by T B Audrey
“I’m sure you heard how much Yvonne hates me from when I worked in her father’s store. That was a mistake from the beginning. He accused me…” Gina grimaced and shook her head before continuing. “Yvonne hates me with a passion. He almost lost his store and she blamed me for it.”
“What about Patricia?”
“She’s alright. She’s very close to Yvonne’s family. She teaches a summer course for at-risk teens so she’s always coming around begging people to help her. Yvonne and her father volunteer material and their time with her a lot.”
“Have you?”
Gina nodded, biting her lip. “I was one of her students. She always believed in me. Until everything happened with Yvonne’s father.”
“How do you know Mr. Thompson?”
“I don’t. No one in the competition knows him that well. He usually does high-end work. He considers himself an artist. I have to admit, I was a little surprised when he entered the competition.”
“And Twyla?”
“She’s a wild card. I don’t know her that well either, but I can tell she’s determined to win.” Gina studied Cara carefully. “Why do you want to know all this?”
Cara swallowed a bit of her punch the wrong way. Her choking and spluttering drew everyone’s attention. She shook her head as she finally caught her breath. “I’m just wondering what could have happened to it. It’s strange….”
“I do have a question for you.” Gina nodded towards Rick. He appeared to be cleaning the bar, but Cara knew he was listening to the contestants and Mrs. Reynolds. “Is he single?” She smiled at Cara. “He’s been so nice while all of this has been going on.”
Cara felt a sinking feeling deep in her stomach. She couldn’t compete with tall blonde Gina. She swallowed hard before replying, “Yes, I believe he is.”
Gina smiled once more before Mrs. Reynolds interrupted them. “Would the two of you care to join us? We would like to go over what has happened.”
Mrs. Reynolds waited until the group was gathered around her to begin. “I think we should go over what happened. If we cannot find the necklace before the end of the hour, then I am going to be calling the police on Gina’s behalf.” Everyone turned to look at her. She shifted uncomfortably.
“I’m not sure I want to call the police, Mrs. Reynolds. I know these people. I don’t want anyone to go to jail.”
“Be that as it may, we cannot let something that valuable be stolen by a common thief. Because that is what you are.” She raised her nose superiorly.
“Well…I….” Gina started, but was interrupted.
“All I know is that I was standing by Gina at the table and I turned to see Patricia and Yvonne walk up to the table. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground,” said Twyla.
“How did you get that cut on your arm?” Mrs. Reynolds asked.
Twyla stared at her, shocked. “I fell on glass.” Her face turned red. “Are you implying that I risked cutting my own arm to grab the necklace?”
“Is that what happened?”
“NO!!! How dare you? I should sue you over my injury.”
Mrs. Reynolds rolled her eyes and harrumphed, “Is that what you saw as you approached, Patricia?”
Patricia nodded slowly. “I wasn’t really paying attention, but I saw Twyla turn. She … she had her hands behind her back. Then Gina fell and the table started rocking….”
“I didn’t see anything,” Yvonne announced. “I was too upset after talking to Gina. I didn’t take the necklace, but I’m glad someone did. I hate you, Gina!”
“Now, now.” Patricia threw her arm around Yvonne protectively.
“Of course you would comfort her,” Gina protested. “What about me? I’m the one who has lost any chance at this competition. And I need to win. Especially since I can’t get a job because of your father!” She pointed at Yvonne.
“How dare you!” Yvonne shouted. “You deserve it! You drug his name and his business through the mud.”
“I told the truth. Your father made promises he couldn’t keep. He used me and my talent.”
“You lie!” Yvonne screeched.
“Ladies!” Mr. Thompson spoke up. “This is not the time or place. If you.” He glared at Gina. “Want a chance to find this necklace then you need to concentrate on what is going on at present.”
She lifted her chin. “Where were you when the necklace went missing?”
“I was with Mrs. Reynolds. I tried to steady the table, but it fell to the ground.”
“This is going nowhere,” Patricia sighed. “The truth of the matter is that we all could have done it. We all know that we were all over that floor, trying to protect our own pieces. Maybe someone saw a chance to grab the necklace and did so without thinking. I propose that whoever it is leaves the necklace in a conspicuous place. We’ll all pretend as if this didn’t happen.”
“You would like that, wouldn’t you?” Mrs. Reynolds asked, narrowing her eyes at Patricia.
“Are you accusing me?” Patricia exclaimed.
