The Diamond Affair (22 page)

Frankie was.

A scream split
the thick, humid air. It came from the cabin.

Every little
piece of Jake screamed back in response:
Not Ruby, not Ruby, please not Ruby.

Blood pumped
through his veins, made his legs faster and his heart pound against his ribs.
Not
Ruby, not Ruby.
He flung open the door to the cabin.

Not Ruby.

Aimed.

Not Ruby!

Fired.

Frankie staggered
as if under a huge weight. His gun tumbled to the floor and he followed it. Jake
spared a glance to make sure he was dead before he caught Ruby as she flew into
his arms.

She heaved one shuddering
breath and shed a bucket full of tears all over his T-shirt. He held her
tightly and rocked her while she let it out.

"It's all
right," he murmured into her hair. "You're safe. Everyone's safe. I'm
here now and I'm not going anywhere."

He froze. The
words had just slipped out but he couldn't take them back. Of all the stupid
things to say...

Ruby kept on
crying into his chest, her fingers clutching the back of his T-shirt. Holding
on. Maybe she hadn't heard, or hadn't registered.

Hopefully.

Beauvoir entered
and his gaze flicked from Jake's to Frankie's. He stared at the body, his fists
bunching at his sides. No emotion registered on his face. He just stared.

Ruby drew in a
deep breath against Jake's chest and wiped away her tears. She pulled away and
went to Evie, still crying on the floor in the corner. The women hugged. Jake
ached to have Ruby's arms surround him again. But not now.

Not ever.

Beauvoir stood in
the doorway. The sweet scent of rain mixed with dust and eucalyptus trees
drifted into the room. He shook his head at Frankie, lying in a pool of blood.

"There's
your thief," Jake said.

Beauvoir nudged
the body with his toe as if checking to see if Frankie was really dead. Then he
bent and patted him down. "If he's the thief, where's my diamond?"

"Here."
Ruby threw something at Beauvoir who caught it.

"My
Florentine!"

"No,"
Ruby said. "It's not. It's not even a real diamond."

"It's a
fake?" Jake stared at the yellowish rock which Beauvoir held up to the
light. "You've been chasing Ruby all this time for a
fake
!" He'd
already killed one man tonight. It wouldn't matter if he killed another. He
wanted
to do it. Badly.

"You told me
it was real!" Beauvoir moved toward the two women, still crouching on the
floor in the corner. Ruby stood about the same time Jake caught the back of Beauvoir's
jacket.

"You touch
her and I'll rip your heart out through your nose."

Beauvoir flinched.

"The one I
saw was real," Ruby said. "A real diamond anyway. Whether it is the
Florentine, no one can say for certain although I was reasonably sure, which I
told you that day." She nodded at the rock in Beauvoir's fist. "This
is not that diamond. This is a fake."

Ruby went on to
tell them about how Frankie had planned to set her and Evie up to enable his
escape. "He wanted to buy himself some time to get back to Melbourne and
catch a plane out of Australia."

"
His
escape," Jake said, his brows lifted in a question. "Not
their
escape?"

"Well, yeah,
he did have an accomplice. He said he didn't steal it originally." She
shrugged. "He must have been brought into the deal later. Whoever he
worked with must have the real Florentine now. Do you know who?"

"Yes," Beauvoir
said quietly, menacingly. His fist closed around the stone. Even in the dim
light Ruby could see his knuckles turn white. It was amazing the stone didn't
turn to dust and trickle through his fingers.

"His
daughter," Jake said.

"Penny!"
Wow, she hadn't seen that coming.

"Okay,"
Evie said, hands on hips. She'd apparently fully recovered from her shock. "I
want answers. What the hell is going on? Who is Penny? And who the hell are
you?" she said to Beauvoir.

"The man who
owes you both a very big apology," Jake said. "I'm thinking an around
the world cruise, maybe a new car, and fresh flowers every week for the rest of
his life. Which will be short if I find out he hasn't complied with your wishes
for compensation."

