Parisian Affair (45 page)

'That's awfully kind of you,' Todd said,
alarmed by the idea of going to some hideaway, 'but we really ought
to be getting back to the hotel soon. We're leaving for New York
early in the morning, you know.' They weren't leaving until Monday
morning, but Ramtane Tadjer didn't need to know that. 'What if you
two talk about it on the phone after we're back in New York?'

Allegra glanced at him with irritation, a
look Ram did not miss.

'Oh, surely this is something that should be
discussed in person,' Ram said. 'Don't you agree, Allegra?'

'If it's that close by, then what's a little
more time? We can sleep on the plane tomorrow, and I'd love to hear
what you have to say about design possibilities.' Her voice was
determined, and the look she gave Todd was equally so.

Todd glanced from her to Ram. 'So this place
is around the corner, you say?'

'Yes,' Ram said, nodding. 'I have some things
there I would like to show you. I think you would be particularly
interested in them, Allegra.'

'Oh?' Allegra said with curiosity.

'Some very special jewels,' Ram said. He
paused for dramatic effect, then added, 'Emeralds.' He looked from
her to Todd. 'What do you say?'

'I wouldn't miss it for the world,' Allegra
said.

'Well . . .,' Todd said, 'I'm game.' There
was no way he would let Allegra go alone.

'Good,' Ram said. 'Marcel will drop us there.
Shall we go?'

They were in the Bentley and on their way in
a matter of minutes, chat

ting as the big car maneuvered through the
narrow streets of the Marais. When they drew up to the building on
rue des Rosiers, Allegra's breath caught in her throat. It was
Monsieur Weiss's building. She wanted to tell Todd, but of course
she didn't dare let on that she'd been snooping and had talked to
Solomon Weiss about the emeralds.

'Here we are,' Ram said. 'My old studio.'

Marcel was already opening Allegra's door,
and she and Todd slid out. Ram came around and joined them on the
sidewalk, and they entered the building together after Ram unlocked
the door. They climbed the well- worn stairs to the fourth floor,
where Ram unlocked a big steel door.

'I've kept this apartment since I was a kid.
Jules Levant gave it to me,' he explained. 'It's always been a
refuge for me. A home away from home.'

The apartment consisted of one large room
with a kitchenette and a separate bathroom. The room was furnished
with a large, comfortable couch and chairs, several tables with
lamps, and shelves filled with books. On the walls were inexpensive
posters in frames, much like those a college student or a young
couple starting out would hang.

The ceilings were high enough to accommodate
a loft that was reached by a ladderlike set of stairs. The loft was
surrounded by a metal railing, and from where she stood, Allegra
could see that it held a large bed with side tables. A trunk sat at
the foot of the bed. Under the loft area was a big built-in
closet.

'This is charming,' Allegra said, 'and very
comfortable looking.'

'You can see why I escape to this
occasionally,' Ram said.

'It reminds me of my first apartment in New
York,' Todd said.

'Please have a seat,' Ram said as he went
around turning on lights. 'Just put your coat and things
anywhere.'

Todd helped Allegra out of her coat and put
it, along with his gloves and scarf, over the back of a chair. They
sat together on the couch.

'We're going to have a very special Armagnac
tonight,' Ram said over his shoulder. He stood across the room in
the still-darkened kitchen area with a bottle in hand. 'It's quite
old and very smooth. One of the best.' He turned back around and
busied himself getting glasses out of cabinets and pouring their
drinks.

'I see that you have a lot of books about
gemstones and jewelry design,' Allegra said, gazing at the shelves
from the couch.

'Yes,' Ram said, his back to them. 'Jules and
Hannah Levant gave most of them to me. They put me through a
regular course of study, you see, training me in every aspect of
the business.'

'So you never went to a gemological school or
anything?' Todd asked.

'No,' Ram said. 'I learned on the job. The
best training, I think. Of course, I was only fifteen when I began,
so by the time I reached the appropriate age for studying in an
institute I was already ahead of most of the students.'

He finally turned around and faced them,
holding two brandy snifters. 'Here we are,' he said. He crossed the
wide room and handed them their drinks, then went back to the
kitchen counter and returned with his. 'Cheers,' he said, lifting
his snifter.

