Deadly Diamond

I put down my book, The Meaning of Zen, and see the cat smiling into her fur as she delicately combs it with her rough pink tongue. “Cat, I would lend you this book to study but it appears you have already read it.” She looks up and gives me her full gaze. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she purrs, “I wrote it.”

––From Miao by Dily Laing

Beachside, Florida, December 15:

Friday morning, ten days before Christmas, shoppers crowded the sidewalks in downtown Beachside, a tourist town on the east coast of Florida still in the process of renovation, the physical location not beach side, as the name implies, but about two miles inland.

Christmas decorations were up––huge wreaths and banners hanging from the art-deco style streetlights, and tiny lights wrapped around palm trees planted at equal intervals on the brick sidewalk. Some of the storefronts of the mostly art-deco style buildings decked according to the owner’s personal taste were not at all in keeping with the classy image the city wanted to portray. Tourists and locals in shorts and sandals were in the holiday spirit even though the temperature was in the eighties––not bothered by the incongruity of the frosted glass windows and the hot sun scorching their skin.

A slight-built man of average looks lingered near the entrance of Hall’s Jewelry. His pale complexion and white legs pegged him as a tourist of an undetermined age. He took a quick look up and down the street, and wiped the palms of his hands on his gray, cargo shorts before he entered.

The store was busier than usual, and that was a plus. Nevertheless, he looked a little disconcerted when he walked in and saw the security guard as none of the merchants on Ocean Street had ever hired a security guard before. His upper lip twitched––the security guard was unexpected, but the guard was old and slow; he could outrun him if necessary. He squared his shoulders, meandered to the counter displaying diamond engagement rings and waited for the wide-eyed, sales associate behind the counter to finish up with her customer.

After looking at several rings and not liking any of them, he said, “My girl is amazing … I want the ring to be exceptional….” He gave her a half-smile. “Do you have some loose diamonds you could show me? I have an idea for the setting, and perhaps that would be the best way to go.”

Vainly running her fingers through a mop of copper red hair, and avoiding eye contact with the other customers waiting for her assistance, she put away the last two rings he’d asked to see.

“As you probably know, we deal mostly in estate jewelry, so we don’t really have a large selection of loose diamonds.”

“Yes, I know that,” he said, perhaps a bit too sharply. “What you do have will be unique, I’m sure,” he added with a disarming smile.

“Please step down to the end of the counter,” and to the other customers, she said, “I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”

Although, there was nothing to be suspicious about, she located the security guard before she unlocked the bottom drawer of the glass case. She took out a tray and set it on the counter.

“We have a beautiful marquee cut, two-carat, retails at fifteen thousand,” she said as she handed him an eye loupe.

“Um…I think I’d like a traditional round stone,” and he returned the diamond to her. He selected another from the tray, pretended to drop it accidently, and replaced it with the glass one he had in his hand.

He made it a point of looking at his watch. “Hey, I didn’t realize it was so late. My girlfriend is in the shoe store down the street, and she’s going to come looking for me any minute if she doesn’t see me out there waiting for her,” he said, edging away from the counter.

“Do you live here or are you a visitor?”

“Yeah,” he said, his eyes darting about, “I live here. I’m going to have to come back another time, though. Thanks a lot for your help.”

The diamond safely in his hand, he hurried toward the exit, and paused long enough to look back and see the sales associate reach for the eye loupe.