came from India. The customs officials it passed through, and the eventual British owner.” She looked up at him.
“The Duke of Ravenscar. It passed through the hands of East India Company officials and a few other aristocratic patrons before settling with your father.”
“Most of these families are politically well-connected,” Asher said. “I wonder…”
“That it isn’t a usual thing for a diamond of that value to change hands so many times.”
They stared at one another, coming to the realization together, as though their minds were connected in some strange way.
“It was more than a jewel,” Asher said.
“It must have contained information that was vital to the country,” Evelyn said, becoming excited now, feeling that high that always came when she was on the precipice of solving a puzzle.
“Paper can easily be destroyed. People can be bribed or killed. Institutions can even be compromised. So instead of trusting a bank, a solicitor, or even Parliament itself, evidence was hidden somewhere that no one would ever suspect.”
“But why?” Asher said. “And why would someone go to such lengths as to steal it?”
Evelyn’s excitement deflated somewhat. “There is still lots to learn. But we’ve made progress.”
“I want to show you something,” Asher said, moving toward the door, waiting for her to follow. Once again, he held his hand out to her, and she didn’t hesitate, taking it as though it was second nature.
She followed him through the house, passing a few servants, and even noting his mother in the drawing room. Evelyn noticed her look up, shock covering her face as she watched them pass hand-in-hand, but Asher didn’t stop as he retained his focus on their destination.
Finally, they came to the last place she would have imagined — the long gallery.
“What’s in here?” she asked.
“When my family owned the diamond – for a brief period — this is where they kept it,” he said. “It had a special niche in the wall. I don’t spend much time in here, but I remember as a child, we were fascinated by the gallery and would hide things in here.”
He led her down the wall, trailing his hand over it, careful not to disrupt any of the paintings that lined the room.
He stopped in front of what would have been the main focal point.
“Here,” he said, his hand coming to rest on an empty niche. “This is where it was. I always thought my parents wanted the diamond back so they could return it to this display. They never filled it with anything else.”
The display area rested at eye level, a wooden back framing it.
“What is that?” Evelyn asked, pointing to it.
“It’s just a display,” he said, but she shook her head, leaning in for a better look. While Asher stood looking above it, she was even with the opening.
“I wish I had a light,” she murmured. “But there is more here. It looks like a sliding panel.”
“A what?” he exclaimed.
“The proportions don’t match,” she said, “and look – there are subtle tool marks near the molding.”
She leaned forward, pressed the side of the wood, and smiled in satisfaction when it popped open.
Revealing a folded, yellowed piece of paper hiding underneath.