Authors: Al Ruksenas
“
Oh?” he replied, still absorbing her words. “Well, I think he’s done that before,” he intoned slowly, regaining his composure. “But in a situation like this, he’s the kind of man you want around.”
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So I noticed.”
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There’s a lot of crime in Washington. But here? Outside the museum? This comes as a shock.”
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Weren’t the police here? Didn’t they ask you anything? What did they say about the bodies?”
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I don’t know, Laura. I’m sorry. I wish I knew more.”
“
You’re a curator, aren’t you? Aren’t you supposed to know what’s going on?”
“
This is a vast organization, my dear. You know that,” he said solicitously. “My office is way across the Mall in the Old Castle. If this happened last night, the news hasn’t reached me yet. You know more than I do.”
“
I’m sorry, Al. I don’t mean to press you,” she replied, putting her hand on his shoulder. “I’m just sure after Chris fought off the muggers, I heard a woman shrieking inside the building.”
He looked at her curiously.
“
Through one of the windows on that side of the building.” She pointed again towards the east wing.
“
There
are
stray cats around. The first ones probably escaped from some haggard tourist families,” he reasoned. “They rummage for leftovers from the cafeteria. And they yowl like heck in season.”
“
I know, I know,” she said impatiently. “I heard that version last night.”
“
The main thing, Laura. Is that you’re all right. I’ll check with the police. Several jurisdictions overlap here, you know.”
She hesitated, then asked offhandedly, “Did the Colonel call you this morning?”
“
Why no, he didn’t. I take it he didn’t call you either.”
She looked at him expectantly.
“
Don’t worry, dear. I know Chris. After such a dreadful night, I know he would have called. His work is very secretive, that much I know. I’m sure he’ll get in touch with you as soon as he can.”
Carruthers saw her face soften.
“
Can you show me inside?”
“
Sure. I can show you the exhibits. That’s all there is, really.”
They entered towards a large African bull elephant that was a signature display of the Rotunda. “Haven’t you been here before?” he said as they walked.
“
I have. But that’s just it. I only saw exhibits,” she explained. “Maybe you can show me what’s behind them.”
“
If I can. Where do you want to start?” Carruthers swept his hand in a circle gesturing at exhibit halls radiating from the cavernous Rotunda, which was beginning to fill with visitors.
“
How about that way?” she said, pointing at the second floor atrium.
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The east wing. Minerology.”
“
Good,” Laura replied, satisfied with her sense of orientation.
They rode an elevator to the second floor and walked towards the Gem Hall along an atrium with an open view of the Rotunda.
“
This is one of eighteen exhibit halls in the museum,” Carruthers explained as they entered a long hallway lined on both sides with glass cases. Subdued recessed lights shone on a vast array of gems and semi
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precious stones. Visitors were entering behind them.
“
Our gem and mineral collection is one of the most significant in the whole world.” Carruthers said matter of factly. “We have fifteen thousand gems, and more than thirty
‐
thousand meterorites in the collection.”
Laura listened while noticing that the elaborate exhibit area had no windows to the outside.
They walked slowly along the displays as the curator dotingly pointed out particular exhibits. “We have the Bismarck Sapphire there. It’s one of the world’s largest at ninety
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eight and a half carats. Then, The Napoleon Diamond Necklace given to his queen on the birth of their son. Together, that necklace has a total of two hundred seventy
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five carats. The Hooker Emerald Brooch is a gorgeous piece at seventy
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five carats,” he said as he pointed. “It was from the belt buckle of a Turkish Sultan.”
“
You know this?”
“
Of course,” Carruthers sniffed.
Laura smiled. She was drawn into the dazzling, alluring displays and momentarily let her mind drift from her purpose by her friend’s enthused elucidations, even though tag lines accompanied each exhibit.
“…
the Smithsonian Canary Diamond, a beautiful amber hue radiating from a white diamond encrusted ring.”
They turned a corner along the displays. “The hall is laid out in a rectangular. It guides the flow of visitors. We have several million people coming through here every year.”
Laura figured they were now walking along an outside wall of the building. “Aren’t there any windows around here?”
“
They’re at different levels. Some exhibits are between floors. This place is so cavernous, you can’t count the number of floors by windows.”
“
I see,” she replied thoughtfully.
“
Over there,” he continued, “is Napoleon’s jeweled crown for Empress Marie Louise. Early eighteen
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hundreds. It has nine
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hundred fifty diamonds set in elaborate Persian turquoise. Next, the Star of Bombay—a stunning one hundred eighty
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two carat sapphire from the actress Mary Pickford of early Hollywood. Then, of course, there is the Star of Asia Sapphire. It’s the largest in the world at three hundred thirty carats.”
“
That’s very interesting, Al. But you know, no matter how many carats other gems might have, diamonds still have some magic draw.”
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Well. I guess that depends,” Carruthers started.
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For example,” Laura interposed. “What about there?” She pointed. “Those diamond earrings.”
