Page 25 of Defending You

He lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “Every Saturday night, I’d look through the windows at Webb’s Harborside, and you and your family would be there, eating dinner, looking out over the ocean. The idea that you could go there every week… I didn’t assume you had staff, or I didn’t think about it. I just figured you ate out all the time. And, frankly, that told me you were rich.”

Rich? Because they’d eaten at a local restaurant once a week? “We didn’t eat out all the time, just on Saturday nights. Often, Dad wasn’t there—he traveled a lot, still does. But Mom felt like Saturday night should be special. It wasn’t always Webb’s, but that was one of the few places all of us sisters liked.”

He tipped back in his chair, studying her through narrowed eyes. “It’s funny how kids perceive things, isn’t it? To me, it was like you were always there. But if you’d looked out the windowand seen me, you might have thought I was always wandering around Shadow Cove.”

“True. Kids are weird.”

He chuckled. “You’re not wrong.”

When he smiled, his face transformed. He went from fierce, almost frightening to…she wasn’t even sure how to describe him. Handsome didn’t cover it. He was…beautiful.

She’d best keep that thought to herself.

His chair hit the floor with a thud, his smile fading. “I need to know what we’re dealing with. Tell me exactly what happened at the jewelry store. Everything you saw, everything you know about that necklace.”

She took a deep breath, the memory of Mr. D’s crumpled body flashing behind her eyes. She’d seen it a hundred times since, in her mind’s eye. That moment had yanked her from sleep more than once during the night. “I was appraising a batch of stuff for Tony Delvecchio. He owned the store, one of my regular clients. His niece had bought a bagful of jewelry for fifteen hundred bucks. I’ve met his niece, and she’s a sweet kid, but she doesn’t have much experience. I suspect she saw one or two items and made the offer, hoping it was a good deal. I also suspect that, if she saw the ruby necklace, she thought it was a fake.”

“It’s not? You’re sure?”

“This is what I do for a living. Hold on.” She hurried to her bedroom and pulled the velvet bag from her purse. She hadn’t peeked inside it since she’d escaped the jewelry store.

She carried it back to the small kitchen table and set the necklace in front of Asher. “It’s real. I knew it was special the second I saw it. And then I recognized it as The Crimson Duchess. I’d seen it before in an article about Forbes’s parents’ murder in Shadow Cove. It was stolen the night they were killed. Forbes’s mom had been photographed wearing it a few nightsbefore her death. It’s been missing ever since. I sent Forbes a picture, and he confirmed it.”

Asher nodded to the jewelry but didn’t make a move to touch it, as if it might contaminate him or something. “What’s it worth?”

“It’s hard to say what it would sell for. I need more time to study it, but its value is much higher than that of each individual gem. It’s famous, and it’s connected to the Ballentine fortune and the murders. Those facts will add to its value. If I had to guess, I think it would auction for over five million, maybe as much as ten.”

He sat back. “Ten million dollars?”

She smiled. “Americans do generally trade in dollars.”

“That’s…” His voice faded as if he couldn’t find an appropriate word to finish his sentence.

“Like I said, I’m just guessing. But each one of those stones is…big.” She figured he wasn’t interested in a lecture on carat, color, and clarity.

He whistled. “That’s enough to kill for.”

“I think the other motivation is just as big. The owner of this necklace must somehow be connected to the Ballentine murders. And, assuming it’s the man from the store the other day, he’s also connected to Mr. D’s murder, not to mention arson.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“No idea. I’m sure Mr. D had records, but if they were paper records—he was an old-school kind of guy—they probably didn’t survive the fire.”

“Surely there was a receipt or something,” Asher said.

“Maybe. Some record of who sold the items to Mr. D’s niece.”

The thought made Cici wonder…Had the police warned Maria like Cici had asked them to? Was she safe?

Maybe Cici should call and tell the police everything she knew. But they suspected her. Would they take her warning seriously?

She doubted it.

“So you discovered the necklace and called Ballentine. Then what?”

“Two guys showed up. One was in his sixties, I would guess, a smooth talker. He asked about a salesperson, said his son had done business with her. It had to be the niece. As far as I know, she’s the only other person who works there.Workedthere.” Considering the store had been reduced to ash, its owner killed. “Mr. D said it was just him working that day.”

“You were there.”