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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Mystery
- Subject: Crime
- Published: 12/27/2015
Amanda Spike had known Mrs. Kempemski for about two years. Then Amanda had answered an advertisement in the local Town newspaper, asking for a young inspired person to read to an elderly lady on two afternoons a week. Amanda visited the elderly lady in a very traditional apartment on the better side of town, and read to her for a couple of hours from a whole range of literature that the old lady had selected. It turned out that the old lady had a huge repertoire of literature in her head and in her library, but could no longer read herself due to failing eyesight.
Amanda very much enjoyed reading to Mrs. Kempemski because the old lady often improved the text with witty and unusual comments. Mrs. Kempemski liked to invent new words - which were often mixtures of words from several languages. For example, mondluz was a mixture of moon and light, dialuz could be daylight or daily light. Their readings were all adventures into different worlds parallel to the one they were reading about.
Mrs. Kempemski had more or less adopted Amanda as daughter in all but legalities, because they got along so well together. Although they got to know each other well in today’s life, Amanda felt there was a long and troubled past in Mrs. Kempemski’s experience.
Amanda was very surprised when she got the letter from Mrs. Kempemski’s lawyers summoning her to an appointment in a few days in the City. The old lady had died two weeks ago, and Amanda had met many unknown persons at her funeral. Several of them had heard about Amanda and were very pleased that she was such a talented reader. Countess Kempemski’s death had been rather sudden but not totally unexpected for such a frail person. At the lawyers office following the summons to the reading of the last will and testament, Amanda found out for the first time that Mrs. Kempemski was in fact a noble Countess from a very ancient central European dynasty. The six other benefactors present were clearly all from this noble lineage or another. Baron Nongron was the executive lawyer finalizing the testament of the Countess. He summarized the sad and tragic life of the Countess and her family during more than a hundred years of persecution in several countries. It was known that their wealth had been confiscated and disbanded, but thanks to the efforts of the offices of Nongron and Pommery the massive fortune had been reassembled. The other benefactors were overwhelmed with their inheritances of property and artworks. Amanda was more than surprised when Baron Nongron read out that the Countess had left to Amanda her Daily Moons. The others in the room were perplexed but Amanda translated to herself the Countess’s personal vocabulary and was shocked to realize that she had been left the Kempemski Diamonds. The Countess had written that as her real daughter had died, she regarded Amanda as her successor and wanted to give her the famous diamonds.
Although quite shocked, Amanda was not speechless. She was very pleased to be accepted into the family circles by the other relatives. Baron Nongron suggested that because the diamonds were so rare perhaps Amanda would agree to have copies made – to wear on family occasions while the real things remained in a safe vault. The Baron recommended the jewellers Spalt and Kluft to do this work – as they were simply the best in the art of diamond cleavage. The diamonds were duly delivered to the secure workshops of Spalt and Kluft – buildings which did not look anything like one would expect for such work – for this way they kept their secrecy guarded and the wares protected.
Amanda was just about to go to an appointment when she heard on the radio, ‘Today a high security van was hijacked in the middle of the City. It is thought that very valuable collections of jewels were stolen. Most of the hijackers escaped with the stolen goods but the driver of one get-away car did not get away and is helping police with their enquiries.’
Soon after that Amanda received a call on her mobile from the security manager of Spalt and Kluft telling her that indeed her jewels were among the stolen, but luckily she could be compensated from the company’s theft-transit insurance. In any case, Amanda could at anytime enjoy the copies -- which were safe at Spalt and Kluft, it was only the originals that had been stolen from the transporter! Amanda had of course not thought about insuring the Kempemski Diamonds herself – as she had just become their legal owner. But on reflection she though that she would rather inherit the Countess’s Daily Moons, and not a large sum of equivalent money from an insurance company. Amanda was a little despondent as she arrived for her appointment with Jeremy Bard at their favorite coffee house in the City.
“You look rather gloomy today Amanda?” asked Jeremy, “something unexpected happened?”
“Well yes Jeremy, I have just been robbed of something extremely valuable that I hardly ever owned – and certainly did little to earn,” replied Amanda. She outlined to Jeremy her relationship with Mrs. Kempemski, the inheritance, and the making of the copies of the Daily Moons.
“Wow,” said Jeremy,” I heard that the police had caught one of the band – I will try to find out what they found out and meet you this evening to discuss events – if you wish Amanda?”
That evening in a small restaurant around the corner, Jeremy outlined his findings to Amanda, “It turns out from the confessions of the caught driver that the robbery had been planned for quite some time, so it could be an accident that the Kempemski diamonds were among the loot. The driver had let it slip that ORGANIZED CRIME was behind the heist and they have plans to auction the haul through a plunder-washing operation being organized by BENEFACTORS OF ORGANIZED CRIME.”
