Diefenbaker glanced at a small cabinet by the wall. I raised a finger, and the top drawer opened on its own. The blue velvet jewelry case rose from it as Diefenbaker’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. The case landed in my hand. I opened it, checking the contents. It certainly was an opal necklace. Looked almost like the real thing—obviously, except for the magic—but it was fake. Even if the jewels were real, this had no power to it at all.
“You had this the whole time?” I asked, baffled. “Then why did you hire gangsters to run around looking for the real one and for Jeffrey?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would I do that? I acquired an item worth the price I paid. What more do I need?”
Diefenbaker seemed to have recovered himself a little. I caught his gaze wandering to something under the table, so I froze him to be safe. Good thing I had; his finger rested an inch from the emergency security button set under his armrest.
“What the—” he said, only able to move his mouth and eyes. “Are you… Who are you? Did you drug me?!”
“Nothing like that, don’t worry. I just want to have a peaceful conversation.” I cleared my throat. “So you believe you have the real jewel and never once suspected that someone pulled a switcheroo on you? So the armed men in black who have the theater on lockdown—”
“What?” Diefenbaker yelped, horrified. “I have nothing to do with anyone like that! Yes, getting the necklace was a risk, but I cut all ties once the deal was done. Keeping your nose clean is vital to modern business. If I were connected to anything fishy, my stocks would plummet! There’s no shortage of people looking to pull me off my throne.”
This was taking a weird turn.
I’d assumed Diefenbaker was those black-suited gangsters’ “boss,” but Diefenbaker didn’t seem to know them. He’d thought the necklace was real. In a sense, he was right about that. To anyone unable to sense magic there was little difference between a big opal and a dragon’s egg.
In which case, why were the men in black after Jeffrey? How did they know the real necklace was out there somewhere? Was another boss hiding in Diefenbaker’s shadow and trying to make off with the dragon egg? Was this boss the alchemist? But the alchemist was using Jeffrey to get away with both the egg and much of Diefenbaker’s money.
My head spun. Diefenbaker started fidgeting, so I locked him in place again.
“For starters, why did you try to purchase that necklace? Someone like you oughta be able to buy jewelry from any number of reputable sources. And it makes no sense for you to lock Laura up in that theater basement. Someone like you would normally keep a girl in a hotel or a California penthouse, take them out on the town decked in furs and diamonds. Why that necklace, that theater, and Laura?”
As I spoke, I nudged his heart. I didn’t have time to slowly thaw the thing for him. I’d expected it to feel like ice from the North Pole, but the reality was somewhat different. It was certainly cold, and covered in a hard shell, but the inside was still surprisingly soft, almost like a young boy’s heart.
Diefenbaker’s square jaw stiffened and then relaxed. His pale blue eyes looked at me as if seeing me for the first time. He blinked.
“I wanted to be a comedian,” he said, his voice low.
“A comedian?” I echoed, despite myself. “Like a stand up? Or more the juggling type?”
“All of them. Standing in a spotlight, bathing in the laugher and applause, singing merrily, doing tricks…” Diefenbaker let out a long sigh. “But I couldn’t. My father and grandfather would never allow it. We started calling ourselves Diefenbaker when my great-grandfather made all the right moves during the Great Depression. Our name was originally Byrne.”
“Byrne?” That sounded familiar.
“One of my ancestors founded that theater,” Diefenbaker—or rather, Byrne—said. He groaned. “My grandfather and father both despised that sort of thing. Said it was foolish. Uncouth. I couldn’t argue with them. Had I not been cursed with this fortune, and the burden of being their only heir, I’d have run away from home, pounded on audition doors like so many other young men and women.
“I did try once, when I was sixteen. I put on a disguise, left the house, and went to the back door of a theater. That theater. Another person owned it, but it was the theater my ancestor had founded. Of course, my father and grandfather caught me. Before I even had a chance to knock on the door, my father and his secretaries pulled up in a limo and dragged me away by my collar.”
He buried his face in his hands, like he was sixteen again.
“I can still see them, the dancing girls in their colorful costumes, filing out of the dressing rooms. My father, yelling as he pushed me out the door. Most of them ignored me, but one girl at the back of the line shot me a quick smile. Her face glittered in the lights, shining with excitement. She was blonde, with red lips…
“They packed me off to a boarding school, and later I got my MBA in economics. I was never allowed to go anywhere near show business again. Even after my father died and I took over the company, I was so busy with work I never had time to dream. Only now that I’m old—”
“You found Laura?” I said, softly. He seemed to be sinking deeper into memory. “I heard you keep her photo in your wallet.”
“No, that’s not her,” Diefenbaker said, frowning. “There’s certainly a picture in my wallet but not one of Laura. It’s the one picture of a stage dancer that escaped my father’s purge. The one memory I have of that day, a photo I bought in the lobby of the Byrne Theater.”
“Can I see?”