Chapter 5 - THE OTHER MISSING JEWELRY
Robert insisted he had never seen the notation.
David had.
Years earlier, Laura had asked him to attach a private letter to the amended trust. She gave strict instructions that Robert was not to read it and Emily was not to receive it until she turned twenty-one.
“What was it about?” Emily asked.
David shook his head.
“I don’t know. Laura sealed it herself.”
“Then why would it say Ashley’s initials?”
“I can’t confirm that it does.”
“But you think it does.”
David looked at Robert.
Robert’s silence was suddenly full of history.
Emily noticed.
“Dad.”
He stood.
“We are not doing this now.”
“Doing what?”
“Guessing.”
“You know something.”
“I said we’re not doing this.”
He left the room.
That refusal hurt more than Emily expected.
By evening, Ashley had locked herself in her bedroom.
Vanessa stayed with her.
Robert remained in the study.
The house felt divided into territories.
Emily went upstairs to wash the dried blood from her lip.
When she opened her jewelry drawer, she stopped.
Her grandmother’s gold brooch was missing.
It had belonged to Laura’s mother.
Emily had worn it once at high school graduation.
She searched every drawer.
Nothing.
She called Robert.
Within minutes, they searched the room together.
Vanessa appeared in the doorway.
“What now?”
“My brooch is gone.”
Vanessa’s expression changed to irritation.
“You probably misplaced it.”
Emily turned.
“Like Ashley misplaced her earrings into her own handbag?”
Vanessa flinched.
Robert said, “Stop.”
Emily looked at him.
“No. I’m tired of stopping.”
She called David.
He advised them to make a complete inventory of valuable items.
By midnight, they had discovered three more missing pieces from the family safe.
An antique watch.
A sapphire pendant.
A gold bracelet.
None were astronomically valuable.
Together, perhaps thirty thousand dollars.
Enough to matter.
Robert checked insurance records.
No claims.
David suggested contacting local jewelers and pawn services the next morning.
Ashley came downstairs during the conversation.
“You think I stole those too?”
Emily looked at her.
“I think someone did.”
Ashley’s face stayed calm.
“You’re going to look stupid.”
“Maybe.”
Vanessa stepped in front of her daughter.
“This ends tonight.”
“No,” Robert said.
Everyone turned.
His voice was quiet but different.
“This ends when we know what happened.”
For the first time, Vanessa looked afraid of him.
The next morning, David called before breakfast.
One of the missing pieces had been pawned six weeks earlier.
The sapphire pendant.
Robert put the call on speaker.
“Whose name was used?”
David hesitated.
“Emily’s.”
Emily gripped the edge of the counter.
“That’s impossible.”
“They used a copy of your driver’s license.”
Ashley gave a small, humorless laugh.
Vanessa snapped, “Don’t.”
David continued.
“There’s more. The pawn receipt lists a phone number.”
Emily asked, “Mine?”
“No.”
David read the final four digits.
Ashley’s face changed.
May you like
Vanessa slowly looked at her daughter.
Because the number was Ashley’s.
