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I said, “We could try the dealer you used on the Thalia Mars case.”
“Remember his name?”
“Not offhand.”
He drummed his fingers, began searching years of emails. “This doesn’t work, I’ll go downstairs and pull the file.”
I’m better with faces than with names. Closing my eyes I summoned up a full, pink, white-mustachioed face. Cheerful eyes and voice. Older man, eighty or so, spry, dapper…Armenian.
Like the writer.
I said, “Saroyan.”
He logged off his mail, looked up the number in his contacts, googled. “Here we go. Harold A. Saroyan, Sargis Premium Jewelers, the downtown Jewelry Mart.”
Saroyan’s lightly accented voice answered. “Hel-lo. Sargis.”
“Mr. Saroyan, it’s Lieutenant Sturgis. You may not remember but a few years ago—”
“Of course I remember. I don’t get to do such exciting things very often. What do you want me to look at, now?”
“Nothing yet, sir. I’d just like a ballpark appraisal of a one-and-a-half-carat purple diamond.”
Saroyan clicked his tongue. “Ah, such a pity.”
“What is?”
“The laws of probability say you have a fake, Lieutenant. Maybe, at best, a tasteless chemical enhancement. Did somebody steal it? Or worse, kill for it?”
“No, sir,” said Milo. “An owner has requested its return and I wanted to have a—”
“Ballpark estimate,” said Saroyan. “Okay, let’s go to Dodger Stadium. What shape is the stone?”
Milo looked at me.
I said, “Pear.”
“Pear.”
“No big difference,” said Saroyan. “And the color?”
“Purple, sir. We thought it might be an amethyst.”
“And you might be right.”
“If it is real—”
“On the slight chance it is real, Lieutenant, we are talking two hundred fifty thousand to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Minimum. And the way things are going, that figure will be higher by next year due to inflation.”
“Really.”
“Really, Lieutenant. But it’s more like an infinitesimal chance. The last purple I obtained was six years ago and I worked hard for it, including a trip to Australia. I sold it to a famous person. Six carats. Millions.”
“Wow,” said Milo.
“I’m glad to hear you say that, Lieutenant. The ability to be amazed is a good thing.”
“Happens to me often, sir.”