“Isn’t Harald Grimes behind the BENEFACTORS OF ORGANIZED CRIME?” asked Amanda of Jeremy.
“Yes it is rumored that Grimes is always trying to move up the social status ladder to higher longer-lasting levels by suddenly being a major benefactor for charitable causes and organizations. He is being invited more and more to elite events among the rich, famous, fashionable, and established persons who run our modern day society. No one seems to be able to trace down Grimes’ past, but the absence of any detail about Grimes in all of the society records is not very reassuring for these elite societies who rely upon written historical record to establish success and worthiness. Grimes has always countered this by saying that the records of his family have been destroyed by fire and war over several centuries,” replied Jeremy. “Furthermore, it so happens that Grimes has just approached Crosby’s auction house with last-minute additions to sale items for next week’s quarterly jewel auction in London,” Jeremy added.
“Well, well,” muttered Amanda, ”a plan is forming in my head about what to do here. Are you interested in a bit of action relating to these events?” asked Amanda of Jeremy.
“Of course Amanda, we always have great fun following up your schemes. As it happens, I can shift my schedule around a bit for the next week to join you,” replied Jeremy.
Jeremy and Amanda both had very extensive and trusted cooperation with Crosby’s. Jeremy — as antique expert, and Amanda — as art expert, were both frequently consulted on matters of great value and importance for cultural heritage. They met the following evening after collecting much information about the stolen jewels, the upcoming auction, and the world surrounding Harald Grimes.
“It seems that even you have contacts within the BENEFACTORS OF ORGANIZED CRIME, Jeremy,” commented Amanda. “Well yes, I do know many people in many places who are happy to repay old favors with the hope of new favors coming their way. It does appear that Grimes did not know the Kempemski diamonds were in the transporter robbed in the heist, but that he now feels that they will certainly set the pace at the auction of jewels. He seems to want to promise the proceeds from the sale of these and the other jewels to two charitable organizations — which have been newly chartered and no one seems to know much about. My contacts are checking out further these two new charities. It also seems that he did not know that copies were made of the Daily Moons,” finalized Jeremy.
“The auction is next Wednesday and Grimes plans to deposit the jewels at Crosby’s only on the Tuesday afternoon. My plan calls for me to act on Tuesday early evening. Can we meet afterwards, for dinner?” asked Amanda of Jeremy. “But first can I ask you to call Roger Poge at exactly 17.45 on Tuesday afternoon, and please use his VIP business number,” finished Amanda, whilst giving Jeremy the said phone number.
Amanda had arranged for her visit to Crosby’s for late Tuesday afternoon. She had been asked by their Art Experts Department to comment on some etchings planned for auction at next months Graphics Sale. As she finished her consultation around 17.20, she happened to run into Roger Poge in the corridor from Arts to Jewels.
“Well hello Roger, what brings you into the Arts Department?” asked Amanda.
“Just packing up for the afternoon Amanda, in preparation for the great Jewels Sale tomorrow?” replied Roger, very pleased to see the beautiful Amanda.
“Anything exciting up for auction then Roger?” asked Amanda casually.
“Well actually yes,” replied Roger, clearly excited by the prospect.
“What is making you so excited Roger?” asked Amanda still casually.
“A surprise item has been brought in?” whispered Roger.
“Oh yes, what is that?” asked Amanda also in a whisper.
“Oh, can’t tell, too confidential,” continued the whispering Roger.
“Oh OK then, if you are too private I won’t keep you further,” countered Amanda.
“Oh sorry, didn’t mean to be exclusive, but it is really hush hush,” whispered Roger.
“OK then, don’t tell me about it,” joked Amanda.
He was clearly bursting with the urge to tell the whole story.
“Well look, it would be easier if I showed you,” gulped Roger.
Amanda couldn’t believe her ears. This was exactly where she was trying to steer the conversation and it had happened anyway thanks to the bursting Roger. They went down into the vaults. This was perfectly in order as Amanda had Vault Clearance anyway for her work in the Arts Department. Roger coded them into the inner area and unlocked the last doors with his own set of keys. He finally opened a strong room box lined with velvet and produced – the Kempemski diamonds.
It was exactly 17.45 and his phone rang.
“Damn they’ve installed a VIP line right down to the vault, I had better answer,” muttered Roger to Amanda.
”Hello Roger Poge here, what can I do for you?” Roger spoke into his phone and strolled slowly out of the inner vault as he became more and more absorbed in his conversation.
