Death by Diamonds Read Online Free

circumstances, is certainly cause for speculation.”
    Mysterious circumstances. Baste it, I knew it.
    “Also, the lengthy time lapse between the ambulance’s departure from the theater and the time it was found bearing Dominique DeLong’s body, siren blasting, at the hospital’s emergency room entrance, missing its driver, allowed for more than enough time for a diamond robbery to take place.”
    “You mean they ripped the diamonds off her face while she was unconscious? Poor Dom. That must have been so painful.”
    “No,” Werner said. “All indications are that she died instantly and on stage. They took the diamonds after she died.”
    My stomach flipped while my brain fired like popcorn, my thought processes having multiple partings of the way. Should I admit that I knew Dominique, that I was carrying a dress that might—if one had a wild imagination—be construed as evidence? Or should I let it ride until I talked to Nick?
    Dom’s death touched me, rocked my world, and the diamonds were only an afterthought.
    “All this because somebody misplaced a few diamonds in New York City? They’re probably still in the woman’s dressing room.” It wasn’t easy to distance myself from Dom at this point, but for Werner’s sake, I felt it necessary for the moment. Dom hadn’t exactly been a neat freak, not even when it came to her pricey baubles. She liked to make the Parasites earn their keep and pick up after her.
    I shook my head. “They should be looking into what happened to Dominique, not the diamonds.”
    “The NYPD are also looking into what happened to Ms. DeLong,” Werner said. “Never fear.”
    “Good.” Still trying to decide whether to out the dress, evidence wise, I decided to pay attention to a family echo in the voices of my siblings, who coined the phrase: “Shut up, Mad!”
    Decision made. “If we’ve answered your questions, Detective, I have an errand to run.”
    Werner nodded toward my newly delivered package. “Is that the box Wings brought?”
    Scrap! From the corner of my eye, I saw Eve slip the note from Dominique into her folded newspaper, so I relaxed and handed Werner the box.
    He opened it, folded back the tissue, and whistled. “This is primo designer, isn’t it? From Paris maybe? Mucho bucks?”
    “Thank you, Detective.”
    “Why thank me?”
    “I designed it.”
    That surprised him. If I didn’t know better, I’d think respect laced his regard, until he frowned and looked more closely at me. “Why are your eyes red?”
    I hated that Werner noticed small personal details about me. I raised my chin. “Someone I care about passed away.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that.” He took the canvas bag from my limp hand, slid the empty packaging out, saw the return address, and whistled. “That dead movie star? You knew her?” A baited accusation if ever I’d heard one.
    I gritted my teeth, a bad and costly habit. “She was a Broadway star, not a movie star. Dominique, yes, that’s her. Please have some respect and stop tossing about the word ‘dead’
    as if it were a color.”
    “My apologies and condolences,” Werner said, and he meant it, “but that dress could be evidence.”
    “It’s a gift. I made it for her, and she left it to me. Period.”
    “Too bad somebody felt the need to steal a truck to get it to you.”
    Double scrap with a “tucking A” thrown in for trim. My ringing cell phone saved me from responding. I’d never been so grateful for the opportunity to answer it. My caller’s voice shocked the Hermès out of me. “Kyle! I’m so sorry about your mom.”
    Werner mouthed “speakerphone,” so I had no choice but to set my phone down so we could all hear what Kyle had to say. Well, I might have argued, because this had nothing to do with Werner, but I would only look as guilty as I felt if I refused the request.
    “It’s sad and chaotic here,” Kyle said, “but Mom left strict instructions about what she wanted done after she