Death is Forever

decline more than once, they’re never invited to a sight again, which is about the same as being cut out of the diamond business in its entirety.”
    “If that’s how ConMin does business,” Erin said, “they’d be smart to keep it a secret instead of inviting me to do a book about them.”
    Faulkner dismissed the suggestion with a wave of her hand. “They’re so powerful they don’t have to apologize or hide. As long as they stay outside the United States, beyond the reach of the Sherman Antitrust Act, ConMin can do business any way it wants.”
    “Sounds like OPEC,” Erin said.
    “Close,” Faulkner said, nodding. “ConMin is just as high-handed as OPEC ever thought of being. The difference is that the world can get by without diamonds a hell of a lot longer than it can get by without oil. We had no choice but to break OPEC. The diamond cartel is a different matter. Diamonds are a luxury, not a necessity, or we’d have busted ConMin as fast as we cracked Sheikh Yamani’s brainchild. There would have been no other choice.”
    “If ConMin is that powerful, why are they bothering with this charade about the book?” Erin asked.
    “Deniability,” Faulkner said. “The folks who run Con-Min are powerful, not stupid. If you were Tiffany Anyone instead of Matt’s daughter, I suspect you’d have died before you got a chance to count old Abe’s diamonds. But you’re Matt’s daughter, so ConMin has to use titty-fingers. They aren’t preventing discovery of a new diamond deposit, they’re sponsoring an art project. They aren’t threatening your little ass, they’re offering to put it in mink-lined luxury.”
    Erin wasn’t impressed.
    Faulkner sucked hard on the dark cigarillo.
    “Hell, babe, by the time they’re done wining and dining and waving money,” Faulkner continued, “you’ll hand over the mineral rights and kiss their corporate cheeks for caring. You don’t know there’s a mine out there, right?”
    Erin nodded.
    “And even if there is, there’s no guarantee you’ll find it,” Faulkner concluded. “So ConMin comes into the game with a sure million and a career-making book versus whatever Blackburn is offering.”
    “Three million,” Cole said.
    “Presuming you’re good for it,” Faulkner said scornfully. “I’d get a Dun and Bradstreet, a Standard and Poor’s and every other kind of check on this character. He looks like trouble to me, even if his suit coat is silk and fits him like a lover.” She waved her cigarillo at Erin. “Let ConMin romance you around a little. What can it hurt? It will give your daddy and me time to get a team into Crazy Abe’s station and vet the place for you.” She pinned Erin with a dark glance. “What about it? It makes everybody happy, except maybe Blackburn.”
    The silence in the room was so complete that Erin could hear the distant sound of a jet plane lifting from LAX. She looked at her father and then at Nan Faulkner. Their motives were clear and understandable. She looked at Cole, who was as mysterious as the diamonds he’d brought to her. Then she looked back at her father.
    “Is Cole ConMin’s man?”
    “I can’t be certain,” Windsor said.
    “Best estimate,” Erin said coolly, using language her father understood.
    “He’s not ConMin’s.”
    “Is Cole a diamond prospector?” Erin asked.
    “Yes,” Windsor said.
    “A good one?”
    Windsor nodded.
    For a moment there was silence while Erin reviewed the options that had been outlined by her father. She still didn’t like any of them.
    So she chose none of them.
    She reached into her purse, pulled out the worn bag, opened it gently, and shook out the stones onto her palm. She admired their shifting, mysterious light for a moment, then returned all but the deep green stone to the velvet prison. Silently she looked from the diamond to the man who had handled the stone long enough to leave his taste on its time-polished surface.
    “I won’t sell you the mineral rights,” she said to Cole, “but I’ll give you one half the output of any diamond mine that you—”
    “Erin, for the love of—” began Windsor.
    “—help me discover on my claims,” she continued relentlessly, ignoring her father’s interruption. “Nobody will make you a better offer, because nobody will be willing to give up half the mine and the power it represents. To seal the bargain, I’ll give you this.”
    She held out the green diamond, letting it shimmer and glisten on her