by Annie Seaton
About Diamond Sky
‘Seaton absolutely raises the bar in rural fiction.’ Australian Women’s Weekly
The isolated beauty of the Kimberley can be deadly if you’re not paying attention …
The remote Matsu diamond mine in the Kimberley is the perfect place for engineer Dru Porter to hide. The vast and rugged landscape helps her feel invisible. And safe. Surely the terror she left behind in Dubai will never find her here?
Security specialist Connor Kirk knows from experience that beautiful women are capable of treachery. Arriving at Matsu to investigate a diamond theft, he immediately suspects the reclusive but obviously capable Dru Porter. He knows she’s hiding something.
As Connor’s investigation deepens and Dru’s past catches up with her, their instant, mutual dislike threatens to blind them to the true danger lurking in the mine, one which could leave them both at the mercy of the desert …
Contents
Cover
About Diamond Sky
Dedication
Map of the Kimberley
Epigraph
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Acknowledgements
About Annie Seaton
Also by Annie Seaton
Copyright page
As always to Ian, my ever-patient and loving husband.
You are always there for me.
We steered this morning through a splendid country, rocky and undulating, which for twelve miles maintained the same character . . . the creeks we crossed were perfectly dry. To the Northward, several small ranges appeared in the distance.
Kimberley explorer Alexander Forrest, in his Journal of Expedition from De Grey River to Port Darwin. Perth, 1880.
Chapter 1
September
Head Office, Matsu Diamonds—Perth, Western Australia
‘We’re prepared to pay double your going rate if you—’
‘Before we discuss my rates, I need you to tell me more about the actual theft please, John.’ Connor Kirk kept his voice polite. ‘I know the documents you had couriered to me in Indonesia were just an overview of the case. I understand you didn’t send them electronically because of the confidential nature of the investigation, but now I’d like to hear the actual details. I need you to take me through what happened step by step and explain how you discovered there had been a theft at the mine itself.’
John Robinson, CEO of Matsu Diamonds, steepled his fingers in front of him. ‘Okay . . . but before we get to the details, if you accept the contract, just let me—’ He paused as the door opened and his assistant entered with a tray set with two fine china cups and saucers, a coffeepot and some sandwiches. When they were alone again, he continued. ‘Just let me say at the outset that I’m very pleased that you . . . that your firm is considering taking on this investigation for us, and very pleased that you would be the man on the ground, so to speak. You have an excellent reputation, Connor.’
Connor nodded and leaned back; he was the best in his field but he didn’t need to be flattered. If he decided to take this case on—it was very different to his recent experiences—it wouldn’t be because of the opinion of the CEO or the company. He did things his own way and he didn’t want his perceptions to be influenced by anything other than fact. However he forced a smile to his face as Robinson continued.
‘Your company—and you in particular—have a stellar reputation for your results and your discretion. We want you to take on the investigation for us. No matter what it costs.’ John leaned forward and looked at him intently.
Connor stared back at him without commenting. Robinson didn’t know—and he didn’t need to know—that Connor was the company. In the field he worked alone and that was the way it would stay.
‘I’m aware that this sort of investigation is different to the cases you usually take on, but we want the best.’
‘So . . . John, a diamond theft?’ Connor bit down on his impatience and turned the conversation to the case in hand. He directed the CEO back to the actual theft. Robinson was right, a diamond theft in Australia was very different to his usual type of job, but maybe it was time to ease back. Lately he’d been pushing the boundaries with risk taking in Indonesia and he was tired. One wrong decision over there could be deadly. This job would be a nice change from risking his life busting drug rings in South-East Asia.
Robinson continued. ‘So far we’ve kept our investigations very quiet at this end. We don’t want the thief or thieves tipped off. It has to be an inside job of course.’ John reached for a folder from the desk in front of him and handed it to Connor. ‘There are three staff who are of particular interest, the—’
Connor put the folder down without opening it. ‘Before we talk suspects, tell me more about the theft.’
John stopped talking and stared past Connor to the glass window that overlooked the Perth CBD. Connor had glanced briefly at the magnificent vista of blue sky and the river running along the expressway earlier. The outlook was good but in his opinion too distracting for an office view.
‘I want to know exactly how you found out that the diamonds had bypassed your security. And where they ended up.’
John shook his head. ‘I’m sorry. I’m still having trouble getting my head around it. The discovery was a shock. The mine has state of the art monitoring equipment in place; it cost us millions to install. Comprehensive searches at the point where the diamonds leave the recovery room, a body scanner at the exit gate, and X-raying of luggage before they fly out, a bulletproof vehicle that takes the bags of rough diamonds to the flight each day, cameras all over the site and a twenty-four-hour security shift.’
