The Diamond Secret. Ruth Wind

maximum amount of brilliance. And a diamond that is virtually free of interior or exterior inclusions (commonly called flaws) is of the highest quality, for nothing interferes with the passage of light through the diamond. To determine a diamond’s clarity, it is viewed under a 10-power magnification by a trained eye. Minute inclusions neither mar its beauty nor endanger its durability.

      —www.costellos.com.au

      In the parking lot, he headed toward his ridiculous little car. I shook my head. “I’m driving.”

      He wiped his forehead, looked at the blood smeared on his fingers. “You’d better get me a towel first.”

      I looked in the trunk, but it was as bare as every other rental car trunk in the world.

      The pair of photographers, who’d obviously followed me to the hotel, swarmed suddenly out of the close, flashes popping. Grr. What an irritation!

      “Get in the car,” I barked at Luca, and followed him in. “Put something over your face.”

      “What? I do not have anything!”

      “Use your hands, your arms. Cover the fucking blood, all right?” I turned the key. The engine rumbled to humming life, and I backed out, hit the road, letting the car have her head as we hit the open road headed south. Behind us, the photographers scrambled to follow us, but I knew they’d never catch me. Not in this car.