“Even if Henrika doesn’t show up, the mission should still produce some valuable information,” Desmond said, echoing my earlier thought. “Gia and Evelyn will be very interested to see who is here tonight and apparently doing business with Elsa Eisen.”
Gia Chan was the head of the cleaners in the Washington, D.C., station, and Desmond’s and my direct boss. Evelyn Hawkes masqueraded as a secretary, but she was secretly Maestro, the head of the D.C. station and one of the most important and powerful people in all of Section 47, right up there with General Jethro Percy, Desmond’s father.
“Elsa doesn’t seem very happy to see some of her clients, though,” I replied.
Elsa smiled brightly at everyone who approached her and Lina, but more than once, she stepped forward to shield her niece from having to interact with her more dangerous, notorious guests. Curious, and not what I had expected. By all accounts, the Eisen family business had flourished under Elsa’s guidance, but given her clear lack of enthusiasm in dealing with her criminal clients, I was starting to wonder if she had been trapped in her familial duties the way so many folks at Section 47 were, including Desmond and me.
The two of us were Legacies, Section’s term for someone with family members who had also worked for the spy organization. Being a Legacy could greatly help your standing at Section 47, as it had in Desmond’s case, given that General Percy was the head of the board of directors. Or it could severely diminish your status, as it had in my case, since Jack Locke had been killed on a mission gone wrong, along with several of his fellow cleaners.
“You think Elsa doesn’t enjoy being part of the paramortal underworld?” Desmond asked.
I shrugged. “No way to know for sure without asking her, and that’s not our mission objective.”
A guard went over and whispered something to Elsa, who nodded. The guard retreated, and Elsa stepped forward and clapped her hands together, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Greetings!” she called out. “Thank you all so much for coming to the annual Eisen Christmas Eve party. I am honored to welcome you to my family’s home.”
Lie, my inner voice whispered.
Polite applause rang out at her words, and several people toasted her with their drinks.
“As you know, tonight’s party is also a charity benefit to raise money for a local dance institute,” Elsa said. “So, without further ado, what you’ve all been waiting to see—the Nutcracker Ruby!”
Elsa stepped to the side and swept her hand out. Two security guards pushed a large glass display case into the ballroom and wheeled it over to an empty spot along the wall between two nutcrackers. Elsa gestured for Lina to step forward, and the two of them took up positions on either side of the case, while the guests applauded and a few photographers snapped their pictures. Lina ducked her head and gave them all a shy smile. Elsa was smiling too, but her wide, toothy expression looked as fixed and forced as the nutcrackers’ frozen grins.
In addition to researching Elsa Eisen, I had also studied the Nutcracker Ruby. No one knew where the jewel had come from, only that a wealthy New York businesswoman had the thirty-carat ruby fashioned into a ring, which also featured black and white diamonds and a platinum band. The woman had gifted the ring to her ballerina daughter after a Christmas Eve performance of the ballet in the 1960s, hence the jewel’s name.
The ring had changed hands several times, until Elsa’s father had acquired it at an auction about twenty-five years ago. Tonight was the first time the ruby had been shown in public since Elsa’s parents had died, and all the guests—including Desmond—had paid ten thousand euros each for the pleasure of ogling it, with the proceeds going to charity.
The Nutcracker Ruby was another reason I thought Henrika Hyde might show up tonight. Henrika had an enormous appetite for the finer things in life, but she had a special love of jewelry, and the Nutcracker Ruby was one of the most valuable gems in the world.
“Is the ruby on Henrika’s most-wanted list?” Desmond asked.
I shrugged again. “I’m sure she would love to get her hands on that ruby. Anyone would, since it’s valued at more than thirty million dollars. But Henrika has never shown an overt interest in the ring, not like she did with the Grunglass Necklace, and she doesn’t have a familial connection to the Eisens like she does to Hiram and Petra Halstead.”
Hiram Halstead was Henrika’s father and had been killed when Henrika had bombed one of his hotels last year. Petra was her half sister and was currently in hiding from her murderous sibling. Years ago, Hiram had promised the Grunglass Necklace to Henrika’s mother, his longtime mistress, although Petra had kept the stunning emerald necklace out of Henrika’s hands—and so had I.
As part of my plan to expose the moles inside Section, I had arranged for the Grunglass Necklace to be stolen from the Halstead Hotel and replaced with a fake. Eventually, I had turned the real necklace over to Gia Chan and Evelyn Hawkes, and it was now sitting in an evidence locker at Section 47 headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The applause died down, and the photographers lowered their cameras and stepped back.
Elsa swept her hand out again. “In addition to viewing the ruby, we will also be treated to some scenes from the Nutcracker ballet, performed by the Turtle Doves troupe from Paris, led by prima ballerina Katarina Tanetsa!”
Music trilled out again, and several people dressed in leotards and tutus skipped into the ballroom. They danced to and fro for a moment before falling back into two lines. A woman strode through their ranks, stopped next to the display case, and struck a pose.
Katarina Tanetsa was an accomplished ballerina, although an ankle injury a few years ago had derailed her career and dropped her from the dazzling heights she had once achieved. She was about my size, five-six, with a toned, lithe body. Her light brown hair was sleeked up into a traditional bun, while stage makeup highlighted her hazel eyes and pale skin. Katarina was dancing the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and she was resplendent in a dark, plum-colored costume studded with sparkling light purple crystals. A matching crystal crown adorned her head, while smaller crystals glittered on her short, dark purple nails.
Katarina tilted her head to the side, acknowledging the hearty applause. Lina stepped forward and shyly handed the ballerina a pen, along with the program for tonight, which she autographed.
A few other folks also stepped forward with programs to autograph, but most people clustered around the display case, oohing and aahing over the Nutcracker Ruby under the security guards’ watchful eyes.
“Is the mission still a go?” Desmond asked.
I glanced around the ballroom. The rest of the waitstaff were still circulating through the crowd, although Chef Jacques had disappeared and was no longer around to terrorize Maria or anyone else for daring to cut strudels into squares instead of r-r-rectangles.
“You sure you can knock out the lights?” I asked.
Desmond studied the crystal chandeliers with a critical gaze. “The castle’s wiring is old, so it won’t be as smooth, steady, and easy as if I was working with a modern system, but I can disrupt the power. I’ll make the lights flicker a few times in warning before I shut off the electricity completely. That will force the security system to reboot, and you can slip into Elsa’s office undetected. Just like we planned.”