'Cheers,' Allegra and Todd said in
unison.

Ram took a swallow of his drink and watched
as they sipped at theirs. Then he sat down in a chair facing them.
'How do you like it?' he asked.

'It's wonderful,' Allegra said, although
she'd barely tasted it. She didn't like brandy of any sort because
she'd found it gave her a terrible hangover, but she didn't want to
tell him that.

'It's very smooth,' Todd said diplomatically
as he rolled the Armagnac around in the snifter. Actually, he
thought, it tasted distinctly odd. Medicinal and not at all like
the Armagnac his father occasionally drank.

'Yes, isn't it?' Ram said. He set his snifter
down and looked over at them, placing his hands on his knees. 'I
suppose I might as well get to the point,' he said. 'I have some
things to show you from the safe here. If you'll excuse me just a
moment, I'll be right back.'

'That's fine,' Allegra said, suddenly feeling
a little woozy. 'Take . . . take your time.'

Ram went to the closet under the loft and
took a key from his pocket. The door had a large padlock on it that
Allegra hadn't noticed before. He opened it, then pulled the door
back and disappeared inside the dark closet.

Allegra looked at Todd questioningly, but he
had a dazed expression on his face and didn't notice. 'Todd,' she
whispered, reaching for his arm and squeezing it.

He turned and looked at her as if he was
trying to comprehend what she was saying.

Oh, my God
, she thought.
There's
something in the drinks
.

She shook Todd's arm, but he only stared at
her, his eyes slowly opening and closing. Grabbing his drink off
the table, she pulled the back of the couch cushion toward her and
poured its contents down into the couch. She set his empty glass on
the table, then quickly repeated the process with hers. Adjusting a
pillow against the cushion, she hoped that Ram wouldn't notice the
drink stain when he returned.

Todd was now slumped back against the couch,
his head falling to his chest. She shook him again, more vigorously
this time.

'Wha—?' he mumbled.

'Todd,' she hissed. 'Todd, you can't go to
sleep. You can't pass out.'

'Wha—?' he mumbled again.

Ram came back out of the closet carrying an
ordinary large black plastic garbage bag. 'Here we are,' he said,
approaching the couch. He saw Todd and stopped. 'Oh, dear,' he
said. 'Did your friend have too much to drink?'

'I'm afraid so,' Allegra said, forcing a
laugh. 'We're both lushes for good Armagnac.' The woozy feeling
came in waves, washing over her, receding, then washing in again.
I can't pass out, too. No. I can't let that happen
.

'Well, it's no problem,' Ram said with a
chuckle. 'Marcel is quite capable of carrying him.' He sat back
down in the chair and placed the garbage bag on the table between
them. 'You've finished your drink, I see.'

'Oh, I'd better not have another,' Allegra
said. 'Or you'll have two sleepyheads on your hands.'

Ram stood up. 'I insist on pouring you
another.'

'No, no, really,' Allegra protested. 'I can't
possibly drink more.'

Ram picked up her empty snifter and returned
to the kitchen counter. 'I'll only be a moment,' he said. 'I think
I'll have more, as well.'

Allegra's body felt as if every muscle in it
was becoming totally relaxed.
I can't panic,
she thought
.
No, I've got to stay in control
. She began to shake her head,
hands, and feet, to move her shoulders back and forth, to turn her
torso side to side.

Ram returned from the kitchen counter and
placed a drink in front of her, then sat back down. 'Cheers again,'
he said, lifting his glass.

Allegra managed to lift hers, almost dropping
it as she did so. 'Ch- cheers,' she said, making an effort to say
the word. She put the glass to her lips but didn't take a
drink.

'Now,' Ram said, setting his glass down,
'I'll show you what I have here. He untied the drawstrings on the
garbage bag and opened the bag wide, sliding it down over several
boxes inside it.

Allegra watched with interest, fighting to
keep her eyes open.

He opened the first box and lifted out an
object wrapped in several layers of once white tissue paper. Slowly
he began unwrapping it, taking the tissue paper off several layers
at a time. When he was finished, he held up a heavily carved gold
necklace setting with an elaborate design.