"Make mine
pink roses," Evie said.

Ruby hugged her,
glad to have her back. She wanted to hug Jake again too but he was looking all
manly and dangerous and she didn't think he'd want his image destroyed in front
of Beauvoir.

To hell with his
image. She threw her arms around him and kissed him square on the lips. As soon
as he responded, she pulled away. "Let's go."

Jake cleared his
throat. "Uh, yeah, good idea."

Beauvoir flipped
open his phone and dialed a number. Jake snatched it away. "Who are you
calling?"

"My
daughter."

"Not if you
want to see your diamond again. And your daughter. My guess is she's waiting
for his call," he nodded at the body, "before she sets out for the
airport. I'd go straight home if I were you. And I'm coming with you."

"What?"
Ruby and Beauvoir said together. "But I wanted to talk to you," Ruby
said.

"And I want
to make sure this job is done," he said, ignoring her and looking straight
at Beauvoir. "I'm going interstate soon and I don't like leaving
unfinished business behind."

Like he was
leaving his father behind? Like he was leaving her? "You're still going to
Sydney," she said, quietly.

He inclined his
head, a barely perceptible nod. Her heart shattered. Tears pooled in her eyes
when she thought she had none left to shed. Nothing had changed and she got the
feeling that nothing she could possibly say would ever change his mind.

They all filed
out to the Beauvoir car, leaving the other behind. Ruby didn't feel up to
driving. Jake drove while Beauvoir, sitting in the front passenger seat,
organized a cleanup crew to remove Frankie's body. Ruby tried not to think
about him. She hadn't liked him but seeing him lifeless and knowing she'd had a
part in his death made her want to throw up.

She tried to
focus on the current situation and what they had to do. As much as she wanted
to get the police involved now Beauvoir was no longer after her, she didn't
mention it—involving the police now that the bad guy was dead would lead to a
lot of unnecessary questions. Questions that might lead them straight to Penny.
Whatever she was, she was still just a kid. Her father's ire would be enough
for her to deal with.

They drove in
silence. Evie grabbed Ruby's hand and held it most of the way back to
Melbourne. They were still friends, and always would be. Ruby squeezed her hand
and gave her a smile, even though she couldn't muster any warmth for it.

All the warmth
had seeped out of her when Jake had declared his intention of leaving.

They dropped Evie
back at her apartment. Ruby refused to get out of the car. "This is my
business too, Jake, and I want to see it through to the end."

"Ruby,"
he said with obvious effort, "it's all over. Your friend needs you."

"She's
calling her boyfriend to come over. I'll only be in the way." And if Ruby
went back to her own apartment,
she
would be alone. She didn't want to
be alone. She wanted to be curled up in bed with Jake's strong arms holding
her, pressing her to his body. But that wouldn't happen. "So I'm coming
with you."

He unbuckled his
seatbelt. "Don't make me come back there and forcibly remove you from this
vehicle."

"Just try it."

"Shut up!"
Beauvoir yelled. "Just shut up and drive. I need to see my daughter."
This last part was said with a kind of strained agony.

Jake buckled up
his seat belt and gave Ruby a this-is-not-finished glare.

She could only
wish they weren't finished.

Most of the
downstairs lights were on at the Beauvoir house when they arrived and some of
the upstairs ones too. Guy was out of the car before it pulled to a complete
stop in the driveway. He took the stairs two at a time up to the front door and
dug out his keys from his pocket. The door opened before he'd finished finding
the right one.

Sonya stood in
the entrance, Sinestri beside her, his arm around her waist. It dropped like a
stone to his side when he spotted Beauvoir. "It's not what it seems,"
he said quickly. "I'm not... That is..." He cleared his throat. "It's
not what it seems!"

"It is!"
Sonya said, hands on hips. "You're such a coward, Harry. You always have
been."