Amanda was left alone gazing at the Kempemski diamonds. As soon as she felt she was unobserved she carried out her plan, and simply substituted the copies from Spalt and Kluft that she had been carrying in her jacket inner pocket, for the real Daily Moons. She had endured bouts of conscience many times when rehearsing this scene in her apartment, and reached a state of mind that she was not committing a serious crime by replacing stolen goods that were actually hers with replicas that even some experts could not distinguish. Moreover, she said to herself that it was only a temporary replacement, as the Daily Moons would be shown to the public the next day.
“Just some buyer wanting further details about the auction tomorrow,” commented Roger as he returned from his phone call. He glanced at the diamonds in their velvet enclosure and closed the safe deposit box, then started to close up the inner vault. Amanda followed timidly beside him and they went slowly back up to the offices, chatting about the weather. They parted with promises to meet for a drink next week.
Then Amanda met Jeremy for dinner.
“What was all that about earlier? Why did I need to call Roger at exactly 17.45 pretending to be a buyer?” asked Jeremy, sitting excitedly on the front of his seat.
“To cut a long story short, I have just replaced the stolen original diamonds in the vaults of Crosby’s with the copies of the Daily Moons,” breathed Amanda in a quiet but relieved voice. “The originals are now in my inside pocket,” continued Amanda. Jeremy was almost knocked over by this wild statement but immediately saw the purpose of Amanda’s plan.
Amanda added, “I had a large battle with my conscience about my plan before I could convince myself that borrowing my own goods was not a major crime.”
“Yes I can understand that. What do we do next, before the auction?” whispered Jeremy.
“Firstly, we need to have more information about the directors of these two new charities that Grimes wishes to benefit with his profits from the sale,” requested Amanda.
“Then we need to make sure that several reliable contacts from the press are present at the auction. Then we should keep clear of Crosby’s until the auction begins tomorrow afternoon at 14.00. At the auction we know that several diamond experts will be present, so we just have to make sure they are keeping awake after their business lunches, and that they follow the events,” Amanda continued.
The auction room was buzzing. Smartly dressed persons occupied every seat. The phone desks were ready. The number boards lighted to transmit the telephone bids to the room. The individual buyers were seated in the first ten rows, then behind them were designated buyers, dealers, and experts; then in the last ten rows were the permitted members of the public – after all, this was an auction open to the public. Amanda and Jeremy seated themselves in the back row – the best place to observe all of the activities in the room. Baron Nongron and some other aristocrats were in the first two rows. Hopeful persons sat next to Grimes at the front of the public block. Roger Poge ushered in some new experts into the middle rows.
The sale began with rubies, which were very popular with the young, the very old, and the middle budgets. Then came the moments of the sapphires – all selling well and pleasing both buyers and sellers. “Not too many emeralds today,” remarked Rupert Bidder, the Chief Auctioneer,” but wait until the final items come up for sale.” After about an hour and a half the chief auctioneer announced that it was diamond time. There were several small items that set the scene and fetching good prices for the sellers that day. Then came the big moment, announced in the catalogue as a ‘Sale of a Family Heirloom’. Harald Grimes perched upon the front of his seat, as did Roger Poge on his, while Amanda and Jeremy settled back in their seats to watch.
Rupert Bidder, the Chief Auctioneer, announced to the sale room that the final auction item was an heirloom from the Grimes family that had recently been discovered during the clearing out of an old safe found in one of the families houses. The Chief Auctioneer asked the audience, “Are all of the persons here satisfied about the value of this item?” as he displayed the diamond jewels.
“I would like to examine them,” asked Baron Nongron from the front row. Roger Poge brought him the diamonds on a velvet-covered tray. The Baron put in his eyeglass magnifier and turned the jewels over against the light. The Baron addressed the Chief Auctioneer, “Mr. Bidder, it is of great interest to me that these Grimes Gems look remarkably like the famous Kempemski diamonds, I would like to ask an expert to look at them.”
There were gasps from the audience that something might not be quite in order about the Grimes Gems. The audience was expanding from the direction of the doors at the back as several new faces and some uniformed policemen were observed to be pressing into the auction room.
Roger Poge had been warned by the Chief Auctioneer that the Baron Nongron might request further examination of the Grimes gems, and for that reason he had brought two additional experts from Antwerp.