‘Certainly sounds tight.’ Connor sat still; John hadn’t answered his question. ‘So when were you first made aware that there had been a theft? Tell me exactly what happened please.’
John nodded and reached for the coffee pot. Connor waited patiently as he filled both cups, adding two sugar cubes to his own and stirring it slowly. The clinking of the teaspoon against the fine china tinkled softly in the quiet room.
‘Last month, the personal assistant of an international businessman turned up at an exclusive jeweller’s in Antwerp with six of our violet diamonds and an order for a necklace.’
Connor frowned. ‘There was nothing about that in the file you gave me.’
‘I was holding that information back until I met with you personally.’ John stared at him over his glasses before he lifted another folder from his desk and passed it over. ‘The contents of this file are very sensitive and highly confidential. Please don’t share it with any of your colleagues.’
‘I won’t.’ Connor nodded and glanced down at the file in his hand. ‘So tell me. What’s so unusual about a customer bringing some diamonds to be set in a necklace?’
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br /> ‘Nothing normally, except that every Matsu diamond is laser etched with a unique identifier before being released to market. Fortunately, Hughie Van Hoebeek, the jeweller, has a very close relationship with our company. As soon as he realised that these six diamonds hadn’t been laser etched when they were cut, he contacted us. When we went through our database, we had no records of those particular diamonds ever being on site. Of even more concern, this man’s personal assistant brought with him a pair of earrings that he wanted the necklace matched to. Again our diamonds, and again no etching.’
‘So where does the businessman come from? Is he Australian?’
‘No, he’s lived around the world but he’s currently based in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. That’s where he was born and where most of his companies are registered.’
‘Where are the diamonds now?’
‘Still in Antwerp. Hughie Van Hoebeek has secured them all. The theft has been reported to the World Diamond Council and Interpol has been notified.’ John put his cup down and his frown deepened. ‘So you can see why we need professional investigative help here. We can’t afford to have our security breached. There are potentially billions of dollars’ worth of diamonds to be compromised here. The stolen diamonds are some of our biggest—Hughie has sent photos as well as weights. The value of each individual stone would be at least one million dollars.’
Connor let out a low whistle.
Steely determination glinted in John’s eyes. ‘No one has been interviewed on site because we don’t want whoever is responsible to know that we’re aware of the thefts. I want you to take this on, but very discreetly.’
Connor’s interest was fully engaged now. One million dollars for a single diamond was a lot of money. ‘As I said before, this is very different to my usual brief. You’ll need to give me a lot more background information.’
‘Most of it is in the files here.’ John gestured to the folders on the desk. ‘But I’ll be available twenty-four seven to answer any questions you may have.’
‘Okay. First up, tell me how the diamonds can be unequivocally identified as being from Matsu.’
‘Do you know anything about diamonds, Connor?’
‘Not really. Our usual line of work is industrial espionage.’ Not exactly truthful but that was the public face of his company.
John picked up his cup and sipped his coffee. He put it carefully in the saucer and placed his hands in front of him on the desk. ‘The Matsu diamond pipe is a diamondiferous olivine lamproite diatreme with an age of about 1178 million years. Coloured diamonds, such as the Matsu violets, have what is known as a defect centre, where one or more of the carbon atoms in the diamond lattice may be missing, or may have been replaced with a different element. The crystalline structure is unique to our diamonds.’
‘Okay. Now put that in layman’s terms for me.’ Connor sat back and folded his arms, trying to get his head around the scientific stuff.
‘There are only three other places in the world where pink diamonds are found, but violet diamonds are unique to us. That’s what makes them so valuable. Matsu violets can be priced anywhere from three hundred thousand dollars up to over two million dollars per carat.’ John pursed his lips before continuing. ‘This is obviously an inside job. There is no way that anyone can get on site at Matsu unless they are staff. And as I said, security at the mine is state of the art. We’ve put a lot of money into securing the site.’
But obviously not enough, thought Connor. There was always the human element. Where there was money to be made, there was human greed and anything could be bypassed if the right palms were greased. He’d lost count of the number of times he’d seen that in the last ten years.
‘To help you understand the certainty that these are our diamonds—apart from the colour of course—I’ll show you what they look like.’ John picked up a pencil and began to sketch. ‘It’s the crystalline structure that makes them easily identifiable as being from our mine. While some coloured diamonds get their colour through the addition of a chemical impurity, this is not the case for our violets. Violet diamonds get their colour from a distortion in the crystal lattice structure of the stone.’ The pencil flew over the paper and an intricate shape appeared. John held it up and pointed to the centre of the lattice shape. ‘This distortion in the crystal structure leads to internal graining in the stone. It is believed to occur after the diamond has begun to grow rather than at the point of formation. But it’s still all hypothetical and we’re still putting a lot of money into research.’ He put the paper down and stared at Connor. ‘But we can identify the source of these diamonds unequivocally. They are from Matsu. There is absolutely no doubt that some diamonds are bypassing our process.’
