Diamond Deceit Read online

  Len must have noticed how uncomfortable Nancy was with his anger because he slowly leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples. “Look, I’m sorry. I guess I got a little carried away. Please help us,” he said in a softer voice.

  Nancy wasn’t sure she wanted to get involved with this case. She was uneasy with Len’s temper, and she was on vacation, but his story had definitely aroused her curiosity.

  Finally she turned to Len and said, “I’ll need to talk to Marcia.”

  “Great,” Len told her. “Can she meet with you this evening after she closes the shop? Around eight?”

  Bess said in an excited whisper, “Hey, maybe we should go talk to Joanna Burton, too. Do you know where she lives, Len?”

  “She lives in one of the big houses along Seventeen-Mile Drive,” Ted answered for Len. “It’s a coast road lined with golf courses and fancy homes. Lots of movie people live there. They even charge a toll to drive along the road to look.”

  “Marcia has her phone number, if you want to make an appointment to see her,” Len added.

  Nancy’s mind raced ahead. “What about Cy Baxter?” she asked. “How far is it to his store? I’d like to find out a little more about his part in all this.”

  “I’ll go along and show you,” Bess said.

  “Bess?” Ted looked at her critically. “You’re leaving? Now?”

  Bess was surprised by Ted’s response. “We won’t take long. We’ll be back,” she assured him.

  “But it’s getting close to the time for our picnic,” Ted said. “Do you really think you should go?”

  Nancy didn’t understand Ted’s reaction. Bess had invited her and George to Carmel. Surely he knew that Bess would be spending time with them. Why was he being so possessive?

  Len didn’t appear to notice the tension that had settled over the group. “Then you’ll try to find out what happened?” he asked Nancy.

  “I’m not making any promises, but it can’t hurt to ask a few questions,” Nancy replied.

  “Thanks,” Len said. He took Nancy’s hand and shook it. “I really appreciate it.” He stood up and headed toward the door. “I’m going to tell Marcia right now.”

  Nancy, Bess, and George also got up. “’Bye, Ted. See you in a little while,” George said.

  Ted folded his arms and stared at Nancy and George as they walked past him. Nancy shivered. The cold anger in Ted’s dark eyes chilled her.

  Chapter

  Three

  WHAT’S WITH that guy?” George whispered to Nancy as soon as they got outside. Nancy could tell that George had also picked up on Ted’s anger.

  Nancy shrugged. “Isn’t Bess coming?” she asked, noticing that their friend hadn’t left with them.

  George pointed into the restaurant. “It looks as if there’s trouble in paradise. I don’t think Ted wants Bess to go with us.”

  Ted and Bess were standing right inside the café, talking. Bess’s face was flushed, and she seemed to be close to tears. Ted was holding both of her arms and was speaking very seriously.

  Ted glanced up and met Nancy’s gaze. His expression immediately changed. After saying something more to Bess, he smiled down at her and kissed her on the cheek. A moment later Bess had joined Nancy and George on the sidewalk.

  “What was that all about?” George asked her cousin as soon as the door closed.

  “He’s just worried that I’ll get into trouble with you guys,” Bess said, not very convincingly. “I never should have told him some of the things that had happened to us on cases with Nancy.”

  Nancy hated to see her friend torn between Ted and them. “You don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to,” Nancy said to Bess. “Just point us in the right direction.”

  “There’s no way I’m going to miss this,” Bess said firmly. “I want to go. Besides, Ted needs to learn to let go a little. He’s been spoiled having me all to himself,” she added, giggling.

  “So what’s the story with you two, anyway?” George asked. “Is this a major romance?” Nancy could tell that George hoped it wasn’t.

  Bess shrugged. “I don’t know. Not too major, I guess. But Ted’s really nice,” Bess added with a grin.

  She led the way up the hill to the next corner, then turned left. While they walked Nancy went over all that Len had told them about the diamond necklace.

  “Have you had a chance to get to know Marcia at all?” Nancy asked Bess.

  “I only met her briefly when she and Len ate at the restaurant,” Bess answered. “She seems nice.”