“Mr. Bidder, Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to introduce Isaac Stone and Malachai Split from the Diamond Exchange in Antwerp, who have agreed to examine any items that we wish to select,” Roger announced to the room. He passed over the Grimes Gems from Baron Nongron to Isaac Stone, who turned them over against the light and viewed them through his eyelens. His face was expressionless as he passed them over to his colleague Malachai Split for further examination. The two diamond experts exchanged glances and then exchanged headshakes. Isaac Stone addressed Mr. Bidder in a quiet informed voice, “Mr. Chief Auctioneer, we can definitely say that these stones that may look like the Kempemski diamonds are not the Kempemski diamonds.”
The audience rustled and gazed towards Baron Nongron who looked nonplussed and was clearly patiently waiting. Harald Grimes looked triumphantly into the audience but particularly with eyes of victory towards the Baron Nongron. Harald was clearly preparing himself for his big sale and his step up another social step towards his joining the aristocracy. But Harald’s own glowing self-appraisal was cut off by the next statement from Isaac Stone.
“Mr. Bidder, just one more thing,” continued Isaac Stone, “the advertised Grimes Gems are not gems at all, they are ‘stones’ made from glass. They are worth about one thousand pounds, mostly for the mountings – the approximate cost of making them by a practiced jeweller.” The audience was stunned, gasps followed silence in waves around the room.
Harald Grimes rose up from his seat, about to protest loudly, when he noticed the policemen edging towards him. The woman sitting next to him brushed her hand against his left jacket pocket as Grimes was rising, but he did not notice anything as he was concentrating on his escape. He did not know the woman who had just sat next to him only five minutes before. Jeremy Bard had watched as Amanda Spike had quietly got up from the seat next to himself five minutes ago, and moved down to sit next to Grimes on the seat marked Reserved. A non-uniformed policeman now stood next to Grimes, backed up by several others in uniform, and spoke out loudly, “Mr. Grimes would you be so kind as to show us the contents of your left jacket pocket?” Grimes could not understand the meaning of such a request so he automatically put his hand into his left jacket pocket and pulled out – the Daily Moons.
“What’s all this,” spluttered Grimes, ”how did they get there? Why are there two sets of diamonds?”
The policeman passed the left-pocket jewels to Roger Poge, who passed them onto Isaac Stone and Malachai Split. After the examination it was Malachai Split who spoke, ”These stones are genuine diamonds, and they have the shape of the glass copies that we have just seen. So following the comment previously by Baron Nongron -- these are probably the true Kempemski diamonds.”
The Baron was allowed to examine the left-pocket jewels and announced, ”Mr. Bidder these indeed are the Daily Moons.”
The audience had very little idea of what the experts were talking about, and whispering among the main players soon elicited a statement from the Chief Auctioneer,
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to announce that the Daily Moons are the genuine Kempemski diamonds, and the Grimes Gems are nothing but glass fakes. I understand that Harald Grimes will now be assisting the police with their enquiries,” this said as Grimes was hauled from the room handcuffed between two uniformed officers. Grimes looked very suspiciously at Amanda sitting in the seat next to where he had been sitting, but could not appreciate any connection.
That evening in a select private club in a quiet side street in the middle of the City, there was a celebratory gathering of a few of those from the auction room audience, plus a few other celebrities who had joined them just now. Baron Nongron opened the meeting with a few comments, ”Dear Friends, we are all pleased that the directors of Crosby’s have agreed that the Kempemski diamonds – the genuine Daily Moons, can be returned to their official owner”. The Baron did not even glance towards Amanda at this point as he held up the Kempemski diamonds. The Baron had told Amanda earlier that he thought they should remain anonymous in public, for the moment, about the true ownership of the diamonds – until they examined photographs and video coverage for unusual movement around Grimes in the auction room just prior to his arrest.
Richard Kopp, the commissioner of police, took over the commentary, ”Not only did we catch Harald Grimes red handed with the diamonds in his pocket, we find out that he himself is the Director for the two charities that should have benefitted from the sale of the diamonds. These organizations were registered as charities but were actually serving as money washing services with tax deductions for the directors.
Lord Gnome finished the commentaries by saying, ”We find that Grimes has managed to infiltrate our societal echelons to quite high levels with his tax-deductible donations to several charities. However we are pleased to announce that any deficiencies in finances identified by the Taxation Office, can be topped up by the rewards for the jewels stolen by Grimes’ gangs. Needless to say the Grimes family will not be accepted among the aristocracy of our Land. Nor will we be seeing him or his relatives joining the Academies, the Houses, and the Elite Clubs.”
Amanda smiled at Jeremy, “Well whatever these dignitaries decide about the higher workings of the Land, we can at least appreciate that for non experts the copies of the Daily Moons look just as good as the real Kempemski diamonds.”
