Echoes Acte 1 Noir. - a photo on Flickriver

Jack of Diamonds
Echoes

Acte 1

It was during a warm August that for two weeks my 17-year-old twin sister and I house-sat while our parents were off galivanting in Italy and France.

Our neighbor, and mutual childhood friend Ginny spent those weekends with us.

That first weekend Cadie and Ginny were invited to attend a Friday evening, very formal, affair with a classmate (Lily ) and her wealthy parents.

The girls had tried to have me added, but the excuse was that since Lily’s two (muscular) rugby-playing male cousins were also going as escorts for Cadie and Ginny, I would have been the odd man out. And for Lily’s snooty parents, that just would never do.

Though the two girls felt bad about me staying home alone, this was too exciting of an experience to miss out on. So I accepted my missing out without demure, agreeing that they should, by all means, go, despite the elephant looming in the room.

Said elephant being that Lily was attending the affair without a gentleman's escort. Three girls to Two lads, the math just did not add up in Lily’s parent's world.

My Sister and Ginny got themselves all royally dolled up for the evening, both looking far too radiant for me not to be going out with them and soaking up their attractive, almost magnetic, allure.

Cadie had slipped into her really beautiful ultra soft, slickly shiny, high scoop-necked gown of emerald green

A hugging bodice affair, with a tight fitted pleated waistline from which spilled down the skirt in a most pleasing swishy fashion. Her long silken red hair was down, falling fluidly over her shoulders and along her back.

She was wearing out Mum’s good emeralds that evening.

A v-shaped necklace of seven oval emeralds, each green stone surrounded by round white diamonds. The rest of the matching set was made up of long non pierced three emerald/diamond stone hanging earrings, a wide cuff style bracelet, and two rings( one on each index finger). She had also pinned a magnificent round broach teamed with small dangling diamonds onto the centre of the waist of her vibrant gown, which completed the glittery display.

Ginny was also far too pretty, being elegantly encased in a slithering long black spaghetti strap silk affair with a modest v-neckline, and a long slit in the skirt. It was a new gown, and the rich sheen of it trapped and cruelly held my lustful attention.

Her more modern jewellery consisted of a necklace containing a row of matching round diamonds, and, like Cadie’s, her long curled auburn hair was down, through which hung her matching 5 diamond drop, pierced hook earrings which were titillatingly swaying in and out of her curled locks of hair.

Ginny had also borrowed my sister's rhinestone bracelet.

The decadent bracelet is something special, a real cracker which the word dazzling would be a major understatement.
The attractive piece is a 13-centimeter, five-strand diamond sparkler. The two outer strands were set with stones about 1 1/2 carats in size. The middle strand was set with 3-carat pear-shaped rhinestones. My sister bought it online at a site called Windsor Royal.
And it looked like something royalty would wear, granted theirs would be real and worth a cool million if not more.

Finishing the ultra-dazzling effect, Ginny had slipped on four real diamond rings, two glittering stunners placed on two long painted nail fingers per hand.

Sis took no wrap, whereas Ginny was richly wearing a black 3/4 sleeve satin jacket.

On the right side of the shiny jacket, in even line with her necklace, was pinned an owl-shaped diamond-filled pin.

For the evening, Cadie had “borrowed” father’s classic Triumph Spitfire to drive to the affair, which was being held at the poshly Glewstone Court in Herefordshire.

(Link below)
^^^^^^^^
After seeing the pair off, I puttered around a bit to keep my mind off things. Then becoming bored, I went into the family room to watch an old black and white noir movie titled “Chase a Crooked Shadow”, which I could not get into, my brain still buzzing over my being home instead of out with my girls.

After the movie, I went to my room and picked up the novel I had started, “The Day of the Jackel”.

I went down to the cellar and selected a bottle of wine. Going back upstairs to the kitchen I placed it inside a filled ice bucket.

Then going into my father’s study I took out a bottle of Irish whiskey from his liquor cabinet along with a glass, and several cigars.

I took the lot, along with two wine glasses, out onto the pagoda in Mum’s gardens and set it all out on the table.

