(intro narration) Daytime. Cat is called to the mansion of Amelia Ferret, a rich lady in her late 70s. She fears for her life because of a large, rare ruby she wears, the ""sangre de Cristo"" (blood of Christ) ruby. She tells Cat the ruby has an evil power. Her father gave it to her mother; 2 days later she died. Amelia wore it on her wedding day; her fiancé died, and she became a spinster. It has brought nothing but death; she was afraid to sell the ruby, since it would bring death to the new owner and guilt to her. Now, after all these decades, she is going to shatter the evil spell: a jewel-cutter will fragment the ruby into 3 stones. Then the small rubies will be sold, and the money (a sizable sum) will be given to charity.

The beautiful Gail Ogden tells Cat that death threats have been phoned in, warning them not to cut the ruby; the phone rings and Cat hears another threat himself. Amelia says they will all be safe at Carver Parmiter's ranch in the desert, which is where