“Your story seems very likely to have happened. A spur of the moment bad decision. It would give you a way out, wouldn’t it?”
Patricia flushed. “I don’t have the necklace.”
“Well, no one expected that you would admit to it.”
Mrs. Reynolds held up one hand. “I don’t think this is getting us anywhere." She consulted her watch as she turned away. “We don’t have much time left. Cocktail hour is almost over.”
Cara followed Rick back behind the bar. The lemon she had been slicing when the necklace went missing was still sitting on the cutting board. She pulled on plastic gloves, picked up the knife and quickly finished it.
“What do you think?” Rick asked, his voice low.
“I don’t know what to think.” Cara rubbed her forehead with the back of her arm. “It seems like everyone could be guilty.”
“I know. I get the same feeling. That girl certainly has enemies.” Cara followed his gaze as it landed on Gina, who smiled back at Rick. She felt her stomach drop again.
“When I was standing over there, I heard Patricia say that she thought the thief was after the money. She was going on and on about how she wouldn’t steal it because she didn’t care about money. Apparently, she donates all her money to charity.” He rolled his eyes. “At least, she wanted us to think she did. Anyway, the original piece is valuable. Mr. Thompson agreed with Patricia and said something about how the contract doesn’t offer much pay to the winner, only prestige and publicity. And it’s only for a year. So, financially, the winner isn’t going to receive that much money.”
Cara sighed, “How are we going to solve this?”
The relaxed look slid off of Rick’s face as he faced Cara. “I don’t know, but we don’t have much time left and we have to find who did it.”
“It’s not our job, Rick. If we don’t find the thief, then Mrs. Reynolds will have to call the police. I don’t know if they’ll be able to do much better.”
“Cara… We have to solve it before she calls the police.”
“Why? I shouldn’t have panicked earlier. It was ridiculous. We can find other jobs.” Cara slid the last of the sliced lemons into the container and labeled it before placing it in the mini fridge. She rinsed off her cutting board and grabbed a couple of oranges.
“Cara… I… I don’t want you to think less of me, but…” Rick stared down at the lime he was cutting as if he was addressing it and not her.
“What is it?” A dreadful feeling came over Cara.
“I’ve been in trouble with the law before. I got in a couple of fights and… anyway, I’m on probation now. I can’t afford to get in anymore trouble.”
“Why were you fighting?”
He shrugged. “Different reasons. I was going through a tough period. If I was out drinking with my buddies and saw someone being obnoxious, I called them out on it. I was young and stupid, Cara. And believe me, I’ve paid for it. For years now. But I cleaned myself up. I don’
t hang out with them anymore. I’ve changed. I’m just worried that the cops won’t see it that way.”
“But why would you steal a necklace?”
“I owe a lot of money in court bills. That’s why I took this second job.” He sighed, “I wish I could go back in time and change the stupid decisions I made. It’s not worth it.”
“I didn’t know this was your second job,” Cara said. She felt as if she had been punched in the stomach, did she know this man at all?
He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I’m not happy owing all that money. If I work really hard, I should have everything paid off by the end of the year. But if I get accused of this….” His eyes darkened.
A wave of sympathy washed over Cara. “We’ll just have to figure out who did it.”
“How are we gonna do that? Mrs. Reynolds was right, anyone could have grabbed the necklace.”
Cara sliced the orange carefully, “But who would have? And why? I can only think of two motives.”
“The money?” Rick guessed.
“I suppose the jewels would be worth quite a bit, and every one of these people are jewelers, so they would be able to resell or reuse them in their own pieces. That is possible.” She paused and tumbled the orange slices into a small plastic container. “Whoever stole it took a risk. I think it’s more likely that the thief didn’t want the necklace in the competition.”
“It did look really good,” Rick said.
It looked more than really good, Cara thought. It had definitely caught her eye. She was not a professional jeweler, but if she had to guess, she would have picked the necklace to win.
“But this still doesn’t help. Every one of the contestants wants to win. They could have all done it for that reason.”
“They all could have, but would they?” Cara asked herself. She thought of Twyla’s clever, shifty eyes and Mr. Thompson’s petty argument. She pictured the hate for Gina in Yvonne’s eyes. Only Patricia didn’t seem as guilty as the others.
“What about Mrs. Reynolds herself?” Rick nodded towards the older lady. He rinsed his hands under the cold water and then leaned against the back of the bar.