Theft of the Daily Moons(Alan Bruce)
Amanda Spike had known Mrs. Kempemski for about two years. Then Amanda had answered an advertisement in the local Town newspaper, asking for a young inspired person to read to an elderly lady on two afternoons a week. Amanda visited the elderly lady in a very traditional apartment on the better side of town, and read to her for a couple of hours from a whole range of literature that the old lady had selected. It turned out that the old lady had a huge repertoire of literature in her head and in her library, but could no longer read herself due to failing eyesight.
Amanda very much enjoyed reading to Mrs. Kempemski because the old lady often improved the text with witty and unusual comments. Mrs. Kempemski liked to invent new words - which were often mixtures of words from several languages. For example, mondluz was a mixture of moon and light, dialuz could be daylight or daily light. Their readings were all adventures into different worlds parallel to the one they were reading about.
Mrs. Kempemski had more or less adopted Amanda as daughter in all but legalities, because they got along so well together. Although they got to know each other well in today’s life, Amanda felt there was a long and troubled past in Mrs. Kempemski’s experience.
Amanda was very surprised when she got the letter from Mrs. Kempemski’s lawyers summoning her to an appointment in a few days in the City. The old lady had died two weeks ago, and Amanda had met many unknown persons at her funeral. Several of them had heard about Amanda and were very pleased that she was such a talented reader. Countess Kempemski’s death had been rather sudden but not totally unexpected for such a frail person. At the lawyers office following the summons to the reading of the last will and testament, Amanda found out for the first time that Mrs. Kempemski was in fact a noble Countess from a very ancient central European dynasty. The six other benefactors present were clearly all from this noble lineage or another. Baron Nongron was the executive lawyer finalizing the testament of the Countess. He summarized the sad and tragic life of the Countess and her family during more than a hundred years of persecution in several countries. It was known that their wealth had been confiscated and disbanded, but thanks to the efforts of the offices of Nongron and Pommery the massive fortune had been reassembled. The other benefactors were overwhelmed with their inheritances of property and artworks. Amanda was more than surprised when Baron Nongron read out that the Countess had left to Amanda her Daily Moons. The others in the room were perplexed but Amanda translated to herself the Countess’s personal vocabulary and was shocked to realize that she had been left the Kempemski Diamonds. The Countess had written that as her real daughter had died, she regarded Amanda as her successor and wanted to give her the famous diamonds.
Although quite shocked, Amanda was not speechless. She was very pleased to be accepted into the family circles by the other relatives. Baron Nongron suggested that because the diamonds were so rare perhaps Amanda would agree to have copies made – to wear on family occasions while the real things remained in a safe vault. The Baron recommended the jewellers Spalt and Kluft to do this work – as they were simply the best in the art of diamond cleavage. The diamonds were duly delivered to the secure workshops of Spalt and Kluft – buildings which did not look anything like one would expect for such work – for this way they kept their secrecy guarded and the wares protected.
Amanda was just about to go to an appointment when she heard on the radio, ‘Today a high security van was hijacked in the middle of the City. It is thought that very valuable collections of jewels were stolen. Most of the hijackers escaped with the stolen goods but the driver of one get-away car did not get away and is helping police with their enquiries.’
Soon after that Amanda received a call on her mobile from the security manager of Spalt and Kluft telling her that indeed her jewels were among the stolen, but luckily she could be compensated from the company’s theft-transit insurance. In any case, Amanda could at anytime enjoy the copies -- which were safe at Spalt and Kluft, it was only the originals that had been stolen from the transporter! Amanda had of course not thought about insuring the Kempemski Diamonds herself – as she had just become their legal owner. But on reflection she though that she would rather inherit the Countess’s Daily Moons, and not a large sum of equivalent money from an insurance company. Amanda was a little despondent as she arrived for her appointment with Jeremy Bard at their favorite coffee house in the City.
“You look rather gloomy today Amanda?” asked Jeremy, “something unexpected happened?”
“Well yes Jeremy, I have just been robbed of something extremely valuable that I hardly ever owned – and certainly did little to earn,” replied Amanda. She outlined to Jeremy her relationship with Mrs. Kempemski, the inheritance, and the making of the copies of the Daily Moons.
“Wow,” said Jeremy,” I heard that the police had caught one of the band – I will try to find out what they found out and meet you this evening to discuss events – if you wish Amanda?”
That evening in a small restaurant around the corner, Jeremy outlined his findings to Amanda, “It turns out from the confessions of the caught driver that the robbery had been planned for quite some time, so it could be an accident that the Kempemski diamonds were among the loot. The driver had let it slip that ORGANIZED CRIME was behind the heist and they have plans to auction the haul through a plunder-washing operation being organized by BENEFACTORS OF ORGANIZED CRIME.”