  Nancy was anxious to meet the designer and form her own impressions. She couldn’t know for sure that Marcia hadn’t switched the diamonds until she investigated.

  When the girls were halfway down the block, Bess stopped in front of a shop a little larger than Cheung Original Designs. A small sign over the door identified the store as Baxter’s Fine Jewelry. “Here it is,” Bess announced, opening the door.

  A bell chimed when Nancy, Bess, and George stepped into the shop. Nancy immediately spotted the short, balding man who had stormed out of Marcia’s store earlier. He was standing behind the jewelry counter, scolding a woman in her forties who was apparently one of his employees. She was wearing a plain black dress, and her long, dark hair was streaked with gray.

  “I’ve asked you over and over to use this when removing a stone from its setting, not this.” Baxter held up a small instrument to illustrate his point. “And never leave a customer out here in the showroom alone. Can’t I leave you in the shop for even ten minutes without you screwing up?”

  The woman made no attempt to defend herself. She simply stared at the floor as Baxter went on and on. Nancy was embarrassed to be there. She stared at a Seaside Security sticker in the corner of the window, trying to pretend she wasn’t there. If this was the way Cy Baxter treated his employees, she thought, Marcia must have been happy to branch out on her own.

  Bess and George seemed to be as embarrassed as Nancy to be witnessing the argument. After standing there uneasily for a moment Bess pulled Nancy and George over to a display of gold charms for bracelets. “Aren’t these darling?” she asked.

  Cy Baxter broke off abruptly as if he had just realized the girls were there. “We’ll be with you in a moment,” he said politely. Turning back to his assistant, he lowered his voice so Nancy couldn’t hear what he was saying.

  “I think Mr. Baxter makes these himself,” Bess went on. “This is the lone cypress—that’s a tree that grows along the Seventeen-Mile Drive. And these are sea otters. I want to make sure you see some real ones while you’re—”

  Just then the showroom erupted in noise as dozens of clocks lining one wall of the store began to chime the hour.

  “Look at that cuckoo clock,” George said, pointing at a carved wooden clock whose painted wooden bird popped out to announce the time. “It’s pretty cute.”

  “That one also performs on the quarter hour,” Cy Baxter said. He had come out from behind the counter to join them. His assistant was just disappearing into a room at the rear of the store. “Would you like me to take it down so you can look at it close up?”

  “No, thank you, anyway,” Nancy said.

  “Can I show you anything else? A necklace? Rings?” Baxter inquired. He was checking the girls over carefully as he talked.

  Nancy hesitated, trying to decide what approach would work best with the store owner. “Um, my name is Nancy Drew,” she said, stalling.

  Baxter peeked at his watch. Nancy decided right then that he wouldn’t give any of his time to anyone but a customer. She’d just have to ask the right questions and hope he liked to talk. “I’m looking for someone to design a bracelet,” she went on. “I’ve talked to several people around Carmel asking for recommendations. Your name came up.” Nancy paused before adding, “So did Marcia Cheung’s.”

  “Marcia used to work for me,” Baxter said curtly. “Not that she ever appreciated all the things I taught her.”

  He was obvious
ly bitter about Marcia’s departure, Nancy thought. “I understand that she recently designed a necklace for Joanna Burton,” she said.

  Baxter’s face darkened for just an instant. Then he cleared his throat and said, “Miss Burton is a customer of mine, also.”

  “Oh, really? Why did she ask Marcia to do her necklace?”

  Nancy expected the store owner to become angry, but instead he leaned conspiratorially toward the girls. “I’ve done a lot of work for Miss Burton in the past, but now—how should I put this?—she doesn’t always pay her bills. She asked me to design a new setting for her necklace, but at the time she owed me for some work I’d done months earlier, so I refused. Now I wish I had done the design.”

  “If Miss Burton doesn’t always pay, why do you wish you’d designed the necklace?” Bess asked curiously.

  Way to go, Bess! Nancy silently applauded her friend. She hoped Bess’s comment would get Baxter talking about the fake stones.