Going back inside I changed into black nylon running pants and a black turtleneck, then turning on the radio that played out on the speakers in the pagoda, I found a station with music I could tolerate, and went back outside.

Taking ice from the container holding the chilled wine, I placed it in my glass and poured a measure of the Irish into it. Then putting a lit match to one of the cigars, I settled into thoughtful contemplation as I looked around my surroundings, watching as the cigar smoke lazily drifted off.

Our parent's house is set on the edge of an estate, one and a quarter hectares in size, surrounded on three sides by ancient woodlands. Half the lot is taken up by a hedged garden. In the back of the gardens, 1/2 of a kilometer through the woods, lies the old unused cemetery that has always been treated as Cadie’s, Ginny’s, and myself’s (plus other friends), personal playground.

That last thought opened a train of others, leading back to my disheartenment over not being invited to attend this evening's reception.

Sighing as I pictured the gorgeously clad girls dancing with Lily’s cousins at the affair, I opened my book and tried losing my miserable self in it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It was nearly three long hours later, minutes before one o’clock, before I heard the welcoming sounds of the spitfire’s engine roaring down our road and turning into our driveway.

I put my book and cigar down, pulled out the chilled wine bottle, and filled the two waiting wine glasses. Then poured myself another measure of whisky and settled back to watch the long-awaited show I knew the returning girls would put on.

I was not disappointed.

The happy pair soon came through the open patio doors, both mesmerizing in the sexy fluidly slinky gowns and the titillating sparkling jewels, they were both wearing with appealing glamour.

I could only imagine the stir these two had to have caused at the party.

They soon spotted me and approached the pagoda. I met them as they came swishing up the pagoda stairs and helped seat them, my hand lingering for a few delicious seconds on Ginny’s ultra-soft satin jacket-covered shoulder as I did so.

I sat, watched, and listened as the bewitchingly attired pair recounted their evening’s adventures. The two of them talking at the same time, sometimes even about the same thing.

Then finally there was a lull as they simultaneously drank more wine.

Gulping down wine, Cadie, taking a deep breath, grabbed my hand so hard her rings were digging into my flesh.

I looked at her excited face over the rim of my whiskey glass, the emeralds she had “borrowed “ from Mum flicking their posh fire. In her rush to blurt it out, She stumbled over her words…

“O…Oui Lad, They arrested a thief at the party tonight !”

Before I could say anything about that edgy remark, Ginny piped in…
“A police constable and a detective approached this gentleman at the bar and took him away in handcuffs. Don’t know why, the poor sod. Cadie is convinced he is a thief. ”

Cadie looked at Ginny, then me, with wide mascara-painted eyes…
“But he had to have been a thief don’t you see…. They wouldn’t take a man away in cuffs for just any reason. And with all of us there wearing out valuable jewels, it just stands to reason that’s why he was there in the first place. They just caught him before he probably could do any further mischief. We’ll have to ask Father when he returns.”

Our father is a local police super when he’s not vacationing.

My sister with exuberance, continued…
“And I actually had a dance with him before all that. He also knew what type of car I was driving, very suspicious”

Finally given the time to answer, I looked at her.
“If he was a thief, What was he stealing then, anything turns up missing?”

Cadie looked at us both.
“Not that we know of, but I tell you he was too suave not to be a blackguard, a jewel thief maybe even?”

Ginny gently nudged her
“Don’t sound so disappointed luv.”

Ginny catching me in the act of studying over the two of them, giggled…
Don’t worry my luv, we took inventory after they carted him off. All jewelry, wallets, and purses were present and accounted for, though I think Cadie here was disappointed by that fact. ”

Cadie chirped in defending her concerns.
“And we weren’t the only ones, looking ourselves over, and I’m not disappointed.”

Then she added with a sigh of disappointment …
“Though I suppose he was not a real thief, only did something mundane like account fraud.”

I rose to say…
“Late parking tickets I would assume. You know how the authorities love to overreact over misdemeanors. Now ladies, please excuse me, I need to use the loo.”

They both looked at me smiling as I left. I smiled back, my mind working full time as I allowed a final glance at their pleasant sleekly gown-covered figures, exquisitely jeweled and possibly even a little more susceptibility and vulnerable now that they were drinking wine.

