“Eisler was more than just a diamond merchant; he was a wealthy man in his own right. What if he was unable to sell the diamond for the price Hope wanted? Hope might have decided to kill Eisler and steal his own gem so that he could claim the estimated value of the stone from Eisler’s estate and still keep the diamond.”
She huffed a disbelieving laugh. “Thomas Hope? You can’t be serious.”
“You’d be surprised at the things men will do when they get desperate.”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t believe it. He’s not that kind of man.”
“I must admit it seems an unlikely explanation to me, although for a different reason.”
“What’s that?”
Sebastian pushed away from the desk. In his mind’s eye, he again saw a desperate figure running down a muddy alley, heard the crack of a rifle, felt the spill of warm blood over his hands as he raised a dying boy into his arms.
“The shooter in the carriage.”
Chapter 34
T
homas Hope was supervising a couple of workmen repairing the skylight in his fifty-foot-long picture gallery when Sebastian paid a call on the banker’s Duchess Street mansion.
“I ask you,” exclaimed the little man in disgust, his mouth puckering furiously, “how difficult can it be to construct a skylight that doesn’t leak?”
Sebastian squinted up at the ornately plastered ceiling, its lavish, pale-blue-and-white-swagged medallions marred by an ugly brown stain. “I suppose that depends on how much it rains.”
Hope grunted. “Fortunately, the gallery is wide enough that none of the paintings were damaged. But look at what it’s done to the upholstery of the banquettes! And I only just had them recovered in this lovely pale blue fabric.”
“Tragic,” agreed Sebastian. “Could I speak with you a moment in private?”
“Of course,” said Hope, padding flat-footedly beside Sebastian toward the far end of the gallery. “I take it you’re still looking into the death of Daniel Eisler?”
“I am.” Sebastian hesitated. The man was so earnest and eager that it seemed the height of incivility to accuse him even of dissembling, let alone of something as sordid as murder. “I had an interesting conversation this morning with an individual who contradicted some of the things you told me the other day.”
“Oh?”
“In fact, he confirmed the information I was originally given.” Sebastian paused to rub the back of one knuckle against the side of his nose. “When one person tells me something, I generally try to keep an open mind about its veracity. But when two completely disparate individuals provide the same information, I’m inclined to believe them.”
Hope stared back at him, his eyes narrowing, his face hardening. The man might come across as affable and effete, but it would never do to forget that he owned a company that lent money to kings and emperors. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Then let me be more blunt. I think the blue diamond Daniel Eisler had in his possession when he was killed was recut from the French Blue, and he was selling it for you. I can promise to try to keep the transaction private, but not at the expense of an innocent man’s life.”
Hope walked over to stand before a massive Rubens, his head tipping back as he stared up at the towering canvas. “I don’t think you quite understand what’s at stake here,” he said quietly. “This isn’t about the possibility of a legal challenge from the Bourbons. If the diamond is indeed the French Blue—and I’m not saying that it is—then it has been recut. So while there might be speculation, the association could never be proven.”
“True. But I don’t think it’s the Bourbons you’re worried about, is it?”
Hope cast a quick glance over his shoulder at the workmen on the scaffold and shook his head. His voice dropped even lower. “Napoléon Bonaparte has spent the last eight years in a determined effort to reassemble the French Crown Jewels. He sees the treasure’s loss as a blow to France’s honor, to the point that its recovery has become an obsession with him. And the most precious of all the French Crown Jewels was the diamant bleu de la Couronne. It’s why he was so determined to overrun the Duchy of Brunswick and ransack the palace—because he was convinced he’d find the French Blue there. And he was furious when he didn’t.”
“So Napoléon knows the revolutionary government bribed the Duke?”
“I doubt the world will ever know the truth of what happened at Valmy in 1792. But there have always been rumors. And one must remember that Napoléon is himself a general. I’ve heard it said that in his opinion, a bribe is the only explanation that makes sense out of what happened at Valmy. All I know is that, somehow, he found out Eisler had a large blue diamond for sale.”
“You know this for certain?”
Hope nodded. “One of his agents approached Eisler last Saturday morning.”
“Who?” asked Sebastian sharply. “Who was this agent?”