“A star-shaped stone,” Cherry said. Her eyes were sparkling, just like the sapphires. “Those are definitely Red Eye Sal’s missing jewels. The star is thegiveaway.”
“That’s right. The jewelry was all made by the same designer—supposedly a woman whom Red Eye Sal loved but couldn’t have because she was married to another man. Apparently the fact that he himself was married wasn’t a factor,” Aaron Underwhite said dryly. “But the jeweler—I forget her name?” He looked at hiswife.
“Margarita, wasn’tit?”
“Yes, that was it. Margarita’s trademark was having the gemstones cut into a star shape—or she set them so closely and perfectly that they looked like one stone, as if a single jewel had been cut into astar.”
“Either way, each piece she designed always had a six-pointed star with a sort of fat center on it. Almost like a sun. Very distinctive,” Trib said. “You said one set in the paintings was sapphires…so the other painting was of the goldtopazes?”
“No…it was garnets and rubies. What do you meanthegold topazes? It sounds as if you know about these jewels,” saidLeslie.
“Well, we all know about the topazes, that’s for sure,” Cherry said. “But I don’t know if anyone ever believed there was anything else in the so-called jewelry cache of Red Eye Sal other than the topazes, and maybe somepearls.”
“I feel as if I’m missing half of some story that you all know. Would someone please fill me in?” Leslie asked, reaching for a piece of pizza. It was covered with fresh tomatoes, torn basil, plots of house-made mozzarella, and roasted peppers—and it smelleddivine.
The others looked at each other, and Mayor Underwhite was the one who spoke. “Since I probably know as much as anyone about it,” he said, sliding his own piece of pizza onto his plate. He served Regina as well, then settled back in his seat, preparing to tell astory.
“The topazes were—are—the only pieces of this so-called collection that anyone ever remembers seeing. That’s why most everyone believes it was nothing more than a legend that Red Eye Sal had other pieces in his cache. There was a set of earrings—both star-shaped and gold—and a necklace, though it was much less grand than the one you described, Leslie. And there were some pearls, with mother of pearl star shapes as well—which is probably what launched the idea of the legend, even though no one that I know of has ever seen any others. But two sets of jewelry, both with stars…you can see where the romantic idea came from.” He paused as if to collect his thoughts, using a knife and fork to cut a generous piece from the point of his pizza. “And, if those paintings you say you saw are accurate, then it seems as if it might not just be a legend afterall.”
“The topazes and pearls were owned by the van Gerste family, who I think were distant relatives of Sal,” Regina said. “Or somehow had a connection; I’m not sure, because they never owned Shenstone House. We knew their daughter, Kristen.” Her voice had become sober. “We were in the same year atschool.”
“Is she the one who… Oh, I’d forgotten about that,” Iva said in an almost whisper. “That was…what…1985? Just a year after I moved toPhiladelphia.”
Trib was nodding. “Yes. 1985. The year we graduated.” He glanced at Leslie. “Kristen was in our class. She was a beautiful young woman, with dark hair and amber-colored eyes. Smart, too—not valedictorian smart; that was Aaron here—but she had a respectable grade point. Very popular with her classmates—pretty much all of us liked her. Homecoming queen, cheerleader, class president—you know the drill.” He paused, seeming to collect histhoughts.
“Kristen got permission from her parents to wear the Red Eye Sal topazes to our senior prom,” Regina said. “It was a big deal—her parents were wealthy, and she always had nice clothes and expensive shoes, but the fact that she was going to wear these heirloom jewels to the prom was a really big deal.” Her voice trailed off. “I knew Kristen quite well. We weren’t absolute BFFs or anything like that, but we were in the same group of friends. I played basketball and ran track, she played tennis and was a cheerleader. And we lived near each other—Kristen, Aaron, Trib, and I. Though the van Gerstes’ house—and Aaron’s too—was a lot larger and fancier than mine or Trib’s.” She smiled fondly at herhusband.
“Kristen was dating the captain of the football team,” Aaron said, taking up the story. “Marcus Levin. That’s only relevant because of how the night played out. Prom night, Imean.”
“The night she was wearing the topazes,” Lesliesaid.
“Right. Kristen was a trendsetter,” Trib said. “So when she got permission to wear the jewels, she decided to go all the way and do a vintage look. Vintage clothing was just becoming the thing in the eighties, and she found this gorgeous beaded flapper dress at an antiques market. I still remember it…she looked like an angel in that sparkling gown. It was pearlescent, iridescent, all shimmery gold and pink and peach…” He sighed, his eyes going dreamy andfaraway.
“Anyway,” Underwhite said, drawing the conversation back to him, “she wore the dress and topazes to the prom, with Marcus Levin as her date. But they had a huge blowout fight near the end of the night—it was a complete spectacle, right in the middle of the dancefloor.
“They were playing ‘Waiting for a Girl Like You’—I’ll never forget it: that song was the theme for the prom, and the queen and king had just been crowned. They were supposed to dance together first, then the rest of their court was to join in, couple by couple—and it all went to hell,” Regina said. “No one was dancing, Kristen was screaming awful things at Marcus while he stood there laughing at her, and then she left. Walked out, crying, and left the prom, all byherself.
“The high school isn’t far from our neighborhood—only two miles or so. You can see it from Shenstone House, actually. It’s just beyond the woods that butts up to the bottom of your hill and goes along Faraday Street. Oh, and Kristen’s family never owned Shenstone,” Underwhite added for Leslie’s benefit, “which is another reason people didn’t believe there are jewels belonging to Red Eye Sal hiddenthere.”
“I tried to go with Kristen, to talk to her,” Regina said quietly. “But she didn’t want anyone around, and my date…well, he encouraged me to let her leave by herself if that was what she wanted. I did make him take me home then, and we looked for her on the way to give her a ride, but we didn’t see her. No one did.” When Leslie glanced at Underwhite, Regina said, “Oh, it wasn’t Aaron who talked me out of going after her. It wasn’t until later that I realized what a great guy hewas.”
“A damned sight nicer than Colter Bray,” Underwhite commented, shaking his head. “I would have sent you after Kristen if you’d been my date.” He looked at Leslie, giving a wry smile. “I didn’t have a chance with the likes of Regina Clemons when we were in school. I was an acne-faced nerd, and that was long before nerds and geeks were made cool byThe Big Bang Theory.” He laughed, and Regina laughed with him and patted hishand.
“Anyway, that big fight broke up the dance,” Trib said. “The blowout between the most popular and well-liked girl in the school and her asshole of a boyfriend. No one liked Marcus Levin unless he was on the football field. Or running by in shorts,” he muttered. “And no one really knew what the fight wasabout.”
“So Kristen left the dance by herself, wearing the topazes, upset and angry and crying…and she was never seen alive again,” Underwhite said, finishing off thetale.
Leslie, who’d been expecting an unpleasant end to the story, frowned. “Did they determine whathappened?”
After a moment, Regina spoke. “Late the next day, they found her body in the woods not far from the main road between the school and town. The topazes weregone.”
“They think it was a robbery, plain and simple,” said Underwhite. “She was still fully clothed and had died from a broken neck. There was evidence of a blow to the back of the head, too—we all followed the story, of course; I remember it like it was yesterday.” He reached over and covered Regina’s hand with his own. “We all liked Kristen. It was soawful.”
“So they never caught anyone?” Leslieasked.
“No. And the topazes never showed up anywhere either—they must have been removed from their settings and sold separately, or are hidden away in someone’s safe,” saidTrib.
After a few moments of everyone quietly eating, Orbra spoke. “So now that you’ve found those paintings, there is evidence that there actually were other jewels in Red Eye Sal’scollection.”
