Fleming: "Since the 19th century, scholars have theorized diamonds could be made through industrial means."
Fleming: "But human industry still hasn't discovered the technology needed to sustain the pressure and heat necessary to turn carbon into diamond."
Fleming: "However, certain arcanists of special bloodlines know another path to creating diamonds."
Fleming: "Sir Laurence Tennant, a British colonial officer in India, was able to use an arcane skill to turn charcoal into diamonds ..."
Fleming: "... and his sole daughter, Ada Tennant, inherited the same fraudulent craft."
Fleming: ...
The rest is a series of criminal accusations against Tennant related to diamonds, and a brief mention of his daughter, Ada Tennant.
Fleming sets the papers down, his face dark as he stares at the private detective in the passenger seat.
Fleming: A clipping from England? That's all you've got for me?!
Fleming: I paid you to investigate Brette Cosette, not some missing charlatan.
Private Detective: Sir, I think this is more than enough to provide the answers you need.
Private Detective: I trust you recognize the details in this report.
Private Detective: An unidentified fugitive woman, and the arcane skill that turns charcoal into diamonds.
The detective gives him a pointed wink.
Fleming: You're saying Brette Cosette is Ada Tennant?
Private Detective: I would say the evidence is clear, Mr. Longen. No one but the Tennant family knows how to turn charcoal into diamonds.
Private Detective: That's all I've got. Now I need to get going.
Private Detective: I have other clients to tend to, you understand.
He lowers his hat and leaves the car.
Fleming leans back in his seat; his eyes drift up and lock on the car's ceiling.
He needs a drinkâor a cigarâboth maybe. But neither can be found in this car.
Fleming: ... Tennant.
He slaps the driver's shoulder hard.
Fleming: To Cosette'sâah, damn it, I mean Tennant's!
The door flies open from a weighty kick.
Fleming: Tennant!
At the far end of the room, a woman leans out from behind a row of equipment.
Tennant: You seem flustered, Fleming. I hope you're not in any danger.
Fleming: Danger? Youâyou are the danger!
Fleming: You're not Brette Cosette. You're the daughter of an old fraud!
Fleming: Ada Tennant!
He slams the newspaper clipping down on the table.
Tennant arches a brow and strolls to the table. She grabs the newspaper with a casual motion.
She makes a play of scanning over the words, once, twice.
Then tosses it back onto the table.
Tennant: I suppose you had a good reason. Still, I hadn't expected you to hire someone to dig into my past ...
Tennant: Fair is fair. Mr. Longen. I am Ada Tennant.
Fleming is speechless, half-stammering. As if he had still hoped she would deny it.
Fleming: ...
Tennant: So what about it?
Fleming: Wh- ... what do you mean?
Fleming: You deceived me, and now you say, "so what"?
Fleming: You've swindled me just like that fraudster, Adelita!
Tennant: Is that so? What have you lost, sir? Have I taken even a single franc from you I hadn't earned?
Fleming: ... ?!
Unconsciously, Fleming rubs the silver ring on his pinky, replaying every detail since he'd met this "Brette Cosette."
â"Brette" exposed Adelita's trick with the "Box from the South," leaving him with several real diamonds.
â"Brette" helped him close a lucrative deal, and the commission she took was fairly earned.
âAs for synthetic diamonds, "Brette" never tried to share that secret ...
Tennant: I admit I am not Brette Cosette, but surely you can see why I might use an alias in our line of work?
Tennant: As for Sir Tennant ... it has been many years since I last saw him.
Tennant: I can still recall the weight of the massive diamond that he placed in my hand, but we're far from close.
Tennant: I never foresaw that those clear, glittering stones would bring such hardship for my family.
She lifts a sharp pear-shaped diamond and closes in on Fleming.
Fleming: Waitâstay back ... What are you doing?
Tennant holds the diamond before his eyes and lets go.
Instinctively, the arms dealer catches it. The hundred-carat stone tumbles in his palm.
Tennant: That is the largest diamond I've ever produced in this lab. But even its size falls short of what my arcane skill can fake.
Tennant spreads her hand wide, drawing his gaze to the countless synthetic diamond machines around her.
Tennant: If I truly meant to turn charcoal into diamonds with my arcane skill, then what use would I have for all this equipment?
Tennant: I refuse to walk my father's path, Fleming. The arcane skill would only lead me to the same fate.
Tennant: âRuin, exile, stripped of name and honor.
Fleming: So then this set-upâwhat's the difference, really?
Tennant: The diamond in your hand was made by theory and precision instruments. It's a product of industry and science, not arcanum.
Tennant: Like a soda from a bottling company or a bit of canned beef. Abundant, mass-produced, bringing vast wealth to its maker.
For a moment Fleming freezes, brow furrowed as he stares at the stone in his palm.
Brilliant, flawless, impossibly hard ... indistinguishable from the real thing.
Tennant: Keep it.
Tennant: Even the sharpest-eyed jeweler in the world would tell you this stone is authentic, identical in composition. Take it as compensation for my little deception.
Fleming: ... Hmph.
He presses the pear-shaped diamond against the metal frame of the chair and scrapes hard.
With a shrill screech, a groove etches into the steel, and the diamond is untouched.
Fleming: And what do you plan to do now?
Tennant: I'll send you flawless stones regularlyâso long as you keep this operation secret.
Tennant: Then I'll keep building capital until I can raise a factory and a network of distributors. Then earn even more.
Tennant: What's worth pursuing other than profit?
Fleming: Profit ...
His fist tightens around the synthetic diamond.
Fleming: You aren't wrong.
Fleming: I underestimated youâno. In fact, I'm beginning to admire you, Madame Tennant.
Fleming: I can tell, deep down, we're the same kind of people.
Tennant: Whatever do you mean?
Fleming: I mean, I'm not gonna hold the past against you.
Fleming: I'll still make my investment. But here's the dealâonce everything is started, I run the factory.
Tennant: And I would just be the technician then?
Fleming: Absolutely. I'll get started on the plans.
Fleming: You and me, Tennant! We're gonna turn the diamond market of Europeâno, the whole worldâupside down!