The setting he held up was almost certainly
nineteenth-century or a very good copy. Victorian or a little
later. It had held many gemstones of the same huge size, and at its
bottom was the setting for what had once been a hanging
pendant.

'Do you know what this is?' Ram asked.

'It's—it's Victorian,' she said, struggling
for the words. 'Or—or a little later.'

'Yes,' Ram said with a smile.

He quickly opened a procession of boxes and
unwrapped their contents, all of them in many layers of tissue
paper, as the necklace setting had been. When he finished, the
settings were lined up on the table. What had once been a pair of
earrings, a necklace, a brooch, and a bracelet were empty shells,
artful in their own right, but forlorn to Allegra's eyes for their
lack of stones. She struggled with all her might to make sense of
them.

'There,' Ram said after he'd lined up the
settings. 'Do you know what these are, Allegra?'

'Like—like the necklace,' she muttered.
'Vic-Victorian settings.'

'That's all you see?' he asked, smiling.

She nodded, then was distracted by Todd. He
shifted on the couch and let out a moan that was barely above a
whisper.

'Then perhaps I should show you more,' Ram
said. He took another box, a long, flat one, from the bag and
opened it. From it he withdrew a manila envelope.

He opened the manila envelope and removed
small sheaves of paper from it. 'These are photographs,' Ram said,
'and I think you will enjoy seeing them, Allegra.' He offered them
to her across the table.

Allegra put out a weak, leaden hand and took
the photographs, but dropped them on the table. She scooped them up
with both hands and looked down at the one on top. The lethargy
that held her in its grip all but evaporated the instant she saw
the photograph, her excitement overriding the effect of the
drug.

The emeralds!
she thought
. Of
course
. The topmost picture was of the necklace with its stones
intact, all of them of equal size and color, if the photograph
could be believed. She shuffled through the others and saw what she
expected to: the settings that were now lined up on the table were
depicted with the emeralds.
The emeralds he has been purchasing
for all these years after selling them through Jules Levant
,
she thought.

She looked up and saw that Ram was staring at
her, his eyes glittering, his mouth set in a smile.

'These are the emeralds you sold, then bought
back, aren't they?'

'So you knew,' he said mildly. 'I thought as
much. Would you like to see the emeralds?'

Allegra nodded. 'You have them here?' she
asked, surprised that he would keep millions of dollars' worth of
emeralds here in this apartment.

'Yes,' he said. 'Right in front of you.' He
opened the last box that had been in the garbage bag and took out
several cloth bags. As if they were nothing more than river rocks,
he began emptying the shimmering emeralds out onto the table.

A gasp escaped Allegra's lips. She had seen
many gemstones in her life—she owned many high-quality stones
herself—but the sight of so many beautifully colored emeralds of
the same size was truly dazzling. When he finished emptying the
bags, she sat staring at them with wonder. There must have been a
hundred or more.

'Impressive, no?' Ram said.

Allegra nodded. 'They're unbelievable,' she
said. 'Extraordinary.'

'But there is one missing,' Ram said.

She looked up at him. 'Princess Karima's
ring.'

'Yes,' Ram replied. 'And I must have it.'

Allegra saw a kind of self-righteous madness
in his dark, glittering eyes. It was the look of a hungry maniac
who would stop at nothing to possess what he did not have.

'But why?' she asked. 'You have all of
these.' She indicated the piles of emeralds with a hand. 'Why would
you want her ring?'

'You really don't know?' he asked. 'Or are
you playing a game with me?'

Allegra shook her head. 'No. I think I know
where the emeralds came from,' she replied honestly, 'but I don't
understand why you must have the ring, as well.'

Ram studied her face for a moment. 'The ring
is the missing pendant from the necklace,' he said.

'So?' Allegra said. 'There are more than
enough emeralds to substitute one.

'I can see that you need a bit of education,'
Ram said with smug satisfaction.

'I'm sure I do,' she said tartly. 'You might
enlighten me about what you've put in Todd's drink, for example.'
She abruptly felt the effects of the drug wash over her body again,
relaxing her muscles, making her eyelids heavy, and fogging over
her brain. She sat upright and shook her limbs again, struggling to
maintain control. 'And mine, too, for that matter.'