Chapter 11
The next morning, I arrived early for my first official scheduled day to work on Evalyn’s collection.
Tool case in hand, I was promptly shown to the dining table while Jerry collected the jewelry from the safe.
Friendship was oddly quiet for a change.
Not even the children scampered about with their nanny.
I moved to the window overlooking the flower gardens that bordered the rolling green lawn of the golf course beyond it.
The McLeans’ country residence was a peaceful, beautiful spot, far enough away from the center of Washington to feel like another world.
I wondered if Evalyn knew how kind fate had to been to her: She was born into the right family, married into another well-connected family, and had everything her heart desired.
Her home was a kind of paradise, her lifestyle beyond imagination.
Had I not seen it in person, I would have never believed it could be true, that people lived the way the McLeans lived.
But then there was the excess and showmanship, which disgusted me on some level.
Still, I couldn’t lie—I was also a little envious.
Who wouldn’t want everything they’d ever desired at their fingertips?
It was the expectation of always having what they desired at a moment’s notice that irked me, and the way Evalyn never expressed true gratitude, never talked about anything of substance.
And given that she was the center of a very powerful crowd, she set the tone for the others, whether it be in thought or taste or the direction of the conversation.
She demanded without thought or care about what others wanted, and her circle of friends accepted her whims.
I wandered back to the table just as Jerry whisked into the room, carrying the tray of Evalyn’s jewelry. “Here we are, ma’am.”
As he set the collection down before me, a rush of excitement, trepidation, and curiosity coursed through me.
I’d seen her entire collection once before, but I was still impressed by the sight of it all in one place and thrilled to be the person chosen to care for it.
I opened the box in reverent silence. There were two diamond-crusted diadems, at least a dozen wide-set gold or platinum bracelets featuring a range of stones, and at least three necklaces beyond the spectacular diamond collar with large oval links that held the Star of the East. The Hope Diamond was notably absent.
Though I’d suspected Evalyn would be wearing it, I still felt the sting of disappointment.
I was hoping she’d have considered it too important not to have it evaluated to ensure the prongs were secure.
“Thank you, Jerry,” I said.
He nodded. “Of course, ma’am.” He strode to the corner of the room to give me space, but he watched me intently as I handled each piece.
I withdrew a cleaning rag, polish, and a tool kit from my satchel and placed them on the table. Untying the leather strap of my kit, I rolled open the soft pouch lined with miniature loops that held a pair of jeweler’s pliers, an awl, a magnifying glass, and several tiny brushes.
Feeling Jerry’s eyes on me, I said, “How are you today?”
“I’m doing fine, ma’am. Thank you for asking.”
His drawl was charming. I liked him, could see why Evalyn did as well.
He was a hard worker, obedient, and obviously trustworthy, or she wouldn’t have given him access to her safe.
He possessed the perfect qualities for a butler/footman, but these weren’t the reasons I liked him.
He seemed kind and stalwart, the sort of fellow you could rely on no matter what the scenario. I hoped Evalyn paid him handsomely.
“The house is so quiet today,” I said. “It’s almost alarming.”
The usual clatter of footsteps, the hum of voices, and the strains of music were absent, leaving a vacuum of deep silence in their wake.
He chuckled. “Yes, ma’am,” he said.
“The rest of the staff must be off today?”
“Some of the staff are here, ma’am. They’re busy in the kitchen, but most of us have the afternoon off today.”
The sound of rapid footsteps surprised us both, and we glanced at the door. In a flash, Evalyn’s son Vinnie shot across the room, looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was behind him. When he noticed me with his mother’s collection, he stopped, his flight forgotten, and sidled up next to me.
“What are you doing?” he asked, eyes wide with curiosity.
I smiled at the boy. “I’m cleaning your mother’s collection. I also make sure the fasteners work. She would be very sad if she lost one of her pretty stones, wouldn’t she?” I showed him the prongs and fastener on the Star of the East pendant.
He nodded. “How do you clean it?”