  “It’s not general knowledge yet,” Baxter began, then he hesitated. He finally continued, “When Joanna got the necklace back her diamonds were gone, replaced with c.z.—that’s cubic zirconia.”

  Cy Baxter took a deep breath, clapping his hands together. “Well, enough of that. What kind of bracelet were you considering? Perhaps we’d better talk—”

  “But what happened to the diamonds?” George pressed, leaning over the counter.

  “I can’t say, but that necklace wasn’t anywhere but Marcia Cheung’s shop,” he said, stressing her name.

  Nancy still had one more question to ask. “How did you know the diamonds were replaced?”

  “I saw them. Joanna needed to have the new setting appraised for her insurance, and I do appraisals for insurance companies,” Baxter explained. “When I was examining the necklace, I noticed that the gold prongs holding the stones were scratched. That didn’t look like Marcia’s usual work—after all, I had trained her. So I took a closer look.”

  “How could you tell the stones were fakes?” George asked.

  “Cubic zirconia weighs more than diamonds,” the jeweler informed the girls. “After almost thirty years in the business I can definitely tell a fake when I see one.”

  Nancy nodded, then changed the subject. “About how long does it take to have jewelry appraised? I have some pieces—”

  Cy Baxter smiled and said, “Just bring them in anytime. I can usually examine the piece and write up a report within twenty-four hours.”

  “So Nancy would have to leave her jewelry here?” Bess inquired. Nancy knew right away what her friend was getting at. Joanna Burton must have left her necklace with Cy Baxter, too. That meant Cy himself would have had the chance to replace the diamonds.

  “Of course. But it would be perfectly safe,” Baxter assured her. “Now, what kind of bracelet did you want designed, Miss Drew?”

  “I really haven’t any ideas,” Nancy replied.

  She, Bess, and George patiently waited while Cy Baxter showed them examples of his work. His pieces were very traditional, different from Marcia’s more modern ones.

  Saying she was unable to make up her mind, Nancy politely thanked the jeweler and signed his guest register. Just as they were leaving, the painted bird popped out of the cuckoo clock and performed its solo. It was a quarter past six.

  As they started back to the Café de Carmel, Nancy turned to her friends and said, “Did you guys hear what Baxter said? It takes him twenty-four hours to appraise something. Joanna Burton probably had to leave her necklace overnight.”

  “He could have stolen the diamonds during that time,” Bess added.

  “But why would he switch Joanna Burton’s stones and then tell her about it?” George wanted to know.

  Nancy shrugged. “Maybe because he knew he could blame it on someone else. Baxter didn’t seem to be happy that Marcia left him to open her own jewelry store. Maybe he decided to steal the diamonds and ruin Marcia’s reputation at the same time.”

  With a frown she added, “Something else he told us doesn’t make sense. Baxter said that there were scratches on the prongs that held the fake stones in place. I don’t think an experienced jeweler like Marcia Cheung would leave scratches, do you?”

  “I’ve heard only good things about Marcia’s work,” Bess said. “Ted’s going to be wondering what happened to us,” she added with a nervous laugh as they approached Café de Carmel. “It’s almost six-thirty. That’s the time we’re supposed to meet his parents on the beach.”

  George said excitedly, “I can’t wait to see the ocean.”

  Bess pushed open the restaurant door, and a waitress instantly appeared. “Hi, Libby,” Bess greeted the red-haired girl. “Just stopped by to pick up Ted.”

  “Ted went on ahead. He was kind of mad,” Libby said. “He said to tell you he meant six-thirty Pacific time, not Central time.”

  Bess’s eyebrows drew together in a worried frown. Then she turned to Nancy and George and laughed. “I guess we’d better get down there before they eat everything.” She herded Nancy and George out the door, then set a brisk pace for their walk to the beach.

  “Hey, slow down,” George said. “I’ve never known you to go so fast.”

  “We’ll only be about five minutes late. That’s not such a big deal,” Nancy added. Bess seemed to be awfully concerned about disappointing Ted. Nancy was beginning to think that maybe Ted’s expectations were a little unreasonable.

