“So it would give me a reasonable excuse for flashing gems and wanting to dispose of them. Aussie said that people liked to think they were getting stones which had been lavishly bestowed on a careless sweetie who didn’t fully realize their value, who found herself temporarily cast off and in need of keeping up appearances.”
“Then Cullens really wanted you to be a front through which he could dispose of stones. Is that it?”
“Yes.”
“But these old-fashioned stones hardly seemed to fit into that picture,” Mason told her, interestedly.
“I think,” she said, “that was part of the build-up.”
“And what did they look like?”
She faced him then and said, “I don’t know. I never saw them. He told me he was taking them up to George Trent to be recut and put in modern settings.”
“And you were to sell them after that?”
“Mr. Trent, I believe, was to sell those. But I was to be in the background. If anyone made inquiries, I was to be the owner.”
“So Trent could get a better price for them?” Mason asked. She nodded. “But,” Mason said, “you rang up Trent on Monday morning, told him that you had a purchaser, that you’d decided not to...”