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Well. They are not the largest,” Carruthers replied.
“
But they’re here on display.”
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Yes. They’re here on display,” he said. “They are historically significant. They belonged to Marie Antoinette, the last, doomed Queen of France, consumed by the French Revolution. The story is that those earrings were taken from her when she was arrested. The royal family was trying to escape the revolutionary mob.”
“
Is that so?” Laura pondered as she peered at the tear dropped shapes lying on blue velvet and emanating dancing brilliance from within. “I’m doing some lectures on the French Revolution in my seminar.”
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Then you can appreciate these,” Carruthers said.
“
Some researchers say the French Crown Jewels caused the bankruptcy of France and led to the French Revolution.” Her gaze was still fixed on the earrings.
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That could well be,” Carruthers replied. “You know, other jewels like rubies, sapphires, and emeralds were all the rage before cutters learned to bring out the brilliance in diamonds. That’s why diamond adornments in earlier portraits of nobles look dark.”
“
I know,” Laura replied. “The early cuts were minimal. They were called adamantine cuts—after a metal that didn’t even exist.”
Carruthers looked at her in admiration.
“
It was a storied metal that was supposed to have mystical powers.”
“
I’m impressed.”
“
European royalty awoke to the brilliance of diamonds when cutters began to improve their methods. Kings started competing for diamonds and outdoing each other in about the Eighteenth Century.”
“
They did,” Carruthers agreed. “And France lost, because the last French kings, particularly Louis the Sixteenth, raided the national treasury to buy and parade diamonds at the expense of his commoners and their well
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being. That’s why we have so much of the French Royal Collection in our displays. The revolutionaries appropriated the royal jewels and ended up selling them throughout Europe.”
“
And now they’re here,” Laura mused.
“
And now they’re here. Historical artifacts in ‘the nation’s attic’.”
“
But diamonds are still the queen of jewels. A girl’s best friend.”
“
Yes, they are. And the few diamond cartels want to keep it that way. Actually just one, but I won’t mention their name. They’re big contributors to the museum, you know.”
“
Of course.”
“
Of course. They have the world monopoly. Diamonds are so plentiful they could be just another stone. But the cartel strictly controls their flow into the market. They own most of the diamond mines.”
“
So I heard,” Laura said. “Actually, I’m writing a book on how diamonds came to be so prized among royalty—and how they shaped cataclysmic events. Louis the Sixteenth went into such a frenzy of buying for royal display—to mask his inadequacies—that he finally triggered the French Revolution, like you were saying.”
“
Will you autograph a copy for me?”
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I’ll be delighted. As soon as I finish. You know, publish or perish.”
“
I know. But yours is a labor of love,” he added. “It’ll be good.”
“
Thanks. You’re sweet. I could use the encouragement.”
They had completed their stroll around the exhibit hall and found themselves in the atrium again, standing before a crowd of visitors filing into a smaller gallery centered in front of the u
‐
shaped Gem Hall.
“
And that, as you know, is the Hope Diamond Exhibit. It’s probably the most famous diamond in the world. Not so much that it’s the largest blue diamond known, but its history. The Gallery is named after Harry Winston, the jeweler who donated the Hope to the Smithsonian in Nineteen fifty
‐
eight.”
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Yes, I know,” Laura said as she tried to gaze inside past the crowd of visitors. “Maybe you can show me after hours. It seems like such a rush of people.”
“
It always is.”
“
You have the key, don’t you? You can come anytime.”
“
Well, yes, but it’s a little more complicated. There’s the security and alarms.
And there’s also a little advertised fact about the Hope exhibit. It’s in that tall rectangular enclosure of glass. It’s three inches thick. The display is actually a specially designed safe. The diamond rests on an oval pedestal and the vault rotates every minute or so to give the viewers surrounding the display a good look. And you can see there are guards in the gallery.”
“
Okay, I’m with you so far,” she said as she shifted the weight of her body, crossed her arms and leaned slightly to one side to get a better view past several people.
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Well,” Carruthers continued in a softer voice and tilting his head towards hers, “After hours the display is lowered into a chamber under the floor. It disappears.”
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Oh, I see.” She tried visualizing the procedure. “So it’s on a floor beneath us.”
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Yes.”
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And I presume that floor has windows.”
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Yes. But the chamber is isolated”’
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Can we go there?”
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Well…no,” he said.
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I mean the floor below us, not the chamber,” Laura persisted.
“
Oh, sure, we can do that, but it’s just offices and work rooms. I know you couldn’t have heard any screaming there. The only people around at night are security guards and the night shift cleaning crew.”
He led the way to a stairwell. They descended a floor and came upon two pedestals with a red velvet rope blocking their way. A plaque stating “Restricted Area Employees Only” hung from the rope. The curator pushed a pedestal aside and continued along the
marbled hall lined with several doors.
“
What’s past there?”
“
Offices, work rooms, storage of artifacts not on display.”