Chapter 2 - The Missing Necklace
Someone screamed.
Glass shattered near the fireplace.
Mara set the tray down before the darkness could turn champagne flutes into weapons.
“Stay where you are,” Julian said.
His voice was quiet, but the room obeyed.
Emergency lights blinked on ten seconds later, washing the walls in dim red.
Celeste was standing beside Julian’s chair.
Her first move was not toward him.
It was toward Mara.
“Don’t move.”
Mara frowned. “I’m not.”
Celeste touched her own throat.
The diamond necklace was gone.
For half a second, nobody understood.
Then Celeste gasped.
“My necklace.”
A guest near the end of the table said, “Maybe it fell.”
“It was clasped.” Celeste looked around wildly. “It was my grandmother’s.”
Julian rose.
“Everyone stay calm.”
Celeste’s eyes found Mara.
Too fast.
Too certain.
Mara saw it and felt the old studio floor beneath her feet again.
“No,” she said.
Julian glanced at her. “No what?”
Mara untied the scarf and let it drop.
“No searches without witnesses.”
The room went still.
Celeste gave a broken little laugh. “That is a strange thing to say.”
“Not if you’ve been framed before.”
A murmur moved through the guests.
Celeste’s face hardened.
Julian looked between them. “You two know each other.”
Celeste opened her mouth.
Mara beat her to it.
“We did.”
Before Julian could ask more, Brent Cole, head of estate security, entered with two guards.
“We had a power interruption on the west circuit,” he said. “Generator picked up late. We can search the room.”
Celeste stepped toward him.
“Start with staff.”
Julian’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because they were moving around.”
“So were forty guests.”
Celeste’s cheeks flushed.
Brent cleared his throat. “Mr. Vale, protocol would be to secure all exits.”
“Do that.” Julian looked at Mara. “And no one touches anyone’s belongings without me present.”
They searched under tables, around chairs, beneath the sideboard.
Nothing.
Then one guard returned from the service hall holding Mara’s black work cardigan.
“Found this on the staff rack.”
Mara’s mouth went dry.
The guard reached into the pocket.
His hand came out holding the diamond necklace.
The room seemed to tilt.
Celeste covered her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
Mara stared at the necklace.
“I never touched that.”
Brent moved toward her.
Julian lifted one hand.
“Stop.”
Celeste’s eyes filled with perfect tears.
“Julian, she stole from me.”
Mara looked at him.
He was not looking at Celeste.
He was looking at the cardigan.
Then he asked the guard one question.
May you like
“Who told you to search that pocket?”
The guard went pale.