‘Is it possible that a visitor might have found the diamonds? You do have daily tours of the plant in the dry season.’ Connor had read up on the mine: the historical, the economic and the tourist perspectives. ‘Outsiders are frequently on site.’
‘Tourists can be discounted. When you’re there, you’ll see the security in place. And anyway, the tours go nowhere near the recovery area.’ John shook his head, but Connor thought he was being naive if he thought any security system was perfect.
‘So talk me through the process from the beginning.’
‘The diamonds are normally mined here—’ John gestured to several large photographs of a tiered open cut mine along the wall beside the desk ‘—and then processed on site and shipped out to our cutting facility in Perth. That’s where they are laser etched for further identification.’
‘What’s laser etching?’
‘Laser inscriptions are grading report numbers, inscribed on the girdle of the diamond. A very precise laser beam transforms the micro thin layer of diamond from its transparent form to a form that is visible under magnification.’
‘So not easily seen?’
‘No. Not visible to the naked eye. Usually ten to twenty times magnification required before you can see them. The diamonds in Antwerp had been cut and not etched, so did not go through any of our usual processes.’
Connor nodded. ‘So what you’re saying is that the diamonds were mined on site, but removed by someone before being recorded or going through the usual etching process.’
‘That’s correct. And cut elsewhere.’
A dozen possibilities flashed through Connor’s mind but he pushed them aside.
Facts first. He turned his full attention to John as the man outlined the internal investigation that had been undertaken so far.
‘As I said before, this whole issue has been kept very quiet. The last thing we want to do is tip off whoever is taking the diamonds from the recovery area.’
Connor nodded. ‘That goes without saying.’
‘There is another possibility. Very unlikely but probably needs mentioning.’ John’s voice was low and Connor leaned in closer.
‘While we previously retrieved the gems from the open cut mine, and we now mine underground, the weathering and erosion of the pipe still releases diamonds.’
‘How do you mean releases them?’
‘They’re washed down the creeks that drain from the pipe, and this means that diamonds can simply lie on the ground until someone stumbles across one.’
‘What? You mean just lying there ready to be picked up? So if someone picked one up on site, they could just pocket it and walk out?’ Connor shook his head. Security, be damned.
‘Yes, hypothetically, they can be picked up from the ground.’ John raised his hand and held his fingers flat, staring at them as though he was holding a diamond on the flat of his palm. ‘But the chances of doing that six times? Not likely at all. Even if that had happened, the X-ray, body scanning, and search processes should have prevented them being taken off site. That’s where our problem is. It should be impossible to get them off site.’
‘Well it’s obviously not impossible. It seems there is a way to get them out. Is there a way to leave the mine site without going through secur
ity?’
‘Highly unlikely. The terrain is almost impassable south, east and west. When you see the terrain you will understand why we’ve discounted any connection there.’
Connor held up the folder. ‘I assume it’s outlined in here?’
‘That’s correct.’ John stared at him and the worry lines etched into his forehead eased a little. ‘You also need to know there are some cultural issues concerning the tailings dam at the moment. There’s some strong talk of the traditional owners wanting the site back, and although that’s unlikely to be related to the theft, you do need to be aware of it.’
‘Would that create difficulties for the mine?’
‘Too bloody right it would. But that’s another issue we can discuss later. I’m going up to Matsu in a couple of weeks for a meeting with the local Aboriginal community. When you have a look at the files, there’s a mention of one of our Indigenous staff in the list of suspects but I don’t believe he should have been included. If you take the job on, we’ll talk more about the staff who’ve been flagged.’
‘Okay.’
‘The head of our security operation there is Don Finlayson. He’s the best in the business. If you take us on, he has suggested a way for you to go in undercover.’
‘Can he be trusted?’
‘Of course. I’d trust Don with my life. He’s been a close, personal friend for many years. He’s the godfather to our eldest son. He was the one who suggested your firm to me; he’s as perturbed by what’s happened as the rest of us.’
Perturbed? An interesting way to put it. When there were billions of dollars at stake and you were responsible for the security system that had been breached, you’d be more than bloody perturbed. Connor filed that information away to look at later. Everyone was a suspect for him, no matter whose godfather they were.
John pulled a handkerchief from the pocket of his trousers and mopped his brow. ‘There’s been a spate of workplace accidents over the past weeks and that’s why your presence on site won’t raise any eyebrows. Don will set up a position for you, a workplace safety role. That way you can be all over the site without raising suspicions. Your brief will be to get in there and find out how the security is being breached. The initial contract is for three months. So what do you say?’