While the Congressman inspected the specimen, Kevin took the notebook out of the backpack and tossed it onto the desk.
“It’s all in there, sir. How we discovered it, how it works, everything. You are holding an artificially manufactured 200 carat diamond in your hand.”
“This is ridiculous, Fred. Now he’s trying to make a fool of you like he did to me. It’s obviously some kind of forgery.”
“He’s right, Kevin,” Sutter said. “I don’t understand what’s going on here, but this does look a piece of glass. Mr. Tarnwell is a man who is well-respected in the Houston community, and he’s donated a lot of time and money to my campaigns. It’s his word against yours.”
“I know, sir,” Kevin said, “but if you’ll just be patient, I’m sure we can prove to you in another minute that that is a real diamond.” Kevin repeatedly looked at the door to the outer office. Where was he?
“I’m sorry, Kevin. This seems like a matter for the police.” Sutter picked up the phone and told security to come to his office.
“No, you’re our last hope. Tarnwell will have us killed before the night is over.”
“Will you listen to this?” Tarnwell said. “The lies just go on and on. I promise you, Fred, that I am going to ask the DA to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Sir, you have to help us,” Erica said. “Kevin’s telling the truth.”
Sutter only nodded. The look on his face told Kevin that he didn’t believe them. “Let’s just wait for the Capitol police and explain it to them.”
“Mr. Sutter,” Erica said, “you have to arrange protection for us.”
“I don’t have to do anything.”
“It’s so I won’t have them killed,” Tarnwell said. “Come on, Erica. Don’t make this any worse for yourself.”
Kevin’s attention was drawn to a commotion in the outer office. A man with a scraggly beard and gray hair tied in a pony tail was arguing with the secretary.
“No, I’m telling you,” the man said. “Your office called and asked me to be here at eight this morning. I admit I’m a little late, but I’m here.” He wore a short-sleeved dress shirt, solid blue tie, and blue polyester slacks that were a little too tight and a little too short. A battered leather briefcase was in his left hand.
“We have no appointment for you, Mr. Downs.”
At the sound of Downs’ name, Kevin raced to the outer office.
“It’s Dr. Downs,” the scruffy man said. “Fine, I have better things to do than subject myself to silly pranks.” Kevin caught his arm as he turned to leave.
“Dr. Downs, I’m the one who asked you to come.”
“What? No, no, a woman called me.”
“That was a friend of mine. I asked her to call you because I didn’t think you’d come unless the Congressman asked you.”
“You’re right about that.”
“I’ll explain everything in a minute. Could you please come into the Congressman’s office? I can tell you this is not a prank. In fact, I’m relieved you actually came.”
Downs looked dubiously at Kevin, then grudgingly he said, “All right. But just for a few minutes. If you wanted some diamonds appraised, you should have gone to a jeweler.”
“I think this will interest you professionally, Dr. Downs. Did you bring the equipment that my friend requested?”
“Of course.”
They walked back into the Congressman’s office.
“Now who is this?” Congressman Sutter said, throwing his hands up.
“Congressman,” Kevin said. “I’d like to introduce, Dr. Quincy Downs, a geologist from the Smithsonian.”
“The Smithsonian? Oh, well why didn’t you say so?” The Congressman buzzed his secretary.
“Yes, Mr. Sutter?” she answered.
“Marian, call the Smithsonian and ask if they have a Quincy Downs listed. If he’s there, I want to speak with him.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What’s going on here?” Downs said. “I was the one called over here, and now you don’t even believe me?”
“We’ve had a very strange morning here. I want to know if you’re really who you say you are before we go any further.”
Tarnwell seemed to believe it. His face was slowly losing its color.
Marian buzzed back a minute later. “A secretary over at the Natural History Museum said Dr. Downs is a geologist over there. He’s not in at the moment. She said his schedule had him down for an appointment in your office this morning.”
For the first time since arriving at the Congressman’s office, Kevin smiled.
“Will someone please tell me what I’m doing here?” Dr. Downs said.
“Now that we’ve established you’re a geologist…” Sutter held up the diamond specimen and pointed at Kevin. “This man claims that this clear material is a diamond.”
Downs took the specimen from the Congressman. He looked at it for less than five seconds and declared, “This can’t possibly be diamond.”
“What? Why not?” Kevin said in horror.
“Look at it. It has a key in the middle, which means it would have be artificial. I’ve seen a few artificial diamonds, but this one’s ten times as big as the largest I’ve ever heard of.”
Kevin protested. “But you haven’t even tested it.”
“Why bother?”
“I agree, Fred,” Tarnwell said. “There’s no reason to let this go on any longer.”
Kevin looked at the Congressman. “Sir, what harm could it do to test it? It’ll take just a few minutes. If it’s a fake, I’ll let the police take me away peacefully and you’ll never hear from me again.”
Congressman Sutter hesitated, but after a few seconds relented. To Downs he said, “Can you test to see if this is actually a diamond?”
“Sure. But it’s a waste of time.”
“Then go ahead.”
Downs withdrew a jeweler’s loupe and visually inspected the specimen. After about a minute, he removed the loupe from his eye.
“I can’t see any flaws, but the doesn’t mean anything. I’ve been fooled by cubic zirconia before. Fakes are getting better and better. It’s especially difficult to tell without facets.”
“See!” Tarnwell said. “It’s a fake.”
“I didn’t say I was done,” Downs said. He removed a small scale from the bag and then took out a piece of electronic equipment. He placed the specimen on the scale.
A Capitol policeman appeared in the outer office. Sutter motioned for him to wait.
“232 carats. Minus, of course, whatever the key weighs.” The electronic equipment was a 4 inch by 6 inch box with a display. Two wire leads came out of the box’s top and ended in metal-tipped probes.
“What’s that?” said Sutter.
“This measures the electrical resistance of any material. Diamond has a unique resistive signature.” Downs pressed a button to turn the unit on and placed the two probes against the specimen’s surface.
He gasped, then touched the probes twice more against different parts of the surface. “Oh my.”
“What is it?” Kevin said.
“I calibrated this instrument an hour ago.” Downs looked at Kevin. “Where did you get this?”
“I made it.”
“Is it real?” Sutter said.
“You made this?” Downs said, holding the specimen as gently as a robin’s egg.
“Dr. Downs,” Sutter said impatiently.
“It’s incredible,” Downs said. “This is as pure a diamond as I’ve ever seen.”
“But it’s huge,” Sutter said. “It must be worth a fortune.”
“With this clarity and color…If it were cut and polished into gemstones, it would be worth over $10,000 per carat.”
“That’s over $2 million,” Erica said.