“Isn’t Harald Grimes behind the BENEFACTORS OF ORGANIZED CRIME?” asked Amanda of Jeremy.
“Yes it is rumored that Grimes is always trying to move up the social status ladder to higher longer-lasting levels by suddenly being a major benefactor for charitable causes and organizations. He is being invited more and more to elite events among the rich, famous, fashionable, and established persons who run our modern day society. No one seems to be able to trace down Grimes’ past, but the absence of any detail about Grimes in all of the society records is not very reassuring for these elite societies who rely upon written historical record to establish success and worthiness. Grimes has always countered this by saying that the records of his family have been destroyed by fire and war over several centuries,” replied Jeremy. “Furthermore, it so happens that Grimes has just approached Crosby’s auction house with last-minute additions to sale items for next week’s quarterly jewel auction in London,” Jeremy added.
“Well, well,” muttered Amanda, ”a plan is forming in my head about what to do here. Are you interested in a bit of action relating to these events?” asked Amanda of Jeremy.
“Of course Amanda, we always have great fun following up your schemes. As it happens, I can shift my schedule around a bit for the next week to join you,” replied Jeremy.
Jeremy and Amanda both had very extensive and trusted cooperation with Crosby’s. Jeremy — as antique expert, and Amanda — as art expert, were both frequently consulted on matters of great value and importance for cultural heritage. They met the following evening after collecting much information about the stolen jewels, the upcoming auction, and the world surrounding Harald Grimes.
“It seems that even you have contacts within the BENEFACTORS OF ORGANIZED CRIME, Jeremy,” commented Amanda. “Well yes, I do know many people in many places who are happy to repay old favors with the hope of new favors coming their way. It does appear that Grimes did not know the Kempemski diamonds were in the transporter robbed in the heist, but that he now feels that they will certainly set the pace at the auction of jewels. He seems to want to promise the proceeds from the sale of these and the other jewels to two charitable organizations — which have been newly chartered and no one seems to know much about. My contacts are checking out further these two new charities. It also seems that he did not know that copies were made of the Daily Moons,” finalized Jeremy.
“The auction is next Wednesday and Grimes plans to deposit the jewels at Crosby’s only on the Tuesday afternoon. My plan calls for me to act on Tuesday early evening. Can we meet afterwards, for dinner?” asked Amanda of Jeremy. “But first can I ask you to call Roger Poge at exactly 17.45 on Tuesday afternoon, and please use his VIP business number,” finished Amanda, whilst giving Jeremy the said phone number.
Amanda had arranged for her visit to Crosby’s for late Tuesday afternoon. She had been asked by their Art Experts Department to comment on some etchings planned for auction at next months Graphics Sale. As she finished her consultation around 17.20, she happened to run into Roger Poge in the corridor from Arts to Jewels.
“Well hello Roger, what brings you into the Arts Department?” asked Amanda.
“Just packing up for the afternoon Amanda, in preparation for the great Jewels Sale tomorrow?” replied Roger, very pleased to see the beautiful Amanda.
“Anything exciting up for auction then Roger?” asked Amanda casually.
“Well actually yes,” replied Roger, clearly excited by the prospect.
“What is making you so excited Roger?” asked Amanda still casually.
“A surprise item has been brought in?” whispered Roger.
“Oh yes, what is that?” asked Amanda also in a whisper.
“Oh, can’t tell, too confidential,” continued the whispering Roger.
“Oh OK then, if you are too private I won’t keep you further,” countered Amanda.
“Oh sorry, didn’t mean to be exclusive, but it is really hush hush,” whispered Roger.
“OK then, don’t tell me about it,” joked Amanda.
He was clearly bursting with the urge to tell the whole story.
“Well look, it would be easier if I showed you,” gulped Roger.
Amanda couldn’t believe her ears. This was exactly where she was trying to steer the conversation and it had happened anyway thanks to the bursting Roger. They went down into the vaults. This was perfectly in order as Amanda had Vault Clearance anyway for her work in the Arts Department. Roger coded them into the inner area and unlocked the last doors with his own set of keys. He finally opened a strong room box lined with velvet and produced – the Kempemski diamonds.
It was exactly 17.45 and his phone rang.
“Damn they’ve installed a VIP line right down to the vault, I had better answer,” muttered Roger to Amanda.
”Hello Roger Poge here, what can I do for you?” Roger spoke into his phone and strolled slowly out of the inner vault as he became more and more absorbed in his conversation.