For their chatter about possibly meeting a real thief echoing in my head had placed my thoughts in that direction.

By the time I made it back inside I had decided that the two of them had been tempting fate at the party by wearing out those jewels. So even though they may have escaped one possible thief, it would be interesting to see what happens if they met another.

To be continued

Link to the party venue
www.glewstonecourt.com/

Taken on: June 7, 2024

Tags:

fiction

formal

flicker

flickr

spooky

satin

scoundrel

scream

actress

actor

Artifical

april fools

Arsène

inspector

intelligence

iscoyd

innocence

ballroom

burglar

cat

lady

woman

jewels

joker

jewel

jack of diamonds

kingdom

joke

dark

cops

revenge

rogue

reception

royal

rhinestones

role

play

robbers

gane

Mystery

masquerade

mask

storr

book

novel

rover

garden

path

alley

sneak

crepping

sinister

silk « less

Sets appears in: • Jack Of Diamonds Ecos

Groups appears in: • Story Time • Art made by you and your computer more » • Whimsical • ~ Creative Weddings ~ • Eerie... • Anything Goes! • Sinister Photography • Artful Dodger • ...stranger than fiction. • The Writer's Haven • ai - Artificial Intelligence • Unsettling • Tell a story of your picture • Noir/ Outre-Noir • SML BW • Tell me a story... (Show & Tell) • Building A Mystery • Mod Girls • BURGLAR TALES PART 1 • Strange and Unusual • ₪ FELIX + FRIENDS = FUN ₪ Please Award 2 Photos! • Ladrón De Momentos • Macabre Danse - Bizarre Stories for Curious Children • BAFTA AWARDS Creative Endeavors • Artificial Intelligence • A Eye of the Beholder- Intelligence Creativity • Damsels in Distress • THIEF OF HEARTS • Date Night Romance & Role Play • DEVIOUSLY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS • Twisted Fate • Artificial Intelligence:: AI The Villainous Side • The Blind Pig Speakeasy • Princesses, Damsels, Rogues & Thieves Gallery • The Dark Side Of The Light - No Second Life • True Mystery Photos • Dark Subjects of the Realm • Realms Beyond The Pale • Intrigue of the Realm • the expressions of black and white • Fractured Fairy Tales • Cops and Robbers :Dare's Game • British Mystery Tales • Cat Burglar Noir • Artistic and Creative • Twilight Zone Incarnate • And now... for something completely different… • Theatre de Absurd • Black & White Realms • Story Tellers of the Realm • Writing Crime & Mystery stories • Artificial Intelligence : Hauntingly Allured • Flickr Gallery of Distinction Your Best • Silver Dark - Art Mystery Group - No Second Life • To Catch A Thief • A Wee Bit Wicked • Seven (7) Deadly Sins • Robbers Den • Pseudo Cinematography • Voleur de Coeurs • Pursuing the Posh • Jewel Thief • Mystery After Midnight (Mystère Après Minuit) • Female Burglars • Tales of Thievery • AI Something • AI Art • Down A Rabbit Hole • Synthetic Photography • The Elite Ingenuity • Stablediffusion AI • Strictly Digital Darlings!! • ABBOTS POET & PEASANT PUB CRYPTIC GALLERY • ai generated art • AI-art Universe • ! !! A AI, Digital Art & SL group(opt out) • Excellent Artificial Intelligence • Beautiful AI ART (Opt Out) • Artificial Art Generation • AI - A.I. - Artificial Intelligence: WTF • AI Art is Real Art • AI ART - Artificial Intelligence Creations • Ai World • AI-Generated "Art" • IA Inteligencia Artificial / AI Artificial intelligence • SL~AI-Generated Digital Art • AI Unlimited • AI Artificial Intelligence • Nadia's Stories • Film Noir AI Gallery • Artificial Intelligence : To Entice a Thief « less

Camera: Canon EOS REBEL T3i, f/4.5, 1/60 sec, 30mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS REBEL T3i
Lens:	EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II
Aperture:	f/4.5
Exposure Time:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length:	30mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	On, Fired
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 11.0 Windows
Show full info

Stats: 1,021 views / 2 comments