I showed him the solution I used for the stones and the polish for the metals along with the cloths and tiny brushes. He listened attentively, eyes wide with curiosity. He was such a darling little boy with dark hair and freckles sprayed across his nose.
“What do those do?” He pointed at the tools in my leather pouch. “There are so many!”
Jerry smiled as he watched us.
“These are jeweler’s tools,” I said, taking out each one and explaining what they did.
“Can I clean that one?” Vinnie said, pointing to the Star of the East for a second time.
“You sure can,” I replied. “Here.” I demonstrated how to scrub and polish the stone.
With pink tongue poking out between his lips, he concentrated on the task for several minutes and then presented the piece. “It’s really sparkly.”
“You did a great job,” I agreed. “Would you like to learn about new stones? There are some you can find in your backyard.”
His face lit up. “Yes!”
“Vinnie!” his nanny called him from the other room. “Your tutors will be here any minute. You need to get your things together!”
He shrugged and smiled, revealing a missing tooth, and shot off through the room, disappearing quickly from sight.
“He seems like a sweet boy,” I said.
“He’s boisterous at times, but he’s a gentle soul,” Jerry agreed. “I shouldn’t say this, but he’s the favorite. Mr. and Mrs. McLean dote on him, as do his nanny and younger brother. He’s a good-natured little fellow.”
I moved on to the next piece, an exquisite emerald ring with nearly perfect clarity.
As I checked the prongs to ensure they were tight against the gemstone, I couldn’t help but wish again that I could also work on the Hope Diamond.
Despite my growing apprehension about the gem, I wanted to touch it, to study it. Most of all, to slip it around my neck.
“Jerry?” I said.
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Did my brother polish the Hope Diamond?”
“Yes, ma’am, many times. I believe Mrs. McLean had him polish it every week.”
Somewhere in the back of my mind, an alarm bell sounded. He’d spent a lot of time with the diamond—and in the path of the curse. I also couldn’t help but wonder why Evalyn had only deigned to let me hold it one time.
“Do you believe in curses?”
His thick dark eyebrows shot up. “Do you mean the Hope Diamond, ma’am?”
I nodded. “I’ve heard a lot of stories about it.”
His face changed, and he glanced around as if looking for anyone potentially lurking around a corner. “I shouldn’t say this but yes, ma’am. It’s definitely cursed.”
Despite myself, goose bumps ran over my arms. “Why do you think so?”
“I really shouldn’t say, ma’am.”
“Of course, I understand.” I’d returned to my work for only a few minutes when Jerry approached the table and lowered his voice to a near whisper.
“If I tell you this, ma’am, please don’t say anything.” His brows were drawn together in a frown, but there was a light in his dark eyes. He positively couldn’t wait to tell me his secret.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I said. “You have my word.”
“Mrs. McLean hired an Italian immigrant named Josephina as a scullery maid, but she quit after only two weeks. She claimed she had nightmares from the first day she began working here. She also said small things had started going wrong for her. Truthfully, Josephina seemed at odds with Mrs. McLean’s demands.
One night after dinner service, Josephina disappeared and didn’t come back to work the next day.
Several days later, we heard from one of the others through the grapevine that she had fallen down a flight of stairs and broken both of her legs. ”
I was surprised by his blunt honesty. I’d expected him to skirt around the topic or dismiss the curse entirely as a silly legend without merit. But I could see the idea of a curse was all too alluring to him, and sharing it with someone interested in hearing the gossip made it all the better.
“Goodness, is she all right?” I said. And then I remembered the way Evalyn’s staff had behaved the first time I’d set foot in her home, at that first party a few weeks ago.
How they’d tended to her guests but took a wide berth around her, answering her only when she called on them directly, and after, darting away quickly as if frightened.
I recalled, too, the chauffeur’s face the day he’d seemed relieved when Evalyn had wanted to take the car out for our luncheon on her own, without him.
Perhaps it wasn’t fear of being chastised or dislike of Evalyn and her demands.
