I open my valise and show him the uncut rocks, tilting the bag a little so they glisten. “Here they are. Now, do you have a little information for me?”

“Not yet. I have a guy coming to verify those diamonds.”

“What? You don’t trust me?”

“No offense, man, but I gotta look out for myself. You understand.”

Oh, I understand completely. I also understand that guy is supposed to be here any minute, thanks to the intel that Jana provided. Which is why Quinn hacked into Halsey’s phone and texted the diamond authenticator to cancel this evening’s sudden appointment. All that remained was figuring out who would take his place on such short notice.

And then I see him.

Oh, boy.

“You the guy? Yeah, I’ll bet you’re the guy,” Otto says with a rapid-fire cadence, making him sound like Martin Scorsese on uppers. Then he points at me. “Who’s this? I don’t know this guy. Halsey said it would just be you. I don’t know this guy.”

“Take it easy, man,” Paolo says. “This is my business associate, uh…”

“Ted,” I say, shaking Otto’s hand. You glorious fool.

Just you wait, his eyes reply.

“Ted, huh? Well, yeah, good to meet you, Ted, you the guy with the stuff? I haven’t got long, Halsey said this was an emergency. I’ve never known an emergency that concerned diamonds, but there’s a first time for everything, I suppose. Let me see the stuff, Ted. Come on, break it out.”

I know what Otto’s doing—taking the attention off me. By the time he’s through, Paolo is going to consider me an old trusted buddy compared to this twitchy weirdo. Which is exactly where we want him.

Otto’s performance is kind of inspired, I must admit. He balances his manic Scorsese with a bit of Laurence Olivier from Marathon Man, taking his time when it comes to examining each (very fake) diamond from the stash I’ve brought. He tut-tuts. He looks at the same facet twice, three times, then a fourth just for good measure. He strokes his chin. He talks to himself. By the time he’s ready for a verdict, Paolo’s practically jumping out of his skin.

“They’re real, kid.”

Paolo exhales.

“Halsey told you about my cut, right? No? Well here’s the deal, I take five of these off your hands. I don’t negotiate because before me, you didn’t know if you had real diamonds or stuff that ladies use on their purses and jackets, what’s that called, when you put bright little pieces of clear plastic on something.…?”

“Bedazzling,” I offer.

“That’s exactly right, Ted! You could have been bedazzled by Ted, but thanks to me, you weren’t. You got a problem with me taking five?”

Paolo says he has no problem with that. Otto nods, takes great care to scoop five pieces of worthless glass into a velvet pouch, and then takes his leave. Paolo is so rattled by Hurricane Otto that I have to nudge him back to the business at hand.