Sinestri looked
wounded. He straightened, clearly wanting to be Sonya's white knight. Beauvoir
shoved them both out of the way and stormed into the house.

"Penny!"
he shouted. He turned to his wife. "Where is she?"

"In her
room," Sonya snapped. "Where the little nerd always is. You're so
predictable, Guy. This is precisely why I'm leaving you. You always put her
before me. You never once looked at me with as much love as you looked at her. I
hate you!"

"Good,"
Beauvoir said, striding toward the stairs. "Then get out. Take your lover
with you. By the way, Sinestri, all future business dealings we have in the
pipeline are off." He ran up the stairs.

Jake followed
him. Ruby followed Jake. She heard Sonya's angry stomp on the stairs behind her
and Sinestri's heavy sigh as he trailed behind them all.

In a déjà vu
experience, the door to Penny's bedroom opened before Beauvoir could reach it. He
suddenly reeled back, almost stepping on Jake's toes. Ruby only just stopped before
smacking into Jake. He must have known she was close because he reached around
without looking and held her, using his body as a shield.

That was the
first clue Ruby had that Penny held a gun.

"Stay back or
I'll shoot," Penny said. That was the second.

Sonya let out a
little squeal from behind Ruby.

"Darling,"
Beauvoir said, an edge of fear to his otherwise calm voice. "You can't do
this. Put the gun down and come here. Nothing bad will happen. I promise. It'll
be all right."

"Where's
Frankie?" Penny said, her voice shaking. "Tell me where he is!"
she shouted when no one answered her.

"He's dead,"
Jake said.

Don't tell her
you did it,
Ruby silently willed him.
For God's
sake, don't tell her. I don't want to lose you.

"Dead?"
Penny echoed. She sounded like a little girl. Lost. Scared.

Ruby wrenched
herself free of Jake's grip and stepped out from his shadow. He tried to shove
her back but when Penny raised the gun at him, he stopped. He mumbled something
that sounded like, "Don't." It wasn't clear if he was talking to
Ruby, Penny or a higher power.

Ruby held up her
hands in surrender. "You loved him, didn't you?" she said to Penny.

Sonya made a
sound of disgust in the back of her throat. Penny glared at her. "
You
wouldn't know about love, you frigid cow."

"Wouldn't I?"
Sonya took Sinestri's hand in her own and lifted her chin. "I love this
man. I've loved him for years." Her eyes shone with unshed tears. "We
were lost to each other but he found me. After all this time, he found me. As I
was telling your father downstairs, I'm leaving him for Harry and he can't stop
me."

"Fine,"
Beauvoir said, his face half-turned in profile. "Leave. Go on! Get out of
my house!"

"Not so
fast," Penny said when Sonya turned to go. "I don't want you calling
the cops. Not until I'm long gone." She chewed her bottom lip. Clearly she
wasn't sure how to go about her plan of escape with all five of them in her
way.

"We'll go
together." Beauvoir took a step toward his daughter. "Just you and
me. We'll go to whichever country you want with the Florentine. Pick one. Any
one." He took another step, then another. He was only three feet away from
her. If she shot him, he'd die instantly.

"Get back,"
Penny warned. But her voice shook, as did her hand.

"Do as she
says," Jake said in a low, commanding voice that Ruby knew all too well.

"Darling,"
Beauvoir went on as if neither had spoken, "I'll have it made into a
stunning necklace for you. Or a brooch. Your mother loved brooches."

"Don't speak
to me about my mother!" Penny's face turned a dark shade of red and tears swam
in her eyes. "You killed my mother and I
hate
you!"

BANG!

Red-hot pain
ripped through Ruby's body. What was it doing there? What had happened?

Then she saw the
blood. It was everywhere. All over her. Beauvoir's blood? But he was standing
in front of her, unharmed. It didn't make sense.

Her legs buckled
beneath her and she fell to her knees. So much pain. Like a thousand knives
cutting her, tearing her body apart.