She had decided to stay in her room and allow them to search the garden unhindered for the gem she declared they would not find.Catherine, who had slept very little after the storm had subsided and Teresa had gone to her own room, came downstairs to find Ramon seated at the table in the patio with his feet up on an adjacent chair.‘I’ve been up since dawn,’ he complained to justify the enormous breakfast he had obviously consumed. ‘We’ve searched everywhere for that confounded ruby. Do you know what I think?’‘No.’ Catherine sat down at the table beside him.‘I think Lucia lost it somewhere during the fiesta. If so, it will probably be found by some honest peon who will not know the real value and he will hand it to the police.’‘But Lucia was quite sure she had it when she got home from Orotava,’ Catherine protested. ‘Surely she couldn’t be mistaken.’‘She might be trying to cover up for her own misfortune. Losing a valuable family heirloom is far more serious than misplacing a cheap trinket, don’t you think?’‘She took such care of it.
