Chapter Twelve #2
Sarah’s smile turned cool. “No, I don’t imagine you would,” she said sweetly.
“Certainly, you’ve stirred up more than enough trouble and embarrassment for your family.
” She turned to Vesper. “Perhaps Miss Duxley hasn’t told you yet, Miss Evans, but she’s rather fond of offering coach rides through the city, especially at night.
She likes offering other kinds of rides too, but I’ll let her tell you all about that. ”
Miss Duxley. Elizabeth Duxley. Bess. Understanding dawned on Vesper. This was the girl Ada had told her about earlier.
The young women standing behind Sarah tittered, and Bess turned in her chair and started blinking rapidly.
There were tears in her eyes. Anger suddenly prickled along Vesper’s skin.
She recognized the look now clouding Bess’s face.
It was the look of a girl who’d been made to feel small more than once.
Vesper didn’t know what it was like to be the subject of a local scandal like this one, but she did know what it was like to be belittled, and she did know that bullies came in all shapes and sizes.
She stood, so that her and Sarah’s eyes were level.
“Miss Levant, that’s quite a lovely necklace.” She gestured toward the choker. “I wonder, might I ask where you procured it?”
Sarah blinked several times, clearly thrown off by Vesper’s abrupt change in subject, but let her fingertips graze the necklace with obvious pleasure.
“Oh, this little thing? It was a gift from my parents, for my eighteenth birthday.” She spoke slightly louder. “It’s a red diamond actually, procured off the shores of the Calida Isles by professional deep-sea divers last summer. I’m told there’s no other gem like it in the world.”
“Really?” Vesper cocked her head. “How interesting.”
“Interesting?” A small furrow appeared in Sarah’s brow. “And why is that?”
“Oh.” Vesper waved a dismissive hand, her voice light. “Don’t mind me. I’m sure it’s nothing at all.”
“Please.” A hard glint flashed in Sarah’s blue eyes. “Do share. I insist.”
“Well, if you truly insist.” Vesper took a deep breath.
“You say your necklace is a red diamond. That’s interesting to me because, as I’m sure you already know, diamonds come in an array of colors, but red is rarest. That’s because, unlike most colored diamonds, red diamonds are formed through plastic deformation of the mineral’s atomic structure, a process that takes many millions of years. ”
Sarah’s eyes widened. The young women behind her exchanged looks of confusion.
“In fact,” Vesper went on, “red diamonds are so rare that the Gemological Institute of Victerra tracks them meticulously, and keeps an active record of how many there are in the country. There are specific tariff regulations in place that require any red diamonds brought into the country to be reported immediately. As of 1898, there are only four red diamonds in Victerra. All four are kept in museum collections, and the largest of them is only a half carat.” Vesper nodded to Sarah’s necklace.
“Now, I’m no trained gemologist, of course, but yours looks to be at least three carats.
If that’s true, your parents purchased a red diamond that is unreported, unregistered, and highly illegal.
More likely though—since the Calida Isles stopped sanctioning offshore dives for rare minerals several decades ago—it’s not a red diamond at all.
My guess is it’s something far cheaper, like garnet, or even red zircon.
” Vesper offered a small smile. “As I said, it’s a lovely necklace.
I just hope your father didn’t overpay for it. ”
Sarah’s mouth opened and closed several times, like a fish underwater. Slowly, her face reddened until it was nearly the same shade as her necklace. She shot Vesper a withering look before she stormed away, the two other young women right on her heels. When she was gone, Vesper exhaled.
“Goodness.” Bess was still sitting in her chair. “How on earth did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“That.” Bess gestured at the place where Sarah had been standing. “How did you know so much about red diamonds?”
A small smile touched Vesper’s lips. In truth, she’d once written a piece on the Gemological Institute of Victerra for the Globe.
She’d found what she’d learned in her research interesting, but never thought it would have any real-life application.
To Bess, she simply said: “I read something in the newspaper once.”
Bess’s eyes were glistening with tears. “Thank you. You were absolutely brilliant.”
Vesper started. With the exception of Tom and Chief Stettner, most people found her skill in deductive reasoning odd; men especially found it off-putting. But there was no judgment in Bess’s voice now, just unabashed admiration. She sat back down, unable to contain her smile.
“It was nothing,” she said. “I wasn’t just going to stand there and let her say those terrible things about you.”
A small smile touched Bess’s face. “Well, thank you again. I hope, someday, I can repay your kindness. That’s the second time you’ve helped me this month.”
Vesper trusted her instinct as she leaned in. “Bess, I don’t mean to pry, but that night, when I saw you for the first time in the maze, was everything all right?”
The young woman sat up. “Of course, why do you ask?”
Vesper hesitated. “It’s just that … you seemed upset, not just because you were worried about getting caught.”
“Oh.” Bess averted her gaze. “It was nothing, really. I … I was in the maze hoping to meet someone, but they never showed.” Tears filled her eyes. “If you’ll excuse me, I should go.”
“Bess—”
The young woman said nothing else as she left the medical tent as fast as she could and didn’t look back.