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Khizar had been prepared to go through with the purchase of the mine after Bill’s death He’d had his lawyer draw up papers and an offer, and had visited the mine in person to complete the deal Khizar was surprised to learn that o The foreh the em veins were now stripped, more or less worthless
The gem wasn’t listed as part of the old emstone and not as jewelry
Khizar was certain Bill had never had the dia it in its purest, though polished, for to hide it by turning the diamond into a set piece
The Sheikh returned to his desk and picked up the phone, where his secretary answered iator to look into Bill’s life to see if, perhaps, there were any clues left to find
A week and five dead-ends later, Khizar was half-convinced that the diamond didn’t actually exist Bill’s stories must have been just that: stories
He’d chased down an old miner in Australia, who’d claimed to have been Bill Bauer’s business partner for a few years back in the day, who said he knehere Bauer had stashed the geuy told tall tales in a bar in a s wild stories for a round of beer There was no truth whatsoever to his words, which Khizar had figured out about ten minutes into their conversation
Khizar had trawled through the records of Bill’s biggest sales, trying to deterer commission He had talked to Bill’s fore employees
The men who had worked Bauer’s mine insisted that Bill still had the diamond, but Khizar talked with others in the industry eren’t certain that the diamond was even real
He was having dinner at the best restaurant in town—seated, of course, at the best table in the dining rooator called and asked to meet with him As he waited for the man to arrive, he nodded at an acquaintance at the bar, and s him closely
If he weren’t so involved with the search for the diaht have even asked the It didn’t matter that he didn’t have a party on his schedule If soether himself No one turned down his invitations, even at the last minute
His investigator arrived, a nondescript man in a dark suit, able to blend in wherever he was needed