Perhaps it was fear of the diamond’s bad luck.
He shrugged. “One of the maids looked in on her, but she no longer lived in the apartment she was sharing with her family. I suppose we’ll never know.”
“Did she touch the diamond?”
He shrugged. “I never saw her touch it, but I suppose anything is possible.” He leaned closer now. “But there are others in this house who have had bad luck, too.”
“Who are the others?”
“Minnie, Mrs. McLean’s lady’s maid, contracted smallpox and nearly died.
She recovered, but her face is so scarred that Evalyn had to change her position to a kitchen maid so her guests wouldn’t be frightened by her face.
Then there was Harriet. The first month Harriet worked here, her dog was stolen and her fiancé died. ”
“Oh my goodness. How did the fiancé—”
“Freak accident. His house was struck by lightning in a storm and caught fire. The whole thing burned to the ground before the fire department could put it out.”
I looked up from the pair of ruby earrings I was cradling in the palm of my hand. “You’re kidding!”
He shook his head. “If only I were.”
He seemed encouraged by my surprise, and his stories continued to pour out of him.
All the while, my mind raged like the Potomac River swollen after a summer storm.
So many had been pulled into the Hope Diamond’s path only to be faced with ruin or worse.
And yet here I was, tempting fate. I reached for the bloodstone tucked inside my handbag and rubbed its smooth surface.
As much as I wanted to dismiss Jerry’s concerns as silly, I couldn’t let go of the idea that the curse—even if only appearing to be true through coincidence—could have been part of why Julien had died so unexpectedly and tragically. My stomach clenched at the thought.
“Has anything happened to you, Jerry?”
He shook his head. “Nothing of note, thankfully. But I must admit, I second-guess everything. Sometimes I think I should have taken a job elsewhere, with another of Mrs. McLean’s friends.
As much as Mrs. McLean would like to proclaim otherwise, I believe she, too, has bad luck. Things have…happened.”
I remembered the brief conversation I’d had with Evalyn about losing her brother and father. I wondered if there had been more unsettling events than she was willing to admit to, at least publicly. My curiosity got the better of me. “What else has happened?”
Jerry suddenly realized his error, and his face colored a deep red. “I really shouldn’t have said that. You won’t tell Mrs. McLean? I’m so grateful to have such a generous mistress, and I would hate to upset her for any reason.”
“It’s all right,” I said. “I have no intention of telling her or anyone, Jerry. I wouldn’t dream of putting your job in jeopardy.
You have my word. Besides, I know how much you mean to Evalyn.
And despite the mishaps, a curse is merely conjecture, isn’t it?
We’ll pretend as if we never spoke of it. ”
His shoulders relaxed, and a grateful smile crossed his round face. “Thank you, ma’am.”
It suddenly occurred to me that Jerry might know about Julien’s time in the McLeans’ home, too. Perhaps even his death. “Do you remember my brother?”
He nodded. “Of course, ma’am. He was a friendly young man.”
I hesitated a moment, considering what to say and how to say it. “Yes…it seems he made friends with Ned and the other men. Ned said as much to me.”
“Yes, he spent a lot of time with them at first. Less so toward the end.”
I frowned. “Did they have a falling-out of sorts?”
“I believe there was some conflict, yes. Something about a business deal?” He shook his head. “I’m not certain of what, but a couple of weeks before he died, he wasn’t coming by the house at all.”
“A business deal? How odd.” But what struck me most was the second part of what Jerry had said—Julien hadn’t been going to the McLeans’. Where had he been going?
Jerry shrugged, but I got the distinct feeling he was keeping something from me. But why? And what in the world could Julien have gotten himself into with some of the wealthiest and most connected families in the country?
“I’m afraid that’s all I know, Miss Beaumont,” he said.
“Thank you for sharing that,” I said agreeably.
But as he moved back to his post a few paces away, silence fell between us again, and my mind was a cyclone of questions, all without answers.