Neil's Diamond continued

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After a short while – it could have been longer than a couple of minutes but Neil couldn’t tell, he decided that he ought to make an effort to get up and go home as he’d said he would. As he turned onto his right side away from the puke and to avoid putting any weight on his still sore left arm, he saw it. At first he thought the flash of light was a crack or a scratch on his glasses (just what he needed!). Then, as his eyes moves back to the spot where they’d first caught the brilliant flash, it came again. He stared at the point. It seemed to be coming from under the pavement. It was coming up from between a crack in the paving stones; it followed his movement like a flashing light. Moving forwards to take a closer look for the source of the bright beams of light, it suddenly disappeared. Realising that his shadow from the lights of the jewellers behind him had cast its shadow over the source of the light, he moved back again. There it was again. Getting onto all fours and attempting to crawl around the source of the fascinating lights, Neil became aware of the incredulity of how he might look. He was drunk, he was clutching his arm and attempting to stare into a small crack between two paving stones.

Still mesmerized by the lights, however, the realization of his predicament didn’t stop his desire to seek the source. Kneeling and putting his head as close as he could to the crack without obscuring the light from the shop, Neil peered into the beam. He could see something there; something lodged between the paving stones. Something small and bright. Something with many panes of light-emitting beauty. It was a diamond. A huge diamond.

Drunk as he was, Neil knew what he was looking at. There, wedged about a centimetre and half below the level of the pavement was a diamond of incredible size. It was a genuinely sobering moment. What should he do – could he get it out? What would he do with it if he did? Could he sell it? Surely something as large as that would be known somewhere – someone must know it was missing. Thinking quickly Neil assessed his options. There were many but all were overridden by his desire to have the diamond – leaving it where it was would always be a mistake that he would regret for the rest of his life. He had to try to get it out – besides, possession is ninth tenths of the law (well so his father had always said!).

Looking furtively up an down the deserted street, he decided that there was only one camera that he could see that might be remotely recording him – it was dark and he wasn’t exactly known in these parts. Turning his back to the camera as if in the belief that a small CCTV camera high up on a four storey building two hundred metres away might be able to make out his features, Neil rummaged in his pockets for something that might assist him in his quest to extract the diamond. There was nothing except his wallet with the two credit cards and his keys; one for the office which was clearly unsuitable and the other for his front door which wasn’t even long enough to reach.

Half an hour later the diamond was in his hand. The roadworks on the opposite side of the road had provided him with a short piece of steel which he’d been able to wedge down the crack enough to enable him to lift one of the paving stones and grab the stone with his free hand. There had been a moment when the glistening lozenge had slipped further down between the stones, but it was never going to get away from by this point; hi fingers deftly plucked it from beneath the pavement. Without looking at it, he tucked it into his trouser pocket, got up and quickly started to walk back towards the pub. Not for any other reason, though, than he knew no other way of going home. Turning into Hatton Wall, however, he got the shock of his life. As he triumphantly rounded the corner with his hand caressing the diamond in his pocket and his mind dreaming of unknown riches, he walked straight into the diminutive figure of the young barmaid, Veronique; she bounced back from his with fear in her eyes. Recognising her instantly and seeing her shock at their inopportune re-acqaintance, he instantly said,
“I’m so sorry – I really didn’t mean to..”
“Oh,” she replied breaking into a relieved smile, “that’s OK.” She sounded lovely and her pretty brown eyes beamed up at Neil. How could it be OK? He’d just nearly knocked her over – he must have half frightened her to death!
“No, please, I really am sorry – I should have been looking where I was going.” Standing away from Neil without the slightest hint of nervousness – Veronique recognized him from the pub from earlier and knew he wasn’t a bad type – she replied.
“Where are you going? – I’m going to catch a cab home – do you mind walking me to Holborn because I can never get a cab around here.” There was something about a French accent coming from a pretty girl.
Two minutes later the two of them were walking past the spot where Neil had extracted the diamond which his hand was still playing with in the bottom of his pocket, and talking as if they’d known each other for ever. Rounding the corner into Holborn, Neil suddenly sprinted across the road shouting,

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