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“Well,that’sa coup,” Chelsea said. She sounded more disbelieving than impressed.

“I know.” Ellery directed that mostly at Tosh. “I have mixed feelings about it. But I need the money.”

“Good for you,” Oscar said heartily. He glanced at Tosh.

“I think it’s great,” Freddie said. “And Black Palace is putting a ton of money into this. This is going to be great for you.”

“I hope so.”

“Iknowso,” Freddie said.

“What does Jack say?” Tosh asked.

Chelsea responded, “Why should Jack have a say in anything?”

“Because they’re getting married, Chels!”

“So what? Is Ellery supposed to give up his career—”

“Girls, girls!” Freddie looked taken aback. “It’s between Jack and Ellery, right?”

Lenny said earnestly, “Ell, if this is what you want, I’m totally happy for you. I’m just surprised because I kind of thought your whole reason for coming here was you were done with acting and-and all that.”

“I need the money,” Ellery repeated wearily. “That’s the only reason I agreed. It’s a sweet deal and a small role, andhopefully it’s not going to disrupt anything because I’m very happy with my life right now.”

A small silence followed.

Then Flip picked up his wine glass. “Hey, personally, I think Ellery is making the right choice. We all know opportunities like this come around once in a lifetime. He’d be crazynotto jump at it. We should toast to Ellery’s success.” He rose.

Ellery said uncomfortably, “Really, that’s not—”

He was firmly ignored. Tosh, Chelsea, Lenny, Freddie and Oscar rose also.

“Here’s to the return of Noah Street,” Flip said. “Long may he run—”

“Screaming,” supplied Lenny.

This was followed by laughter and clinking glasses.

Chapter Ten

The first documented owner of the legendary emerald-cut aquamarine known as the Dourdos Aquamarine was the French Emperor Louis XVI. The gem disappeared during the French Revolution but was acquired by Cornelius Vanderbilt following World War I for his wife, wealthy socialite Grace Vanderbilt.

At the time the gem weighed 112.92 carats and had natural, aquatic blue colors. Delicate bands, accented with 130 micro pavé-set diamonds, encircled the stone in its 18k white gold pendant mounting.

Ellery was reading the Wikipedia entry on the Dourdos Aquamarine.

Tosh and Freddie and Oscar had attempted to take Watson for a walk, but Watson was having none of it. He was lying on the sofa between Ellery and Lenny, deigning to allow Lenny to scratch his tummy.

Flip, in a chair by the fireplace, was skimming Ellery’s well-worn copy of 1955’sHistoric and Architectural Resources of Buck Island, Rhode Islandby Philby Hammond, Esq.

The book, as Ellery knew well, was an idiosyncratic but surprisingly useful treasure trove of information about the island’s history. Particularly its more recent history. Flip was hoping to learn something useful about the Dolph family, especially any possible connection between the Dolphs and the Dourdos Aquamarine.

Ellery wasn’t exactly sure what had decided his friends to help him in his “sleuthing”. He hadn’t reallyplannedon any sleuthing, since as far as any of them knew, there was no mystery to be solved. Certainly, not a mystery that involved him or his guests. The fact that this “case” his friends kept referring to did not actually exist, didn’t seem to discourage them at all.

“Oh, my God!” Chelsea, lying on the sofa on the other side of the room, burst out laughing. “You guys, youhaveto see this.” She held out her cell phone to Flip.

Flip sighed, pushed his reading glasses up, and got to his feet. He took the phone, studied the screen for a couple of minutes, and laughed reluctantly.