The Queen's Jewels

Chapter 10: Rendezvous

Columbia University. November 21, 2004. Sunday morning.

The next morning Neal was at Prentis Hall by seven o'clock. Staying in his studio had unexpected advantages. It was too uncomfortable to oversleep.

Aidan's studio at Prentis had become the base of operations for the musketeers. On the way over, Neal stopped to pick up bagels and coffee for everyone. Over breakfast, they worked out their schedules. Aidan would spend the day working on the chip for the duplicate signal emitter. Travis had said he'd arrive at eight to design the signal jammer. While Neal made the ring setting in the metal shop at Prentis, Richard would prepare a custom ring box back at Watson. The previous night they'd finalized the design for a hidden compartment in the bottom of the ring box. The case appeared to be tooled leather but had a thin aluminum core and was unexpectedly light. When the Marie Antoinette earrings were inside, the weight would be equivalent to a traditional box with only the ring.

Once Travis arrived, Neal headed for the metal shop. On a Sunday morning, he had the shop to himself. Mozzie had brought over the specialized tools required for the job the previous afternoon when he picked up the emerald from the McNally Solitaire. Neal had already made several settings in the past. He didn't expect any issues to crop up.

But when it came time for the first step—melting down the setting—Neal had to hit the pause button, becoming unexpectedly emotional. That ring was meant to be a symbol of his love for Kate. Now all that remained was an empty shell.

He'd made it only a couple of years ago, but back then he'd been a different person. He'd met Mozzie shortly after moving to New York in 2003. Shortly afterward, he became Adler's protégé with the hedge-fund manager schooling him in the high-spending lifestyle of the New York elite just as Mansfeld had done in Europe.

During the period when Neal worked first with Keller, then Klaus, Mozzie, and finally Adler, he'd gone from one sorcerer to another, apprenticing himself out and absorbing every trick he could master. Throughout the process, he was spinning more and more out of control. So what if he nearly got singed? The coin job in Madrid, the Uffizi manuscript, the Berlin museum heist—they all should have been wake-up calls. Instead, after every near disaster, he'd simply flee and move on to the next sorcerer.

Then there was Kate. He'd fallen hard for her. When he made this ring, he was convinced she shared his feelings. They were caught up in the same whirlwind together. Life in the clouds was intoxicating.

When the Ponzi scheme collapsed, so did his dream world. Kate demonstrated her true colors not long afterward. And the ring? One of the last surviving relics of that life was now his ticket to con his way back into the FBI.

Shaking off the memories, Neal tossed the ring into the crucible.

He was using the lost wax process to prepare the new setting, and the schedule was tight. He'd have to carve the wax mold, polish, and refine it by midday if he hoped to cast and finish the ring in the evening. He only had a couple of photos of the original ring to work with. But Tramonte wouldn't have any more knowledge than he did, so it should pass inspection.

Once the gold was melted, Neal made quick work of carving the mold and by eleven was ready for a break. He decided to return to Watson to help Richard. On the way, he'd stop off at Aidan's studio to store his materials and check on Travis and Aidan's progress. He was putting his tools away when Peter called him on his cell phone.

"Have you had lunch yet?" Peter asked.

"No, but I'm aiming to."

"How about I join you? El's working today. She made lunch for both of us. Okay if I meet you at your studio? I could be there in about an hour."