The Diamond Necklace

Written by Tom Fowler, Published on 2/27/2009

Eleanor Williams was as vain as she was rich, but also as kind-hearted as she was wealthy. She enjoyed giving frequent cocktail parties with close friends. So it was one Friday evening when she hosted a small group of friends in her luxurious downtown penthouse apartment.

Eleanor was very observant and could be critical of her friends, but always kept these thoughts private. She tended to be domineering, but everyone who knew her well knew that this was simply a cover for her gentler disposition.

This particular Friday evening would later become known within Eleanor’s circle as the Night of the Diamond Necklace. The initial act in the chain of events leading to her necklace’s disappearance was simple enough: at 5:20 p.m., as she held the necklace aloft to place it around her neck, the bedside telephone rang. It turned out to be a wrong number, but it caused her to forget she had left the necklace sitting on the top of the lavish, king-sized bed. Eleanor was a wealthy woman who often wore expensive jewelry, so it was not surprising that she became distracted and simply forgot about it.

The Duncans arrived first, right at 5:30. Harold and Fiona were dressed casually. The outgoing Harold, a retired senior executive from one of Eleanor’s charitable organizations, wore a turtleneck sweater and blue blazer. He was one of Eleanor’s favorites and would stay close to her all evening. Fiona, quiet and unassuming, sported a simple and relatively inexpensive evening dress, but with a very tasteful matching purse and jacket. She also wore a pair of high heel shoes with the pointy heels that Eleanor detested, not only because she did not like the looks of them, but they tended to put deep indentations into the plush carpet which covered all of the floors in the elegant apartment, except the kitchen. Eleanor quietly wished that dinner parties could someday be truly formal again, but said nothing to her dear friends. She took Fiona’s jacket and purse to the hall closet, still not remembering the sparkling necklace lying on the bed, easily visible from the restroom and hall closet outside.

Next to arrive was Colonel Barrow. Colonel Stephen Barrow was recently retired from the U.S. Air Force and still sported the deep suntan he had gained overseas on his last assignment. The colonel was noisy, gregarious, a bit clumsy, and capable of filling a room with simply his presence. Eleanor inwardly groaned when she saw him in his too-baggy suit with unfashionably large coat pockets and lapels. She determined to see the colonel again soon and buy him something more stylish. The poor man had been overseas too long. Eleanor took his coat and put it in the same closet with Fiona Duncan’s jacket.

Last to arrive was Abby Grant, who rang the door chime as everyone else was in the middle of their first drink. Abby was an elderly widow who was heiress to the Grant paper fortune. Her father’s company made everything from nose tissue to cardboard boxes. If an item was made of paper or cardboard, Abby’s company was the sales leader in the industry, or close to it. She was very rich but also very eccentric. Tonight, she wore a skintight sleeveless evening gown, sported her own diamond necklace, and a pair of short, black velvet gloves. Abby wore no jacket so Eleanor, the perfect hostess, mixed Abby her favorite drink and served it herself.

The group sat in the comfortable living room visiting over cocktails. Eleanor took her favorite chair, facing the kitchen with her back to the hall. During the cocktail period, Colonel Barrow excused himself from the group to visit the hall restroom, which sat just off of the living room entrance and next to the closet, and Fiona followed shortly thereafter to wash her hands. Harold excused himself for a moment to retrieve ice from the kitchen. When he returned, Eleanor invited everyone into the hallway. There they grouped together underneath a new painting Eleanor wanted to show off. Later, she would recall that during this time Abby had excused herself briefly to suppress a sneezing fit, but Eleanor couldn’t recall where she headed to get away from the group.

Dinner was served at 6:15 by a longtime family caterer and friend, Maurice Eades. Maurice was no different from any of Eleanor’s friends. He loved the lady as family but his nerves were always put to the test when he was working for her, for Eleanor would never let him out of her keen sight when serving one of her dinners. He had considered asking her to find another caterer because of it, but had never had the heart to follow through.

At dinner, Eleanor admired Abby’s necklace and realized she was not wearing her own. Vanity kept her from retrieving it, after she recalled leaving it on her bed. She did not wish to indicate to her friends that she had forgotten to finish dressing for the party.

After a very pleasant evening, which ended around 9:30, Eleanor returned to her bedroom and found the necklace missing.

Eleanor, failing a bit physically in her later years but still in possession of a razor sharp mind, looked over the bedroom carefully. Her diamond necklace was the only thing missing. Eleanor would know shortly who had taken the necklace. All she had to do was survey the apartment and replay the mental video of the evening in her mind …