“What’s done is done,” Duncan said. “What purpose would it serve if you went to jail?”
“Justice isn’t always about serving a purpose. I work in the law, Dad. Justice is a thing I believe in. There will be consequences for what I’ve done. I’ll face that. I don’t have a choice. It’s guilt I can’t face anymore.” Connor grabbed for Tom, finding his elbow. “Tom, I know I’ve messed it all up but… See, Eddie, he was my mate. But you … you were always my little brother.”
Tom’s eyes watered, which made Amelia’s sting.
“Son, I…” Duncan’s eyes rolled back, and his chin drooped onto his chest.
“Dad!”
“He’s still breathing,” Rhys said, checking. Griffin took off his jacket and laid it over Duncan.
Amelia looked at Tom, in panic. She didn’t care what Duncan had done. She hadn’t wanted to kill anyone.
“You did what you needed to do,” Tom said to her, his voice almost eclipsed by the approaching sirens. “That was quite a blow you delivered.”
“The hardest mineral known to mankind.”
“Huh?”
“That’s what Griffin and Rhys were looking for—the countess’s lost diamond. Am I right?” she said to the brothers.
They exchanged guilty looks.
“I’m not following,” Tom said.
Amelia looked up at the tapestry. The countess looked back, approvingly this time. “That was the epiphany I had when we were stoned. I only just remembered. You see how the diamond in the center of the countess’s crown looks irregular? I assumed it was just the pattern of the weave, the way the fibers have degraded and sagged and become misshapen. But that doesn’t make sense, because everywhere else it’s perfect. It’s an amazing piece. Wool and silk, with silver-gilt threads. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s a Paul Saunders, from his Soho workshop. You can see there’s an Oriental inspiration in the soft definition of the trees. And do you know how rare it is to have a piece that old that’s still displayed in the spot it was made for? It’s lucky it’s such a dark room—means it didn’t fade and discolor as much as it otherwise might.”
“Amelia? The epiphany?”
“Oh,” she said, shaking herself. “Yes. The shape of the diamond in the crown—it’s exactly how it’s supposed to be. The diamond in the legend, the one that was lost… It must have been a raw diamond, irregular.” She met Tom’s gaze. He wasstill holding Connor’s wounds—the entry and exit. “What does it remind you of—the shape in the crown?”
He looked up at it, frowning. Connor strained to look, too.
Tom’s mouth dropped open. “Bloody hell.”
“I’m guessing these guys…” Amelia nodded toward the brothers. “… saw the old photo of it in the upcycler’s social media post and knew what it was.” With her free hand, Amelia pulled Tom’s paperweight from her pocket.
The brothers swore in unison.
Tom laughed. “Oh no. You think…? No, that’s just some trinket. My great-great-grandmother found it after the fire?—”
“Of 1876,” Amelia finished. “And that may well be the case, but it wasn’t melted glass, fused together in the fire. It was the missing diamond.”
“But that’s way too big for a diamond.”
“The Sovereign Diamond,” Griffin said. “One of the biggest ever found. Worth forty million quid, at least. There’s paintings of it in the National Gallery that show it more clearly. It’s been lost for centuries. A proper mystery.”
“Wait, how much?” Amelia said. “Are you sure?”
Tom laughed. “You’re pulling my leg, right? All of you.” He looked slowly from Amelia to Griffin and Rhys, and his expression turned serious. “Well, holy shit.”
“We weren’t going to nick it, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Rhys said, checking Duncan’s pulse. “It was a ye olde treasure hunt. A bit of fun to sneak into the old house and find the lost diamond before some arsehole tech bro got his hands on it. We’re notthieves.”
Tom raised his eyebrows.
“Dope growers, maybe, but not thieves. It was just for a lark.”
“You broke into my house!”
