Parisian Affair Read online

  '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.'

  Ram smiled. 'Just a little something to make you more receptive,' he said, 'and to keep your young man from interfering with our fun.'

  'You—you bastard,' she said, her eyes now fiery with anger despite the heaviness of their lids.

  'Such language doesn't become you, Allegra,' he said, still smiling.

  'And I don't think that inviting us here, then drugging us, becomes one of the world's top jewelers, either,' she responded snappishly.

  Ram laughed softly. 'You are a challenging young woman,' he said. 'I like that.'

  'A lot of good it will do you,' Allegra said, 'because I think you are detestable.'

  His soft laugh came again and, with it, a smile. 'We'll see what sort of firebrand you are later.' He paused, looking at her, hoping to see fear in her eyes, but he was met with angry determination.

  'You said that you thought you knew where the emeralds came from. You did say that, didn't you?'

  'Yes,' Allegra said, nodding.

  'Why don't you tell me about it,' Ram said. 'I would like to hear your theory.'

  'It's my guess,' she said, 'that you, or more likely Jules Levant, bought the emeralds from Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor.'

  Ram lifted his snifter of brandy into the air as if toasting her. 'Very good, Allegra,' he said. 'Indeed, they were purchased from the Duchess of Windsor many years ago. And by Jules Levant. Over the years he bought several pieces of jewelry from her. Some of it was jewelry that she had reported stolen to collect the insurance money. She and her husband, the duke, often overspent themselves, you see.' He paused a moment, then added, 'In fact, several of the pieces that were auctioned after her death had been reported stolen.'

  Although she had been fairly certain that her guess was an accurate one, Allegra still found its confirmation startling. To think that the legendary lovers the Duke and Duchess of Windsor would have to sell jewelry to maintain their lifestyle, she mused. Not only that, but to file false insurance claims. He gave up a lot more than a crown when he married the woman he loved.

  'She could never be seen wearing these jewels,' Ram continued. 'Certainly not in their old settings.'

  'And I imagine she wouldn't even have taken a chance on wearing them if they were reset,' Allegra said.

  'Exactly,' Ram said. 'She might have created a huge scandal if she'd been seen in any one of these thirty-four-and-a-half-carat, dark green emeralds.'

  'Because the Duke and Duchess of Windsor stole them,' Allegra said.

  Ram applauded her. 'You are exactly right again,' he said. 'I see you've put two and two together.'

  'And the British royal family would not be too happy about confirmation that the man who gave up the throne and his lover had taken off with the famous Windsor emeralds,' Allegra said. 'And if the duchess wore any of them, that would be confirmation for all the world to see.'

  'Yes,' Ram said. 'There were rumors, of course, but there was never any proof that they had stolen the emeralds.'

  'But you have it,' she said.

  He nodded. 'Brava!' He took a sip of his brandy. 'Jules Levant broke the set up, reset them, and sold everything separately over a period of years so no one would know anything.'

  'But you bought them all back so you would have your proof once again,' Allegra said.

  'Right again,' Ram said. 'Except that there is one little problem.'

  'The ring.'

  'Obviously,' he said. 'It is the key to everything.'

  'Because of its inclusion,' Allegra guessed.

  'Precisely,' Ram said with a nod. 'The ring, which was the necklace pendant, offers irrefutable proof that these are the Windsor emeralds. It is what those familiar with the royal family's jewels called the demon stone.'

  The demon stone. Allegra felt a chill run up her spine. It was the perfect name for the emerald's inclusion, she realized, because it described what appeared to be the head of a devil, complete with horns. The inclusion that should have made the emerald less valuable
instead made it more so.

  'So you have to have the ring to complete the set,' she said.

  'Of course,' Ram said. 'I must have them all for my plan to work.'

  'What plan?' she asked.

  'I'm going to offer them back to the Windsors,' Ram said. 'Very discretely. Very quietly. For several hundred million dollars.'

  'Several hundred million dollars!' Allegra said.

  'It's nothing to them,' he said.

  'What if they don't go for it?' she asked.

  He smiled. 'Oh, believe me, they will. Because I'm going to tell them that if they don't, then the whole world is going to know that their precious David Windsor and his lovely wife, the Duchess of Windsor, stole them. I'll create a huge scandal and I'm sure they wouldn't want another one of those.'

  'So what you're talking about is extorting money from them?' Allegra said.

  'One might call it that, I suppose,' he said, smiling again, 'but I prefer to call it giving the British royal family the opportunity to repatriate some of their long-lost jewels.'

  'You don't need the money at all,' Allegra said angrily. 'You're really just a creep with no compunctions at all, aren't you?'

  Ram shrugged. 'Well, I haven't done it yet,' he said, 'and I won't until I have the demon stone.' He paused and stared at her. 'The stone you've got.'

  Allegra didn't respond to his remark.

  'And if I don't get that emerald tonight,' he said, 'then you and your boyfriend will die. Here in this apartment. After I've given you a memorable night of sexual delight such as you've never experienced before. Too bad you won't have more than a few minutes to remember it before you die.'

  Allegra's stomach lurched, and she could feel a chill run up her spine again. She tried to keep her face blank, but she wanted to scream and cry at the same time. What am I going to do?

  CHAPTER 24

  Yamal entered the Ritz hotel dressed in a pin-striped, navy blue bespoke suit, a heavily starched custom-made white shirt, and a pearl gray tie from Charvet. His shoes were handmade by John Lobb. He was the picture of an international businessman with an enormous salary or the heir to a fortune. As the concierge knew, however, he was an exorbitantly expensive male hustler whose discreet services were sometimes required by the hotel's esteemed guests.