Albert Wiggins, now retired and sipping martinis on the beach as he always wanted, dictates a book about the era of Hunter Rose into a recorder. It is unclear whether it is a true story or if he is making it up.
Lieutenant Polk, a New York detective, hears his captain taking a bribe in the station bathroom, and decides to investigate. He learns that other police officers are involved, as are multiple diamond sellers and the Coast Guard. The investigation becomes more and more complex and worrisome, but he gets more leads. It seems that one of the diamond merchants, Weisburg's, is trying to corner the diamond market through a complex scheme. He tells his partner what's going on, in case something happens to him.
As he learns more, it seems that this scheme is actually even more complex than he thought: Wiesburg seems to be trying to minimize Grendel's cut of the profits. As crime lord of the city, Grendel is dangerous to cross, and the investigation takes on a whole new scope. Polk meets Wiesburg's twin children. Wiesburg himself is an invalid. Finally he finds Wiesburg's new will, which gives almost all his money to the twins. They must be the ones behind it.
This story is notable because it is told almost entirely through a grid of 1.25" square panels, five squares across and five squares down on each page. It also has no ads.
It contains a Mage backup story, Interlude (which is the first of two interludes between The Hero Discovered and The Hero Defined). In it, a young French girl meets her lover at a pond in the woods. The pond has a sculpture of a sea deity riding a chariot pulled by horses in it. She starts to make out with the boy, but then he jumps in the pond and reappears as a black, demonic-looking horse.
The back-up story is written entirely in French.
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