“My name is Clare,” I said, looking at the younger guard. “If you’re going to search through my things, you can at least call me Clare.”
He glanced at Marco, the chief of security.
Marco’s expression tightened.
“Mrs. Duca, I think we should review the complete—”
“Proceed,” Adrienne said.
He did not raise his voice.
That made it worse.
There was no temper to blame afterward. No momentary explosion. He had considered what was happening and given a clear instruction.
Marco opened the first compartment.
I watched him remove my laptop, financial statements, a blue folder of audit notes, and the peppermint candies I carried because long meetings gave me headaches.
Four million dollars in family diamonds had disappeared.
Apparently, those things made me a reasonable suspect.
Adrienne stood with his hands at his sides, the sleeves of his charcoal suit falling perfectly against his wrists. That morning, he had kissed the inside of my elbow while I poured coffee.
Now he could not quite look at my face.
“The stones were checked at noon,” he said. “You entered the lower corridor at two fourteen. The case was discovered empty at four thirty.”
“I entered the corridor for an appointment.”
“Arthur says there was no appointment.”
“Then Arthur is lying.”
Victoria lowered her handkerchief.
“Clare, accusing someone else won’t help.”
I turned toward her.
She wore the concerned expression she used whenever she wanted to hurt me in front of witnesses.
For three years, she had suggested smaller things. That I did not understand the family. That my father’s hospital bills had been conveniently timed. That accounting was a useful profession for a woman who married into money.
She never said anything plainly enough to let Adrienne hear the insult without my explaining it.
Tonight, she had finally been given a stage.
“I printed the confirmation this morning,” I said.
Adrienne’s eyes moved to the papers on the table.
“Then find it.”
Marco checked the blue folder.
It was not there.
I knew it was not there before he reached the last page. I had left the confirmation clipped to the visitor ledger outside Arthur’s office because the receptionist had asked for it.
Someone had arranged a meeting.
Someone had removed the meeting.
And my husband was waiting for me to explain the disappearance as though I had designed it myself.
“Check my email,” I said. “The confirmation came last night.”
“We have,” Adrienne answered.
A cold space opened beneath my ribs.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the message isn’t there.”
I stared at him.
Then I remembered the notice I had received that afternoon about maintenance on the family trust’s email system.
At the time, I had dismissed it.
Now every ordinary detail of my day seemed to be turning around and showing me a different face.
Victoria gave a quiet sigh.
“If there were financial pressures, dear, we could have helped.”
“There aren’t.”
“Pride makes people do unfortunate things.”
I looked back at Adrienne.
“Are you asking whether I stole those diamonds?”
He said nothing.
Two seconds passed.
I know because the tall clock beside the library door ticked twice.
It was not long enough for anybody else to notice.
It was long enough to end the marriage I thought I had.
Marco closed the briefcase.
“Nothing here, sir.”
The younger guard returned from upstairs carrying my overnight bag.
I had packed it that morning for the weekend Adrienne and I were supposed to spend together. Two nights away. No board calls. No trust meetings.
Adrienne had promised to make breakfast.
I had laughed and told him that romance did not require another attempt at pancakes.
The guard placed the bag on the floor.
I watched him lift out a folded sweater.
Then a book.
Then the blue dress I had chosen because Adrienne once said the color made my eyes look warmer.
Marco crouched beside him and kept his voice low.
“Just the compartments.”
There were no diamonds.
There was nothing that did not belong to me.
For one foolish moment, relief moved through me.
I looked at Adrienne, waiting for him to step forward. To say that this had gone far enough. To acknowledge what he had allowed.
Victoria spoke first.
“Well, of course she wouldn’t keep them here.”
Marco stood.
“Ma’am—”
“She could have passed them to someone.”
I looked at her handkerchief.
Her fingers were still.
Everybody else in the room had moved, shifted, hesitated.
Victoria had been comfortable from the beginning.
“Would you like my shoes next?” I asked. “Or should we continue the search right here?”
“Clare, stop,” Adrienne said.
That was when the last of my hope became something colder.
“Why? Your aunt has waited three years for this. Let her finish.”
Victoria’s face changed.
Only a little.
Enough.
