“You too.”
Kane stiffened.
“You had an allegation when you arrived. Fine.”
The officer seemed surprised Adrian conceded even that.
“A luxury store reports a high-value theft. Police can respond seriously.”
Kane said nothing.
“But then the stone was found.”
Adrian continued.
“The employee said I never possessed it. Video confirmed that. No stolen property was found on me. The business had verified my appointment. Yet you kept looking for another reason.”
Kane’s jaw tightened.
“We were doing our job.”
“Part of your job is allowing information to change your suspicion.”
No answer.
Adrian turned toward Charlotte.
“I want the 911 call preserved.”
“It will be.”
“Store audio.”
“Yes.”
“Security video.”
“Yes.”
“Every internal message related to my appointment.”
Charlotte nodded.
“Done.”
He looked toward Torres.
CHAPTER 4
“And police body cameras and dispatch.”
She answered, “A supervisor is already coming.”
Adrian nodded.
“Thank you.”
Kane frowned.
“How do you know that?”
Torres looked at him.
“Because I requested one when you tried to keep him detained after the video cleared him.”
Silence.
Kane’s expression hardened.
Adrian saw the conflict between them.
That belonged to the department now.
He did not interfere.
A police lieutenant arrived twelve minutes later. By then, Charlotte had closed the boutique temporarily and asked the remaining customers whether they would be willing to leave contact information as witnesses. Adrian gave a statement. He did not demand Kane’s badge. He did not call the mayor. He did not threaten Gregory with bankruptcy or promise to buy the building and evict the store.
He did something far less satisfying to people waiting for a dramatic billionaire revenge scene.
He went home.
The sapphire necklace remained at Bellmont & Vale.
Adrian’s wife Elena noticed the bruising around his wrists the moment he entered their apartment.
She was fifty, a pediatric cardiologist, and had known Adrian before the first company, before private aircraft, before magazines started estimating wealth neither of them could spend in ten lifetimes.
“What happened?”
Adrian set his keys down.
“Bad shopping trip.”
Elena stared at the wrists.
“Adrian.”
He sighed.
“Police.”
Her expression changed.
“What did you do?”
He laughed.
“You’ve been married to me twenty years and that’s your first question?”
“Yes, because you occasionally make terrible decisions.”
“Fair.”
Then he told her.
Not all at once.
The manager.
The diamond.
The police.
The cuffs.
The floor.
The video.
Charlotte.
Elena listened without interrupting until he reached the moment Gregory learned who he was.
Then she asked, “Did his face change?”
“Yes.”
“And the officer?”
“Yes.”
She looked away.
“That part makes me sick.”
Adrian nodded.
“Me too.”
Elena touched one bruised wrist gently.
“You still buying me the necklace?”
Adrian looked offended.
“Absolutely not.”
“Good.”
“I’m buying you socks.”
“I like socks.”
“Anniversary solved.”
She smiled.
Then her expression softened.
“What if Charlotte hadn’t walked in?”
Adrian did not answer immediately.
He had asked himself the same question.
“What if I were just somebody who saved ten years for one necklace?”
Elena waited.
Adrian looked toward the windows.
“That is the question.”
The jewelry-store investigation moved quickly because the evidence was unusually clean.
Gregory’s 911 call was preserved.
The dispatcher asked what had been stolen.
Gregory said, “A loose diamond valued above one hundred thousand.”
The dispatcher asked whether Gregory saw the customer take it.
Gregory answered, “My associate had it at his station and now it’s gone.”
That was false in two ways.
Emily was the associate.
She was female.
And the diamond had never been placed at Adrian’s station.
The dispatcher asked whether the suspect was armed.
Gregory said, “I don't know. He is becoming confrontational.”
Security footage showed Adrian seated during most of that period, asking why Gregory wanted his license copied again.
No threats.
No raised voice.
No attempt to leave.
When police arrived, Gregory told Kane, “He pocketed a stone.”
That statement appeared clearly on body camera.
Investigators asked Gregory why.
He said he believed Adrian had.
“Did you see it?”
“No.”
“Did Emily tell you she saw it?”
“No.”
“Did any camera show it?”
“No.”
“What was the basis?”
Gregory looked down.
“He was the person closest to the tray.”
Except he was not.
Emily was.