Page 12 of The Duke and Lady Scandal
“I know it’s madness, but I feel as though they were serious.”
Jo looked dubious, but she had her thinking face on—pursed lips, one finger tapping the edge of her chin.
“Ifone could successfully steal the jewels, and that seems an extraordinaryif, what could a thief do with such recognizable pieces? As soon as they sold them, they’d be immediately apprehended.”
“They’d break them apart,” Allie told her. “You remove the individual gems, perhaps have them cut. The sapphire in the queen’s coronation crown is over a hundred carats alone. Then you’d melt down the metals. Nothing would be sold as is, unless perhaps to a foreign head of state who would consider it a coup. Or to recoup the treasures taken from them, like the Koh-i-Noor, which I believe was added to the Tower display several years ago.” Allie realized she was rambling and looked up to find Jo watching her intently.
“Heavens, you sound as ifyou’replanning the heist.”
Allie smiled and a bit of the tension in her chest loosened. “My father dealt in gems and Mr. Gibson is an expert goldsmith. We learned about the royal jewels as children, of course.”
Rising from the armchair, Allie found she couldn’t sit still. The pressure in her chest built again, an urging, a sense that she must do something.
“I feel as if I must tell someone what I heard.”
“Can you identify any of the men?”
“I’m not certain, except perhaps by height and build. And their voices, which were quite distinct.” Though she’d seen little of the tall man’s features, Allie felt she’d know him upon seeing him again.
“If it would ease your conscience, perhaps you should.”
“Dom told me to keep out of trouble, but I seem to stumble into it by merely going for coffee.”
Jo chuckled. “You’re not embroiled yet. Tell someone and be done with it.” She frowned in contemplation. “Actually, I may know just the person you can speak to. My father’s friend, Sir Felix Haverstock, is quite high up at Scotland Yard.” She drew a pretty engraved case from the pocket of her skirt and slipped one of her calling cards free. “Tell him Lord Wellingdon’s daughter sent you.”
“And if he laughs me out of his office?”
“Then I’ll tell my father his friend treated mine poorly, and you know Papa adores you. Oh, that reminds me. Dinner on Saturday. Will you join us? Come to think of it, Haverstock will likely be there.”
“Should I wait until then?”
Jo shook her head firmly. “No, I know you, dear Alexandra. You’ll fret about this until you’ve taken action. So go and tell the man everything you can remember while it’s still fresh.”
“Duke?”
The voice of his colleague seemed to come only a moment after Drake slid his eyes closed. Hewilled it away. A few more minutes of sleep and his brain might feel less sluggish.
“Duke?” DS Ransome said more loudly, and a thread of impatience came with it.
“I’m awake, man. What is it?” Drake cracked one eye open and then the other. “Something urgent?”
It had to be. Ransome wouldn’t be rattling his door otherwise.
“A lady here to see you, guv.”
Drake frowned and stared at the sergeant as if the man had lost his mind. Their offices did not generally take walk-in visitors.
Then worry twisted his gut and he was up and out of his chair, despite his body protesting with pops and cracks.
“Is it Helen?” The clinic where his sister worked was in a dangerous part of the city, and despite her insistence that she could care for herself, he worried.
“No, never seen the young lady. Says she was sent to speak to Haverstock, but Boss isn’t in. Says she must speak to someone and wouldn’t tell me more.”
Drake let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. He wanted to tell Sergeant Ransome to send her away. He wanted to find any flat surface and sleep for even ten more minutes. But the damnable part of being a detective was a relentless curiosity.
Despite himself, he needed to solve the mystery.
“Send her in.”
