Author Anon

“Amanda, I’m so glad you could come,” says Blanche. “It’s just going to be a quiet, intimate dinner. I understand you already know David Golde.”

Amanda looks over at David, who smiles at her as he comes up to greet her.

“I didn’t realize you would be here,” says Amanda.

“I rarely turn down invitations, Dr. Steele,” says David.

“Oh, there’s no need to maintain formality among friends,” says Blanche. “Isn’t that right, Amanda?”

“No, of course not,” says Amanda hesitantly, obviously uncomfortable.

“That’s wonderful,” says David. “Because you have a beautiful name that I’ve been dying to say aloud.”

“Now, dinner is all ready,” says Blanche. “Why don’t we get seated? Lisa will be right down. She’s putting Eileen to bed.”

As they exit to the dining room, Lisa comes down the stairs. When she reaches the bottom, the doorbell rings so she goes to answer.

“Baby, my darling baby,” says Lucy, as she embraces Lisa.

Lisa tries to back away, unsuccessfully. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I-I-don’t think we’ve met. Please-Please let me go.”

“But, baby, it’s me,” says Lucy. “Your mother.”

“My mother!” says Lisa. “My mother is dead.”

“I’m right here, baby,” says Lucy.

Blanche comes to the door.

“Mama!” says Lucy. “I’ve been searching all over for you.”

“Lucy!” says Blanche. “What are you doing here?”

“What is going on here?” asks Lisa.

Amanda and David also come to the door to see the commotion.

“Daddy?” asks Lucy, looking at David. “Mama, is that daddy?”

“No, it’s not, Lucy,” says Blanche. “Lisa, you take Amanda and David into the dining room. I’ll take Lucy upstairs and get her changed.”

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On arrival in the morning, Melanie receives an anonymous letter telling her to go to one of the storerooms. She hides the note and makes her way to the storeroom. When she opens the door, she sees Nicholas lying on the floor with blood around his head. She screams.

“Melanie, what’s wrong?” asks William, coming up behind her. He looks on the ground. “Someone call 9-1-1!” he yells to one of the staff.

“Is he..Is he dead?” asks Melanie.

“I don’t know,” says William. “We’ll have to wait for the paramedics. But what were you doing here?”

“I-I-I came to get something to clean up a spill at my desk,” says Melanie. “Here are some towels.” She reaches up to grab a roll of paper towels, but in her nervousness, she knocks several down. Behind the rolls, there is a small box. She takes the box down and looks at it.
“What’s this?” she asks.

“Here,” says William. “Let me have that. It looks like one of our boxes that holds our gemstones.” He opens it and sees a row of diamonds. “We’ll have to look into this. You’ve made some big discoveries this morning, Melanie.”

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“What do you think, Robert?” asks Tom.

“I think Cole was probably on to something,” says Robert. “It’s obvious he was caught snooping.”

“Yes, but only we know that,” says Tom. “It looks like others may take a different view of it, in light of the fact that the box of diamonds showed up in the closet with him.”

“But that doesn’t make sense,” says Robert. “If they tried to frame him, they would have left it on his body.”

“But that would mean they would have to explain why it wasn’t removed when he was knocked out,” says Tom.

“And if they weren’t trying to frame him, why didn’t they take the diamonds away?” asks Robert.

“Maybe, they were afraid,” says Tom. “It wouldn’t have been easy to pawn those off.”

“I’m sure there are underground dealers who would ask no questions,” says Robert.

“We’ll have to question the guard to see what he knows,” says Tom.

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“Nicholas is in the hospital with a head wound,” says Frank.

“Oh, my God,” says Carol. “What happened?”

“I don’t know yet,” says Frank. “But I’ve got to get to the hospital. They said he has no other contact, so I’m being asked to stand as next-of-kin. They need to take him to surgery.”

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“Carl, tell me you had nothing to do with this,” says Melanie.

“I don’t know what you mean, darling,” says Carl.

“The guy in the storeroom,” says Melanie. “You sent me there.”

“I sent you there for something else,” says Carl. “But you’d better leave. I hear people coming.”

Melanie quickly leaves as Tom and Robert approach. “Mr. Redd, we’d like to have a word with you.”

They lead Carl to their office, where Floyd is waiting as well.

“We’d like to hear what you know about events that took place last night,” says Robert.

“What events would that be?” asks Carl.

“Mr. Nicholas Cole was found knocked out in one of the janitor’s closets,” says Tom.

“Really?” says Carl. “I know nothing about that.”

“You were not anywhere near that closet?” asks Robert.

“No, I use a different one, on another floor,” says Carl.

“I see,” says Tom. “What about you, Dimmerling? You were on guard duty last night. Didn’t you notice that Cole never left?”

“N-n-n-o,” says Floyd. “I dinn shee no’in.”

“It’s obvious you wouldn’t have seen anything,” Robert says. “You’re drunk and we’re not going to have someone drunk guarding around here. You’re fired.”

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Filed under: All That Glitters