Free MOONLIGHT ON DIAMONDS by LYDIA STORM Page A

and pretzels—lots of them?”
    There was a slight
pause on the line and then, “We’ll take care of it, sir.”
    After they hung up,
John stood there for a moment before he picked up the receiver again. He dialed
a number ingrained in his memory.
    Quinn answered. He
sounded stressed out without even knowing who was on the line. “Hello?”
    “It’s me,” said John.
“What’s wrong?”
    Quinn exhaled. “You
don’t even want to know.”
    “Well, I took the
Rossmore gig. I’m in DC staying at the Monticello.”
    “Nice.” Quinn sounded
impressed. “I’m in DC, too. Did Miss Rossmore tell you about the rehearsal
tomorrow at the Smithsonian?”
    “What is this, a
wedding?” asked John, annoyed that Veronica had not informed him about it.
    “They’re doing a
fashion show for jewels. It’s an excuse for every rich dame in town to show off
her rocks and have everyone applaud.”
    “Must be nice,” said
John.
    “Anyway, I’ll try and
make it over there. I’ve already got your security clearance and all that
malarkey, but listen—no gun.”
    “What!” exclaimed
John, outraged.
    “They don’t want you
carrying a gun. I’m sorry, you’re not officially back yet and you’ve had your
drug problems…”
    “Alcohol—I had an
alcohol problem and let’s not pretend that half the force isn’t hopped up on
something.”
    “Listen,” said Quinn,
trying to calm his friend. “This isn’t me, okay? It’s not even about you. I
shouldn’t have said that. They don’t want anyone carrying guns, except a few of the secret service guys watching the First Lady
and her daughter.”
    There was a pause.
    “John, are you
there?”
    “Yeah, okay,” muttered
John.
    “Listen,” his old
partner reassured him, “I’m really glad you’re going to be there. We’ve already
gotten word that Nicholas Bezuhov is in town, we lost sight of the Granny last
week, and still no word on Dornal Zagen.”
    “He’ll surface one of
these days.”
    “No kidding. I just
don’t want it to be at the freakin’ Diamond Ball. It’s going to be like a jewel
thief convention, so anything you can do to help us out…”
    “That goes without
saying.”
    “Okay, well, I gotta
go.” The exhaustion in Quinn’s voice fed through the phone line.
    “Don’t let the
bastards get you.” It was the old line they always fed each other when things
got tough. He could picture his ex-partner’s smile.
    “I won’t, buddy.”
    ****
    Veronica slumped in
the corner of her hotel room’s damask loveseat staring moodily at the jewel
case which had caused so much drama between her and John this afternoon. He had
only been doing his job. Her father was paying him to watch her jewels and she
had not been very helpful. She must have appeared completely irrational. Of
course, he didn’t understand. How could anyone really know what these diamonds
meant to her?
    She went to the jewel
case, unlocking it and pulling out a finely crafted diamond bracelet. She held
it tenderly as she struggled to retrieve memories that were harder and harder
to recall, like dog-eared photographs which had begun to disintegrate from
being handled too much.
    An image of her
mother came, dressed in cool, white linen against the Egyptian heat, as she
held out a cup of mint tea sweetened with honey. Her mother helped little
Veronica hold the cup with both hands and take a sip, her diamond bracelet,
brilliant in the bright sunlight, dancing before Veronica’s eyes.
    Her mother smiled
warmly. “Taste good, baby?”
    The sunlight, and
shimmering diamonds, and her mother’s perfect love all fused and glowed around
her like a magic spell.
    The bracelet now in
her hand became a blur as her eyes welled up. Gently, she returned the treasure
to its case. She brushed the tears from her lashes and quickly snapped the case
shut. When a person died what was left of them? The love she felt for her
mother would never fade, but she couldn’t physically hold onto that love with
her