  When they reached the beach, Bess turned left and walked along the road.

  “Oh, this is beautiful!” George exclaimed, pausing.

  Nancy had to agree. A steep, sandy hill descended some twenty feet to the beach below. Several wooden stairways led down to the flat sand. Out on the water the sun’s glow seemed to color the entire Pacific Ocean.

  “Mmm,” Bess said distractedly. “Ted said he’d build the fire down the beach this way, by one of the staircases.” She scanned, then pointed. “There they are! See the fire?”

  Nancy and George followed as Bess hurried to the first staircase and took the steps to the beach. “She seems awfully nervous,” George commented. “What’s the big deal?”

  Ted was about fifty feet away with two other people. A fire blazed beside them, and a blanket had been spread out on the beach near it.

  Nancy recognized Mrs. Menendez, of course. The heavyset woman with short dark hair had checked Nancy and George into their room. The other man had the same dark hair and stocky build as Ted. He had to be Mr. Menendez, Nancy guessed.

  “I guess you met Mrs. Menendez at the inn earlier,” Bess told Nancy and George. “This is Ted’s dad. You can see where Ted gets his good looks,” Bess said.

  Mr. Menendez acted embarrassed, but Nancy could tell he loved Bess’s compliment. “It’s nice to meet you girls. I hope you like it here in Carmel,” he said. Then he sat with his wife.

  “So far we love it,” George assured him.

  Ted continued to stare out at the water, Nancy noticed. He made no move to greet her or George. Was he still mad that they had taken Bess to Cy Baxter’s shop? Nancy stifled the irritation that rose inside her. She wanted to give Bess’s new boyfriend a chance, after all.

  Bess acted as if she were bursting with a secret. Tapping Ted on the shoulder, she whispered something into his ear and got him to turn around.

  “Hey, cuz,” George said. “You convinced Nancy and me to travel all this way because you said you had a surprise for us. We’ve been here almost half a day, and we still haven’t been surprised. What gives?”

  Bess’s blue eyes were sparkling. “Maybe you’d better sit down,” she said to George and Nancy, indicating the blanket.

  “This must be big,” Nancy said, plopping down next to George.

  Bess grabbed Ted’s arm, and Nancy exchanged an uneasy look with George. She had a feeling that this was going to be really big. Was Bess thinking of getting married?

  Bess took a deep breath and let it out. She focused first on George, then on Nancy, and said, �
��You guys, I’m thinking about moving to Carmel!”

  Chapter

  Four

  NANCY WAS SO shocked that all she could do was stare at Bess. Bess move away from River Heights? Nancy couldn’t imagine it. Maybe she hadn’t heard correctly. One look at her friend’s face, though, and Nancy knew that Bess was serious.

  Nancy saw the same stunned expression that she knew that she herself must be wearing on George’s face. Suddenly George smiled at Bess and said, “Okay, really now. What’s the surprise?”

  “That is the surprise,” Bess said, acting less sure of herself.

  George faced her cousin. “But, Bess, do you really want to move away from River Heights? I mean, what are you going to do here?”

  For the first time Nancy glanced at Ted. He was beaming. Nancy felt a little jealous that Bess would choose Ted over her and George. She wanted to be happy for Bess, but instead she just felt a little—hurt. How could Bess make a decision like this without even consulting her and George?

  “I haven’t told you everything yet,” Bess said. “The very first day my parents and I got here, the pastry chef at Café de Carmel quit. I mentioned that I’d learned how to make desserts at the Claude DuPres International Cooking School. Ted asked me to help out, and everybody loved my fruit tarts,” Bess said proudly.

  “The next day I made split lemon cake,” Bess went on. “I guess word spread, because people came in all afternoon asking for it.”

  Ted reached over to give Bess’s shoulders a squeeze. “Our Desserts by Bess have become the in thing,” he added.

  “We’re very proud of Bess,” Mrs. Menendez said, giving Bess a warm smile. “We’ve always had a good business on the weekends with tourists, but now we seem to be busy all the time.”