Lucy colored slightly at the compliment, and Shayne warned her, “Mr. Voorland’s an old smoothie, Lucy. He tells that to all the girls when he wants to sell them something. You asked me to drop in at noon,” he reminded the jeweler with a glance at the seated couple. “But if you’re busy, we can come back.”
“Not at all,” Voorland said quickly. “As a matter of fact, I’d like to have you see this bracelet, Mike. You know something about gems, don’t you?”
“Superficially. Through insurance investigations and that sort of thing.” He looked down with interest at the bracelet in Celia Dustin’s hands.
Mr. Voorland said, “I’d like to introduce Miss Hamilton and Mr. Shayne. Mr. and Mrs. Dustin.”
Shayne removed his hat. Dustin arose and offered his hand to the red-headed detective, saying heartily, “Would it be the Michael Shayne we’ve read so much about in the papers?”
Shayne grinned and admitted it. “The papers are always giving me a build-up, hoping I’ll fall flat on my face. Thus far, I’ve managed to disappoint them.”
Lucy’s eyes were wide and round as she gazed at the bracelet. She gripped Shayne’s arm tightly and whispered loud enough for the others to hear, “That’s what I’d like, Mike. Do you think-”
“Wait a minute,” said Shayne. “We don’t want to come in here busting up a sale. Mrs. Dustin was here first.”
Celia looked up at them and her eyes were starred with happiness and excitement. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” she said quietly. “Would you like to see it, Miss Hamilton?” She held the bracelet up and Lucy took it eagerly.
“It doesn’t look like so much to me,” Shayne deprecated. “What are the stones, Voorland? Garnets?”
Voorland smiled. “Rubies, Mike.”
“Rubies?” scoffed Shayne. “They don’t look like rubies to me. What are you trying to put over on Mr. Dustin?”
Voorland was unperturbed. “It’s absolutely the finest thing that’s ever been in this store-or any other store.”
“There’s no shine to them,” Shayne protested. “A real ruby has the same brilliance as a diamond with color added. And the damned things are cracked,” he added, leaning forward to scowl at the star-shaped lines of radiation from the center of each stone.
“A faceted ruby gets its brilliance, like a diamond, from the way it is cut. These gems are cut en cabochon to produce asterism which you are pleased to call cracks.” Voorland took the bracelet from Lucy and pointed out his meaning to the detective.
“You see, the top is rounded and smooth. This was the first method of cutting all gems and was in vogue until the art of faceting was discovered in the fourteenth century. It is practically obsolescent now except when we are dealing with a pronounced case of asterism.”
Though he ostensibly spoke to Shayne, the jeweler’s explanation was directed more to Mark and Celia Dustin. “These are known in the trade as true ‘phenomenal stones,’” Voorland went on authoritatively. “A really fine star ruby is the rarest of finds. Almost always, color and other perfect qualities are sacrificed for asterism. Both star sapphires and rubies are usually characterized by cloudiness. Such was the case with even the famous Star of India. In each one of these stones you have the collector’s dream. A perfect pigeon’s-blood star ruby. Six of them, Mike. Ranging from eight and a quarter to six carats. Any one of them is a collector’s item in itself. Side by side like this in a bracelet-Catherine of Russia never had a piece to approach it.”
Mark Dustin was still standing beside him, frowning at the bracelet and listening intently. “Those light streaks look like cracks to me, too,” he admitted dubiously. “I wouldn’t want people to think I couldn’t afford-”
“No one who knows anything about jewels will question your financial status,” Voorland interrupted. “A perfect star ruby is known throughout the civilized world as the rarest of gems. I’ve been forty years gathering these six stones,” he went on quietly. “For forty years I’ve followed the trail of whispered rumors, the illusive will- o-the-wisp of tantalizing hope. Through the gem markets of the world and into the depths of Ceylon and Burma. Forever seeking the unattainable. I’ve had larger star rubies than these and sold them as single pieces because they couldn’t even be cut to match the two center stones I first obtained almost forty years ago. This one I did cut from nine and a half carats.” He touched one of the smaller stones in the bracelet. “To obtain the perfect symmetry of asterism I demanded.”