Amanda was left alone gazing at the Kempemski diamonds. As soon as she felt she was unobserved she carried out her plan, and simply substituted the copies from Spalt and Kluft that she had been carrying in her jacket inner pocket, for the real Daily Moons. She had endured bouts of conscience many times when rehearsing this scene in her apartment, and reached a state of mind that she was not committing a serious crime by replacing stolen goods that were actually hers with replicas that even some experts could not distinguish. Moreover, she said to herself that it was only a temporary replacement, as the Daily Moons would be shown to the public the next day.
“Just some buyer wanting further details about the auction tomorrow,” commented Roger as he returned from his phone call. He glanced at the diamonds in their velvet enclosure and closed the safe deposit box, then started to close up the inner vault. Amanda followed timidly beside him and they went slowly back up to the offices, chatting about the weather. They parted with promises to meet for a drink next week.
Then Amanda met Jeremy for dinner.
“What was all that about earlier? Why did I need to call Roger at exactly 17.45 pretending to be a buyer?” asked Jeremy, sitting excitedly on the front of his seat.
“To cut a long story short, I have just replaced the stolen original diamonds in the vaults of Crosby’s with the copies of the Daily Moons,” breathed Amanda in a quiet but relieved voice. “The originals are now in my inside pocket,” continued Amanda. Jeremy was almost knocked over by this wild statement but immediately saw the purpose of Amanda’s plan.
Amanda added, “I had a large battle with my conscience about my plan before I could convince myself that borrowing my own goods was not a major crime.”
“Yes I can understand that. What do we do next, before the auction?” whispered Jeremy.
“Firstly, we need to have more information about the directors of these two new charities that Grimes wishes to benefit with his profits from the sale,” requested Amanda.
“Then we need to make sure that several reliable contacts from the press are present at the auction. Then we should keep clear of Crosby’s until the auction begins tomorrow afternoon at 14.00. At the auction we know that several diamond experts will be present, so we just have to make sure they are keeping awake after their business lunches, and that they follow the events,” Amanda continued.
The auction room was buzzing. Smartly dressed persons occupied every seat. The phone desks were ready. The number boards lighted to transmit the telephone bids to the room. The individual buyers were seated in the first ten rows, then behind them were designated buyers, dealers, and experts; then in the last ten rows were the permitted members of the public – after all, this was an auction open to the public. Amanda and Jeremy seated themselves in the back row – the best place to observe all of the activities in the room. Baron Nongron and some other aristocrats were in the first two rows. Hopeful persons sat next to Grimes at the front of the public block. Roger Poge ushered in some new experts into the middle rows.
The sale began with rubies, which were very popular with the young, the very old, and the middle budgets. Then came the moments of the sapphires – all selling well and pleasing both buyers and sellers. “Not too many emeralds today,” remarked Rupert Bidder, the Chief Auctioneer,” but wait until the final items come up for sale.” After about an hour and a half the chief auctioneer announced that it was diamond time. There were several small items that set the scene and fetching good prices for the sellers that day. Then came the big moment, announced in the catalogue as a ‘Sale of a Family Heirloom’. Harald Grimes perched upon the front of his seat, as did Roger Poge on his, while Amanda and Jeremy settled back in their seats to watch.
Rupert Bidder, the Chief Auctioneer, announced to the sale room that the final auction item was an heirloom from the Grimes family that had recently been discovered during the clearing out of an old safe found in one of the families houses. The Chief Auctioneer asked the audience, “Are all of the persons here satisfied about the value of this item?” as he displayed the diamond jewels.
“I would like to examine them,” asked Baron Nongron from the front row. Roger Poge brought him the diamonds on a velvet-covered tray. The Baron put in his eyeglass magnifier and turned the jewels over against the light. The Baron addressed the Chief Auctioneer, “Mr. Bidder, it is of great interest to me that these Grimes Gems look remarkably like the famous Kempemski diamonds, I would like to ask an expert to look at them.”
There were gasps from the audience that something might not be quite in order about the Grimes Gems. The audience was expanding from the direction of the doors at the back as several new faces and some uniformed policemen were observed to be pressing into the auction room.
Roger Poge had been warned by the Chief Auctioneer that the Baron Nongron might request further examination of the Grimes gems, and for that reason he had brought two additional experts from Antwerp.
