Rough Diamond

By Tarry Ionta

When fate offers Gus Freeman a helping hand, in the shape of a large diamond deposited in his begging cap, he grabs the opportunity to try and use it to climb out of the gutter. But possession of the gemstone will change his life in ways he could not possibly have imagined.
He becomes a fugitive, both from the police and a gang of diamond thieves. The gang is led by a psychotic killer, who will stop at nothing to see that Freeman is disposed of before he can act as witness against him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tarry Ionta
• Release date: Jun 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310158544

Tarry Ionta

Born 1933 of Italian parentage. He served in the RAF and worked at various occupations before entering Glasgow University at thirty, to study Maths, Physics, and Astronomy. He completed one year before dropping out to become a telegraphist. Finally, completing his working life with British Telecom Finance Department. His Interests and hobbies comprise mainly of chess, and reading science fiction. He has also had a keen, practicing interest in computing and martial arts (Judo and Shotokan Karate) and music (Saxophone, Clarinet, and Piano - Over twelve years with City of Glasgow Military Band). Now retired and no longer active in those fields, he prefers to concentrate on writing. He has been writing since 1988, having written over fifty varied short stories, a few articles, novellas, novels, and a children's fantasy book. Several short stories have been published in anthologies and on the Internet. A few have also been short-listed in the WRITER'S NEWS monthly competitions. He continues to write.

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ROUGH DIAMOND

by

Tarry Ionta ©

Copyright 2015

E-book Smashwords edition 2015 ISBN: 9781310158544

License Notes

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it to the owner and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Any resemblance to actual people and events is purely coincidental. This is a work of fiction.

The original images used to form the cover of this book are in the Public Domain. If anyone knows of anything to the contrary please inform the author at:

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Chapter 1

It was just a cap, you might say; dirty, threadbare and stained, not even fit to wear any more. One of those Mountie style hats with a narrow brim and thick furry ear flaps tied up on top. I had acquired it from a high class bin, uptown somewhere. But it was my lifeline; all that stood between me and the grave. It had been my faithful companion for almost two years, sitting in front of me on the pavement, begging for a few coins from any passers-by that felt enough pity to put their hands in their pockets or purses. I had reached the stage where I didn’t even have enough mental energy to ask for a handout, my mind almost comatose; oblivious to all around me. I just let the pitiful cap say it for me.

The few coins that my cap scraped together were all that kept me from starving. Affording me the odd scrap of cold meat or loaf of bread that had barely kept my soul from leaving my emaciated body. How often I had wished that the faithful old cap would just give up collecting, and let me pass into oblivion; or whatever afterlife was out there. But it had more fortitude than its owner. Wherever I put it down, it did its work to the best of its ability. And though it didn’t earn much, it stubbornly kept me alive.

So we moved, my cap and I, from one pavement to another, sleeping where I could. A doorway, the local park, or a dark alleyway were my resting places; dry, wet, or cold. It made no difference. Often I would drop into a fitful sleep with the thought that this would be my final slumber. Hoping, that this would be my final resting place; that I would waken no more.

But fate is a strange and often cruel master; one that must be obeyed. It chose to intervene in the simplest of manners; one that might have passed me by, but for my faithful cap. Yes, I was poorly nourished, in no fit mental state to make a logical assessment. So, in retrospect, I realize that I was delusional. But I still like to think, even now, that fate was using the cap to force my attention on a single item by placing it on top of a meager pile of small denominational coins.

That it was dropped there accidentally, I was never in any doubt, at the time. How could it be otherwise? But there it lay, bright and shining and in total contrast to the dull discolored coins that were its bed. It was a diamond the size of a hazelnut.

My eyes saw it. But my mind, in its bemused state, had no recognition of its reality. It was just there; a meaningless, glittering thing, standing out among the lackluster coins. Awareness came slowly, as I realized that what I was seeing was not a figment of my imagination. And the possibilities gradually started to seep into my awareness. If only…? I remember thinking. If only it were real. It was just a thought, at that precise moment, without any real sense of hope.

I had a vague recollection of a figure stopping in front of me, quickly ramming a hand into a deep pocket, then depositing the contents of his fist into my cap. It had been empty until then, as it was, more often than not.

I stretched out a ragged gloved hand and lifted the diamond, with a thumb and forefinger that had long been denuded of their gloved coverings. I peered at it closely. The glittering eye that looked back at me seemed real enough. That possibility was enough to bring my mind to its full awareness. I breathed on the stone, and saw the fogging of my breath disappear almost instantly. And it was only then that a little butterfly of hope started churning in my stomach.

There was only one other way I knew of testing its authenticity. I pulled the tattered newspaper out of my pocket, turned the stone upside down and laid it on the print. The refraction was such that I could not make out the print beneath it. It was just a blurred black patch through the gem. Another positive sign. I let out a deep breath, not realizing until then, that for those few seconds I hadn’t dared to breathe.

My mind started doing something that