The Case of the Scarlet Brooch
Chapter 10"Please come in, gentlemen. Mrs. Quince is waiting for you on the patio," Malcolm explained when he opened the door.
"Thank God. A butler dressed appropriately," Jeff whispered as Malcolm led them to the patio.
"Of course he's dressed appropriately. He's a butler. How else would he dress?" Stu whispered back.
"You didn't see what I saw yesterday," came the reply from Jeff, remembering what Samuel looked like in Coronado Flats.
The patio was gigantic and quite lovely, surrounded by a carefully cultivated garden filled with all sorts of flowering trees and shrubs. Lilith Madison Quince was seated at a table, with a goblet full of Mimosa in her left hand. She was a woman of perhaps fifty-five or sixty, with golden blonde hair caught in a Barrett and held behind her head. She wore a peach silk dress and looked like the very definition of springtime.
"Mr. Spencer," she said, extending her right hand to Jeff. He took the proffered hand and shook it gently, and she wrapped her fingers around his and smiled at him. "And you are the unknown quantity, Mr. Bailey," and Stuart kissed the back of her hand. "Ah, I always appreciate a man who is gallant."
"It's our pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Quince," Stuart told her in reply.
"Please, gentlemen, have a seat. Malcolm, two more Mimosas."
"Can you make ours just orange juice, please," Jeff spoke up.
"Certainly, Mr. Spencer. I understand. Now please, let's get this out of the way and become informal. I am Lilith, and I understand you are Jeff," raising her glass to Jeff, "and you are Stuart. Is that acceptable to the two of you?"
"Yes, ma'am," they said in unison.
"Now, you have questions for me?"
Jeff started. "I assume that your mother has a bedroom at your house, with a very large jewelry box in it."
"Yes, that's correct."
"And the jewelry box is kept locked?" Stu asked.
"Yes."
"When was the last time your mother stayed overnight with you, Lilith? And did she have her scarlet brooch with her?" Stu continued.
"Two days after Christmas. She came by to tell me that she wasn't throwing a New Year's party this year; her intention was to let each house decide what they wanted to do. She stayed overnight and left the next day after breakfast."
Jeff spoke up next. "What did you do for New Year's, Lilith?"
She laughed. "Nothing, Jeff. Nola and Spencer drove up and we spent a quiet New Year here. It was lovely having them with me. We had a delicious dinner and watched the ball drop in New York."
"I assume they spent the night here," Stuart suggested.
"Yes, they did."
"Do you have the key for your mother's jewelry box?" Jeff assumed the answer was yes but had to ask the question.
"I do. Would you like to see it?"
"If we may."
Lilith led them through the house and upstairs to the bedrooms. The inside of the house was decorated as beautifully as the patio. When they got to Iris' jewelry box, Lilith removed a key from her pocket and unlocked it. She removed the fourth drawer and opened the hidden compartment. Inside was a scarlet brooch. She seemed completely taken aback. "I . . . I don't understand. Mother didn't bring the brooch with her when she came in December. How can this be here?"
"Do you mind if I examine it?" Stu asked.
"Go right ahead." Lilith sat down on the bed and watched the two private investigators. Stu lifted the brooch carefully from its place in the drawer and held it up to the light.
"Take a look at this, Jeff," Stu told his partner.
Jeff took the brooch from Stu and looked it over carefully. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Stu nodded. "Yes, but I don't know how to account for it."
"Please, gentlemen, don't keep me in suspense. What are you thinking?"
"That this brooch is a very good copy of your mother's ruby brooch," Stuart answered Lilith. "Of course, we can't be positive until it's examined, but neither one of us believes it's real."
"But how . . . how did it get here? And where did it come from? And where is Mother's brooch?"
Jeff had begun to form a theory, and he attempted to follow it a little further. "Who's been here recently besides your Mother and your children?"
"Let's see. Arden and Tabitha came down right after Thanksgiving, and Prudence dropped by to tell me she was trying to persuade Mother to have Christmas at her place this year."
"Prudence lives in Marina Del Rey?"
"Yes, she and McCormick have an estate there."
"An estate?" Stu asked curiously.
Lilith suppressed a laugh. "I think that's all you could call it. The house has fourteen bedrooms and the grounds would put my little garden to shame."
"I don't mean to be insensitive, but how is it that Prudence is the only one of the four of you that doesn't live in a house that Iris owns?" Bailey questioned.
"That's an easy answer," Lilith responded. "McCormick Simington comes from a family that was even wealthier than Sinclair Huntington's. The estate was the spot where McCormick grew up. He was an only child and inherited everything his parents owned. He wouldn't live anywhere else."
"Look, Lilith, we'd like to take this brooch with us and have it analyzed. If it's the real thing, we'll simply return it to Mrs. Huntington and tell her we found it. If it's not, we're going to pay your sister Prudence a visit. Will you trust us to take it with us?"
"Of course, Jeff. If it's the real brooch, it belongs with Mother. If It's glass, I certainly don't want it. You can do with it as you wish. Now please, Francis spent all morning preparing a lovely lunch for us, and she will never forgive me if I let the two of you leave without joining me back on the patio. Please tell me you'll stay."
Stu placed the brooch in an evidence bag and put it in his inside pocket. He and Jeff exchanged glances before Bailey told their hostess, "Of course we'll stay, Lilith. We wouldn't want to disappoint Francis."
Lilith smiled and hooked one arm through each of the arms offered to her by the private investigators. "Lunch for three, Francis," she called as they got downstairs.