“Mr. Bidder, Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to introduce Isaac Stone and Malachai Split from the Diamond Exchange in Antwerp, who have agreed to examine any items that we wish to select,” Roger announced to the room. He passed over the Grimes Gems from Baron Nongron to Isaac Stone, who turned them over against the light and viewed them through his eyelens. His face was expressionless as he passed them over to his colleague Malachai Split for further examination. The two diamond experts exchanged glances and then exchanged headshakes. Isaac Stone addressed Mr. Bidder in a quiet informed voice, “Mr. Chief Auctioneer, we can definitely say that these stones that may look like the Kempemski diamonds are not the Kempemski diamonds.”
The audience rustled and gazed towards Baron Nongron who looked nonplussed and was clearly patiently waiting. Harald Grimes looked triumphantly into the audience but particularly with eyes of victory towards the Baron Nongron. Harald was clearly preparing himself for his big sale and his step up another social step towards his joining the aristocracy. But Harald’s own glowing self-appraisal was cut off by the next statement from Isaac Stone.
“Mr. Bidder, just one more thing,” continued Isaac Stone, “the advertised Grimes Gems are not gems at all, they are ‘stones’ made from glass. They are worth about one thousand pounds, mostly for the mountings – the approximate cost of making them by a practiced jeweller.” The audience was stunned, gasps followed silence in waves around the room.
Harald Grimes rose up from his seat, about to protest loudly, when he noticed the policemen edging towards him. The woman sitting next to him brushed her hand against his left jacket pocket as Grimes was rising, but he did not notice anything as he was concentrating on his escape. He did not know the woman who had just sat next to him only five minutes before. Jeremy Bard had watched as Amanda Spike had quietly got up from the seat next to himself five minutes ago, and moved down to sit next to Grimes on the seat marked Reserved. A non-uniformed policeman now stood next to Grimes, backed up by several others in uniform, and spoke out loudly, “Mr. Grimes would you be so kind as to show us the contents of your left jacket pocket?” Grimes could not understand the meaning of such a request so he automatically put his hand into his left jacket pocket and pulled out – the Daily Moons.
“What’s all this,” spluttered Grimes, ”how did they get there? Why are there two sets of diamonds?”
The policeman passed the left-pocket jewels to Roger Poge, who passed them onto Isaac Stone and Malachai Split. After the examination it was Malachai Split who spoke, ”These stones are genuine diamonds, and they have the shape of the glass copies that we have just seen. So following the comment previously by Baron Nongron -- these are probably the true Kempemski diamonds.”
The Baron was allowed to examine the left-pocket jewels and announced, ”Mr. Bidder these indeed are the Daily Moons.”
The audience had very little idea of what the experts were talking about, and whispering among the main players soon elicited a statement from the Chief Auctioneer,
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to announce that the Daily Moons are the genuine Kempemski diamonds, and the Grimes Gems are nothing but glass fakes. I understand that Harald Grimes will now be assisting the police with their enquiries,” this said as Grimes was hauled from the room handcuffed between two uniformed officers. Grimes looked very suspiciously at Amanda sitting in the seat next to where he had been sitting, but could not appreciate any connection.
That evening in a select private club in a quiet side street in the middle of the City, there was a celebratory gathering of a few of those from the auction room audience, plus a few other celebrities who had joined them just now. Baron Nongron opened the meeting with a few comments, ”Dear Friends, we are all pleased that the directors of Crosby’s have agreed that the Kempemski diamonds – the genuine Daily Moons, can be returned to their official owner”. The Baron did not even glance towards Amanda at this point as he held up the Kempemski diamonds. The Baron had told Amanda earlier that he thought they should remain anonymous in public, for the moment, about the true ownership of the diamonds – until they examined photographs and video coverage for unusual movement around Grimes in the auction room just prior to his arrest.
Richard Kopp, the commissioner of police, took over the commentary, ”Not only did we catch Harald Grimes red handed with the diamonds in his pocket, we find out that he himself is the Director for the two charities that should have benefitted from the sale of the diamonds. These organizations were registered as charities but were actually serving as money washing services with tax deductions for the directors.
Lord Gnome finished the commentaries by saying, ”We find that Grimes has managed to infiltrate our societal echelons to quite high levels with his tax-deductible donations to several charities. However we are pleased to announce that any deficiencies in finances identified by the Taxation Office, can be topped up by the rewards for the jewels stolen by Grimes’ gangs. Needless to say the Grimes family will not be accepted among the aristocracy of our Land. Nor will we be seeing him or his relatives joining the Academies, the Houses, and the Elite Clubs.”
Amanda smiled at Jeremy, “Well whatever these dignitaries decide about the higher workings of the Land, we can at least appreciate that for non experts the copies of the Daily Moons look just as good as the real Kempemski diamonds.”
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