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and each other.’”
    Ginny gave an impatient sigh, loud enough to make the lawyer take pause. He found his place and continued. “‘To my daughter, Isabelle Brookes Maguire, I give, devise, and bequeath all of my possessions of every nature and kind, including the property known as Sparrow Island, but excluding any and all properties listed hereafter.’
    “‘To my friend and associate, Jules Beecher, I leave all of my research, textbooks, and equipment that comprise my laboratory, in hopes he will continue the work to which I’ve devoted most of my life.’
    “‘To my dear friend, Ginny Shufflebottom, for all her financial support, I leave my undying gratitude—’”
    “ Gratitude? ” Ginny squealed. “Bloody hell.”
    “If you please, I’m not finished. ‘For her uncompromising faith in my work, I leave to Ginny my most valuable possession, a red diamond known as the Crimson Star.’”
    Right away, Ginny perked up and pulled back her shoulders. “Well … that’s more like it.” She sniffed into a tissue. “Poor, dear George. Please go on, Mr. Bonacelli.”
    “That’s it. The entire will.”
    Ginny seemed to sober up quite suddenly, her eyes focused and alert. “Well, then, I’d like to see the diamond immediately.”
    Bonacelli leaned back in his chair with a deep breath and slow blink of his eyes, as if there were bad news coming. “There’s a slight problem,” he said.
    “What do you mean problem ?”
    He took off his glasses and folded them neatly. “For the past five years, George had been going on about an important discovery he made; one which he claimed would change the world.”
    Jules was instantly alert. “Did he say what kind of discovery?”
    “I have no idea what it was.”
    “He must have mentioned something.”
    “You might find some of his research in the laboratory. I do know he was very excited and said he’d found what he’d been searching for his whole life. However, two years ago, when I came for a visit, he was showing signs of mental illness; rage and confusion. He refused to leave the island.
    Then, two months ago, a letter arrived at my office. George wanted to return to the mainland. He wrote something unintelligible about sowing the earth.”
    “Sowing the earth?” Jules repeated.
    “Yes, starting the world over or some nonsense. I came to pick him up a week later, but as our boat approached the island, George began shooting at us with a rifle. We had to turn back. By the time we returned with police—” Bonacelli stopped and his breath caught. “George had jumped off High Peak to his death.”
    Jules looked horrified. Isabelle met his gaze.
    “We found him along the rocks, had him buried in the family plot outside of London.”
    “What the devil are you going on about?” Ginny shouted. “What’s all that got to do with the diamond?”
    Bonacelli sighed. “I’m getting to that. George never mentioned where he kept the diamond, but we found a jewelry case in his laboratory. Inside was a piece of paper torn from a notebook and dated on the morning of his death.” Bonacelli took a slip of paper from the desk and held it out to Ginny. “This appears to be some kind of riddle. It could either be the ramblings of his madness, or a clue to the whereabouts of the Crimson Star.”
    Ginny took the paper and read each line aloud.
    “A brilliant Star is what you seek
    West of the woods
    East of High Peak
    Open The Book to find a link
    The goddess Hanus,
    Protector of all who think.”
    No one said anything for a long moment.
    “The man was daft!” Ginny gasped, breaking the silence.
    “I must admit,” Jules said, “the prose seems rather trite. Not like George at all.”
    Bonacelli reminded the group that George was not of sound mind when he wrote it. Still, he believed the riddle might be the only clue to finding the diamond.
    “My father was very fond of riddles,” Isabelle said. “Perhaps it isn’t about the Crimson Star at all.”
    “Well, of