Shayne took a backward step and grinned at Lucy Hamilton and patted her arm. “I don’t believe you really like that bracelet, angel. It wouldn’t suit you at all. Too blatant.”
“Would it be terribly expensive?” she asked in a small voice.
“When Voorland calls something a collector’s item, he isn’t talking about a few thousand bucks. When he’s finished here we’ll have him show us some nice synthetic zircons or something like that.”
The other three were not listening to Shayne and Lucy. Dustin thrust his hands deep in the pockets of his slacks and teetered back and forth with his narrowed gaze on Celia’s face. “Like it, honey?”
“I love it,” she breathed ecstatically. “But I’d rather you didn’t pay too much for something I’m going to wear. I think-don’t they have synthetic rubies that are just as pretty as the real ones?” she asked the dealer timidly.
Voorland nodded and carefully replaced the bracelet in its bed of blue velvet. He didn’t seem disappointed at the prospect of losing a sale, but instead appeared almost relieved at the turn the discussion was taking.
“Manufactured rubies are now called synthetic or scientific gems,” he told her. “The process is quite well established, and they are being manufactured in large quantities. I have a particularly fine stock on hand and will be glad to-”
“Wait a minute,” said Dustin sharply. “How do the synthetic ones differ from the real?”
“Hardly at all,” Voorland assured him. “Indeed, the artificial product is actually purer chemically than the natural stone. Specific gravity is practically the same, and the indices of refraction and bi-refringence show striking agreement.”
“Then how does anyone know whether a ruby is real or artificial?” demanded Dustin.
“Most people don’t,” Voorland told him smilingly. “Although careful examination by an expert will generally reveal minute differences. The method of manufacture, for instance, causes the synthetic stones to split parallel to the long axis which throws the vertical crystallographic axis in the plane of splitting. Hence, it is difficult to orient them so as to give the best color. Also, every synthetic stone shows traces of dichroism when examined through the table. Natural stones are properly oriented, and thus not dichroic.”
“But that’s all stuff for experts,” Dustin protested. “The average person won’t go around examining my wife’s rubies with a magnifying glass.”
“True enough,” agreed Voorland. “And that is one of the reasons why this bracelet I have just showed you is absolutely unique.” He pressed the top of the leather case down gently to hide the jewels from view.
“Why?” asked Shayne, who had been listening with interest. “Because the synthetic stones don’t show up with cracks like those you’re so proud of?”
Mr. Voorland popped another stick of gum in his mouth and smiled tolerantly at the detective. “I know you mean that to be funny, Mike, but the truth is, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Asterism is an accident or phenomenon which occurs only in natural stones and then very rarely. Authorities even disagree on what causes those rays of converging light. Some believe the effect due to inclusions, or to a lattice-like structure within the mineral. Others hold that there are minute tubular cavities within the stone. No one actually knows.”
“Do you mean no one has ever cut one open to find out?” Shayne asked incredulously.
“Cut open an Asteria? Would you cut your child open to find out what makes its heart beat?”
“If I follow you,” said Dustin slowly, “you claim that anyone who sees this bracelet will know the stones are genuine just because they have that star inside them?”
“Anyone who knows anything at all about precious stones,” Voorland assured him. He picked up the closed jewel case carefully. “It is one absolute test. If you’ll pardon me a moment I’ll show you what I have in synthetic stones and-”
“Not so fast,” Dustin said quietly. “A man would think you didn’t want to sell that bracelet.”
Voorland halted a few steps from him. He hesitated a moment, sighed, and returned to replace the leather case on the table. “I’m afraid that for a moment I allowed myself to hope-” he confessed ruefully.
Shayne laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. “I always wondered how you managed to stay in business. Like Omar, you don’t know what on earth to buy one half so precious as the stuff you sell.”
“There’s a great deal of truth in that quatrain,” said Walter Voorland sadly. He turned his attention to Dustin,
