Chapter 2 - THE EMPTY JEWELRY BOX
Security locked the manor gates.
Guests were asked to remain inside.
Margaret was furious.
Andrew was worse.
The emerald necklace was insured for $1.2 million, but nobody in the family spoke about money.
“It was my husband’s last anniversary gift,” Margaret said.
Andrew called the head of security.
“Search the staff areas.”
Mariana turned.
“Why only the staff areas?”
Andrew looked at her.
“Where else?”
“Everywhere.”
Brenda folded her arms.
“You want guests searched?”
“If someone stole it, yes.”
Brenda smiled.
“That would be quite a scandal.”
Mariana looked directly at her.
“Scandals usually become worse when people avoid them.”
Margaret sat down.
“Enough.”
Security searched downstairs.
Nothing.
Then one guard returned.
“Mr. Vance.”
Andrew turned.
“We found something.”
He held a velvet necklace pouch.
Empty.
“Where?”
The guard hesitated.
“Mrs. Vance’s bedroom.”
Silence.
Mariana stared.
“My room?”
Brenda covered her mouth.
Andrew’s face changed.
Mariana said, “Show me.”
They went upstairs.
The pouch lay beside Mariana’s dresser.
Too obvious.
Almost insulting.
“I’ve never seen that.”
Brenda leaned against the doorway.
“Of course.”
Mariana turned.
“Say what you mean.”
Brenda shrugged.
“You’ve been under pressure.”
“What pressure?”
“Money.”
Andrew looked at Brenda.
“Stop.”
She did not.
“Mariana’s personal foundation lost two major donors this year. She’s been selling investments.”
Mariana stared.
“How do you know that?”
Brenda smiled.
“Public filings.”
That was possible.
It was also incomplete.
Mariana said, “I don’t need Margaret’s necklace.”
Brenda looked around the bedroom.
“No?”
The insult was subtle.
Mariana had not been born wealthy.
Brenda had.
Margaret entered holding the empty jewelry box.
“I want the truth.”
“So do I,” Mariana said.
Andrew looked at the pouch.
Then at Mariana.
“Did anyone come into this room?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Brenda laughed.
“How convenient.”
Mariana’s anger sharpened.
She almost mentioned the camera.
Almost.
Then she stopped.
Better to know what Brenda believed she could get away with.
Andrew ordered security to review hallway footage.
The camera covering the upstairs corridor had gone offline at 10:52 p.m.
Mariana looked at the security chief.
“For how long?”
“Forty-one minutes.”
Exactly the period in which the necklace vanished.
Andrew’s phone buzzed.
He read a message.
His face hardened.
“What?”
He showed Mariana.
An anonymous photograph.
Mariana at a downtown bank three days earlier.
Another photograph showed her entering a private wealth-management office.
Brenda looked over Andrew’s shoulder.
“Well.”
Mariana said, “That has nothing to do with the necklace.”
“What were you doing there?” Andrew asked.
“Business.”
“What business?”
“My business.”
Andrew stared.
“You’re my wife.”
“And?”
“You’ve been hiding financial meetings.”
Mariana almost laughed.
“You’ve been coming home after midnight for three weeks.”
“This isn’t about me.”
“No. Apparently everything is about me tonight.”
A second anonymous message arrived.
CHECK HER SAFE.
Mariana’s expression changed.
Andrew noticed.
“You have a safe?”
“Yes.”
“You never told me.”
“It contains my personal documents.”
Brenda said, “Then you won’t mind opening it.”
Mariana looked at her.
“No.”
Brenda smiled.
Andrew said, “Mariana.”
“No.”
“Open it.”
She stared at her husband.
“Do you hear yourself?”
“If there’s nothing inside—”
“I do not prove innocence by surrendering every boundary I have.”
Brenda whispered, “That sounds guilty.”
Mariana turned.
“You seem very invested in this.”
Margaret’s voice cut through them.
“Open the safe.”
Mariana looked at her mother-in-law.
Then at Andrew.
Finally, she walked toward the closet.
She entered the code.
The safe opened.
Inside were passports.
Contracts.
Cash.
A hard drive.
And a small green velvet case.
Margaret gasped.
Andrew reached for it.
Mariana stared.
She had never seen it before.
Andrew opened the case.
May you like
Inside was one emerald.
Matching Margaret’s necklace.
