Chương 2 - Những Viên Ngọc Quý và Những Bí Mật

He stopped.

“I don’t have it.”

“You work around people with money all day.”

I almost laughed.

“You I get a percentage their bank accounts?”

“Nora, I’m trouble.”

“You’ve been trouble fifteen years.”

voice hardened.

“I’m still your .”

“And Samuel yours.”

He hung up.

I sat there with the phone my hand a long time.

Then I put the notebook the drawer.

The next morning, my ex-boyfriend walked into the store.

I hadn’t seen three years.

He almost exactly the same.

Same expensive haircut.

Same watch.

Same smile always appeared half a second he something he expected you forgive.

The woman beside him new.

Tall.

Perfect makeup.

Limited-edition handbag.

Diamond tennis bracelet.

came directly my counter.

“Nora.”

I kept my professional smile place.

“.”

He gestured beside him.

“This is .”

over.

Not rudely enough anyone could complain.

Just slowly.

“Oh.”

all .

cleared throat.

“We need engagement ring.”

“Congratulations.”

sat down.

“ least three carats.”

“Any preference on shape?”

“ cut.”

“Color?”

“ white possible.”

“Budget?”

.

He , “Around eighty.”

I brought out what fit.

rejected the first the table “too wide.”

The second ’d seen something similar on Instagram.

The third the setting “basic.”

By the sixth, staring phone.

By the seventh, leaned .

“So says you a lot about stones.”

I kept the ring between the tweezers.

“I enough sell them.”

“He says more than .”

didn’t look up.

opened bag.

removed a small jewelry box.

“My bought this auction.”

Inside .

Large enough be serious money.

Good color.

Visible fissures.

I put on my loupe.

“Can you tell what it’s worth?” asked.

“Not from here.”

“Is it Colombian?”

“I can’t responsibly determine geographic origin a sales counter.”

mouth tightened.

“Can you tell if it’s real?”

“It appears be a natural .”

“Appears?”

“I’d need a lab report.”

“My paid ninety thousand dollars it.”

I again.

There material several surface-reaching fissures caught light differently from the stone around it.

I set down the loupe.

“ it sold untreated?”

smiled.

“Yes.”

I slid the box .

“Then I’d get independent report insuring it way.”

The smile disappeared.

“Why?”

“ I’m seeing signs clarity enhancement.”

finally up.

laughed once.

“You auction house sold my enhanced untreated?”

“I you asked what I saw.”

“My it authenticated.”

“By independent lab?”

eyes narrowed.

“You’re very confident somebody selling jewelry a mall.”

We were not a mall.

But I understood the point.

“I’m not certifying the stone.”

“You just it treated.”

“I I see indications make want independent report.”

closed the box.

“You what I ?”

“No.”

“I you’re jealous.”

shifted.

“.”

“No, seriously. He brings buy a ring, and ex starts telling my jewelry is fake.”

“I didn’t say it fake.”

“You implied my got cheated.”

“I get it checked.”

stood.

“We’re done.”

grabbed ’s arm.

He hesitated following .

the entrance, he .

“Nora.”

“Yes?”

“You haven’t changed.”

I gave him the smile he used hate.

“Neither have you.”

Two days later, filed a complaint.

A week after came Avery’s engagement party.

The Bennetts held it a private estate overlooking the Hudson.

Three hundred guests.

Valet parking.

Florists who probably never touched flowers cost less than my weekly paycheck.

Margaret arranged a small exhibition family jewelry a side gallery and asked talk guests through the pieces.

I halfway through checking the inventory when my hand stopped over a ruby brooch.

The front beautiful.

Platinum.

Old-cut diamonds.

Pear-shaped ruby.

But it the underside made my throat close.

A row shallow overlapping curves ran beneath the setting.

I knew those curves.

I practiced them until my fingers cramped.

Avery walked up beside .

“You look weird.”

“Do you who made this?”

“The brooch?”

“Yes.”

“No. My grandfather bought it sometime the eighties.”

I turned it over again.

“My grandfather made it.”

Avery stared .

“Samuel Parker?”

I .

“You knew?”

“Ethan told .”

course he .

I could answer, someone behind us , “He did.”

Ethan stood the edge the display.

He nodded toward the brooch.

“1988 or 1989, I .”

“How do you ?”

“There a photograph old exhibition catalog.”