The King Diamond by Fred M. White — Read

Meanwhile, Cleopatra was awaiting Putress's call. She had no doubt whatever that he would come round and see her and she would be ready for him when the fateful moment arrived. All the same, she wanted an hour or two to herself to settle her plan of campaign. She knew the type of man she had to deal with, she knew his tenacious nature and what a fight he would put up for the recovery of the King Diamond. But she had not the least intention of parting with it, knowing full well that Putress valued his newly acquired social status too highly to take any steps that were likely to lead to publicity.

And there was another thing--by her own cleverness she had overreached herself. She had told Paradine only half the truth when she said that the King Diamond had been stolen from her flat by some unknown burglar whose operations she had actually watched whilst, all the time, she had the stone in her possession. She had taken it in a light-hearted spirit of adventure to Bliss, who had raised the necessary funds upon it with which to carry the flag flying in her campaign of speculation. She had never guessed for a moment that she had placed herself and her financial affairs in the hands of a scoundrel who was up to his neck in crime and duplicity and one who, moreover, was actually on the verge of flight. It angered Cleopatra almost to madness to think that, with all her cleverness and cunning, she had been an innocent tool in this man's hands, and had actually provided him with the means of getting out of the country. She almost wished now that he had got out of the country, beyond the reach of the police, because in that case a great many awkward questions looming ominously on the horizon would not have required an answer. So far as she knew Paradine had guessed nothing of actual events and so long as the missing diamond could not be traced to Bliss by the police then she was comparatively safe.