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We met up with Odelia while she was setting a course for the jeweler once more, and of course we quickly decided to hook our little wagon to her locomotive and see what she was up to.

“Odelia, we need to talk,” said Dooley, adopting a serious tone.

“Not now, Dooley,” said Odelia as she took large strides in the direction of Gems World, and when we looked up I think we both noticed she was looking exceptionally serious.

“What’s going on?” I asked therefore. Our human is not one of those happy-go-lucky people, but neither is she a person who goes through life with a large chip on her shoulder, or even prone to the kind of moodiness and gloominess some of your more famous detectives seem to suffer from. Take your Sam Spade, for instance, or even your Philip Marlowe. Not exactly a pair of chuckle buddies. No, they’re tough fellas, sucking from cigarettes and talking through the side of their mouths and never happier than when giving some heavy a knuckle sandwich.

“I’m sorry, you guys,” said Odelia, lowering her voice as her eyes flitted to and fro. “Best if we don’t talk right now.” She then whispered, “We’re taking the diamond to a safe place!”

“Gotcha!” I whispered back, and allowed my own eyes to follow the same stroboscopic pattern set by my human. If the walls have ears, the same goes for streets. There’s always someone about with an unhealthy interest in a woman talking to her cats, and ready to take photographic or even videographic evidence of same. Ever since the advent of the smartphone, privacy seems to have become a thing of the past, and before you know it your every single move is documented on some Facebook page and shared by a bunch of strangers.

“Mum’s the word,” I said, and mimicked zipping up my lips to give a good example.

“Why is mum the word, Max?” asked Dooley. “I mean, I know mum isa word, but why is itthe word?”

“It’s an expression, Dooley,” I explained. “It means it’s time to keep quiet.”

This time it was Dooley’s turn to glance around as if expecting a contingent of scary men in trench coats and masks to get ready to bodily drag us into an unmarked van.

“It’s just that this is a very delicate operation, Dooley,” I explained. “We’re moving the Pink Lady to a safe place, and so it’s very important not to draw any unwanted attention to ourselves. You never know who might be watching.”

And in fact now that I thought of it, this wasn’t such a far-fetched idea either. If the people who had stolen that stone thirty years ago, and had now lost it on the beach, had gotten wind that the stone was to be found at Gems World, they might have posted a lookout in front of the jeweler while thinking up ways and means of getting their hands on that precious diamond once more.

Odelia stepped into the store, after glancing left and right for good measure, and we followed in her wake.

“Oh, hi, Mrs. Poole,” said Mr. Linoski, looking pleased as punch to see us again—or at least the human element in our small band of three. “I’ve got the stone ready for you.” He proceeded to slide an envelope across the counter, making certain not to glance down at it, and in doing so acting very conspicuously indeed.

“Why is he acting so weird, Max?” asked Dooley. “They’re all acting so weird, him and Odelia both.”

“You never know who’s watching, Dooley,” I said. “And right now maybe the bad people are watching the store. For all we know they could even have set up shop in an apartment across the street, watching us through their binoculars, to find out what’s going on.”

Cleverly enough Odelia kept herself in front of the counter, and effectively obscured that envelope from view of whoever might be watching in my hypothetical scenario. In fact she was making as little movement as possible while she surreptitiously slipped the envelope into her purse and, like the jeweler, didn’t even bother to look down.

Very smooth!

“What can you tell me about the two cops that were in here?” she asked now.

“Here, I have them on video,” said the jeweler helpfully. He looked very much relieved, and I didn’t wonder. If I was keeping a diamond worth millions in my store, I’d be relieved too if someone took it off my hands.

The jeweler now showed Odelia his phone, and she frowned as she watched the footage.“Well, I’ll be damned,” she muttered.

“Do you recognize them?” asked Mr. Linoski curiously.

Odelia nodded thoughtfully.

“So are they police officers? Should I have handed them the diamond? Only I didn’t feel safe doing that, you see. Especially after your uncle told me that he didn’t have anyone to spare who could guard my store. And then suddenly these two officers showed up—”

“It’s all right,” said Odelia, giving the man a reassuring smile. “I know who they are. And you absolutely did the right thing, Mr. Linoski.”