Diamonds of Deception by H.C. Hannah

Author:H.C. Hannah
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: H.C. Hannah
Published: 2019-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-THREE

‘Tobias, good morning!’ Alicia’s voice was audible through the speaker.

‘Morning Alicia, how are you?’

‘Very well thanks. You?’

‘I’ve been better. You’re on speaker here and Spencer’s with me. I understand he’s told you about my company’s latest acquisition: a necklace, purchased somewhat unwisely and in my absence, by two senior staff members who are no longer employed here.’

‘He mentioned it, yes.’

‘As it happens, the woman who brought the necklace in on Monday appears to have been a very astute con artist.’

‘I gathered.’

‘She certainly managed to fool two highly qualified professionals with decades of experience behind them.’

‘I guess sometimes people only see what they want to believe, rather than what’s actually in front of them.’

‘You’ve got that right,’ Tobias said ruefully, ‘but anyway, Spencer seems to think you might have encountered a similar necklace to the one that is about to cause me quite a few sleepless nights.’

‘I’m so sorry to hear that Tobias,’ Alicia replied. ‘Yes, I believe that an almost identical necklace exists, or did once upon a time, many years ago. It almost certainly consisted of genuine diamonds and was rumoured to be worth around ten million dollars back in nineteen ninety-five. Unlike the necklace you have at your store, which I presume is worth far less.’

‘You’re correct, sadly. In fact, the necklace I have here isn’t made of diamonds at all. The gemstones are a synthetic form of moissanite. They’re made from silicon carbide.’

‘Moissanite? I’ve heard of it. But Tobias, I’m not really much of an authority on precious stones. How can I be of any help to you?’

‘Alicia, it’s Spencer here.’ A voice cut into the conversation.

‘Hey Spencer!’

‘Remember I told you I thought there was something weird about the grading reports for the diamonds, I mean the stones?’

‘I do.’

‘There was something wrong with the holograms, like I thought. The reports were fake.’

‘Good work Spencer. See? I told you to go with your instincts. What was it about the hologram in the end?’

‘D’you know what the GIA hologram looks like?’

‘I can’t say I do, no.’

‘It’s the GIA logo, but displayed as a hologram. The logo is a gold-coloured circle with a sort of decorative border around the outside. Inside the circle is a shield divided into three sections: the upper section shows the top half of a globe, and the lower section is again divided into two. On one side there’s a picture of a gemstone. On the other, a little microscope. A bit like clipart-style images.’

‘I can picture that.’

‘Good. The first thing wrong with Vivienne Karlsson’s grading reports is that the gemstone and the microscope are on the wrong sides. The genuine GIA logo always has the gemstone on the left and the microscope on the right, but the logo on Vivienne’s reports has them switched. The microscope’s on the right and the gemstone’s on the left.’

‘Oh Spencer, you’ll be doing me out of a job soon,’ Alicia said with a laugh.

‘But that’s not all, and this bit will really interest you.’

‘All right then Miss Marple, carry on.

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