Cara glanced at Gina. She was still watching them. Every once in a while, she acted as if she was going to approach them, but then she would stop. It’s because she wants Rick to ask her out, Cara thought. I wonder if he will. She snuck a peek at him, but he was staring at the floor, deep in thought.
She forced herself to think about what Rick was saying, “I haven’t considered her,” she admitted. Somehow, it didn’t seem like it would benefit the older lady to have her job and contest put in jeopardy over a necklace. She couldn’t imagine the proud woman stealing.
“I don’t like her,” Rick said decisively.
“That doesn’t mean that she’s a thief.”
“I guess not,” Rick scowled. He shoved his hands in his pockets.
Cara caught Gina looking over at them again. She winced. She didn’t want to think of Rick out with Gina. Especially… what if they went out for Valentine’s Day? She didn’t like to admit it to herself, but she had been hoping against hope that Rick would ask her out. She didn’t want to spend another Valentine’s Day at home, crying into her pillow and lonely.
Her eyes filled with tears at the thought of it, but Mrs. Reynolds broke into her reverie and saved her from embarrassment, “Do you know who it is?”
“No,” Rick bristled, “but we were just considering you as a suspect.”
“Well, I never. How dare you?”
Rick shrugged and smiled in response.
“Now, listen.” Mrs. Reynolds sounded desperate. “You’ve got to help me. I can’t call the police. It’ll ruin this whole night. I’ll be so embarrassed.” She looked as if she was going to cry. Her tough façade crumbled, leaving a scared, pitiful woman in its wake. “My job is my life. I don’t have kids. I don’t have a husband. I don’t have anything but this job. And I love it. Please… please help me.”
Rick caved before Cara did. He leaned across the bar and patted Mrs. Reynolds shoulder. Cara offered her a napkin to dry her eyes.
“We’re trying Mrs. Reynolds, but we don’t know. It’s impossible.”
Mrs. Reynolds blew her nose softly. “There must be something.” Her voice was thick with tears. “The judges will be here any minute. They’re expecting to see five pieces of jewelry, not policeman shutting down our major event. It was going to be such a surprise.”
Cara paused. Something struck her as odd, but she couldn’t quite place her finger on what it was. “Can you stay with her?” she whispered to Rick. “I’ll be right back.”
The table was much the same as before. The earrings still flashed and sparkled in the light and the bracelet was threaded temptingly through a rose stem. Cara surveyed all the jewelry and then stepped back. She tried to picture where everyone had been right after the table tipped over, but it was impossible. She had been running down the long bar and around the corner.
In her mind’s eye, she saw herself passing Gina, where she stood by the punch bowl and the napkins. She saw Twyla again, her injured arm tucked up against her body. She was cradling it and trying to stop the bleeding. Right before the accident, Mr. Thompson and Mrs. Reynolds had been arguing loudly. Yvonne and Patricia had just come out of the bathroom together. They had been in discussion about something as they neared the table where Gina and Twyla waited….
Suddenly, Cara knew who did it. And she thought she knew exactly where the necklace was.
“Mrs. Reynolds,” Cara said as she approached the bar. She took another napkin from beside the punch bowl and handed it to the older lady. “I think I know who did it.”
Mrs. Reynolds mouth formed a large O shape. “How did you figure it out?”
“I guess you could say it just came to me.”
“Did you say you know who did it?” Yvonne asked loudly. Cara winced as all eyes turned to her. She hadn’t been planning on doing a public reveal.
“Go ahead, who did it?” Mrs. Reynolds asked.
“It’s a long story.” Cara turned so that she was addressing everyone. “There were only two possible reasons I could think of that would cause the theft. Either the person needed the money or they did not want the necklace in the competition. I was pretty sure that money would not be the motivator for Patricia or Yvonne. Yvonne acted as if her father’s business was doing better since Gina left. Patricia touted the fact that while she doesn’t have much, she doesn’t need much and prefers to give any extra to charity. If both were being honest, then the only motivator they had was revenge.”
Gina nodded as an outraged expression crossed Yvonne’s face. Patricia herself looked shocked. “How can you accuse us? You have no evidence?”
“I remember the two of you being in deep conversation as you returned from the bathroom. It would have given you ample time to plan to steal the necklace. But-” Cara stopped the two of them as they started to protest. “Neither of you were close to the table when it tipped over.”
“Mr. Thompson and Twyla, on the other hand, could have been motivated by either money or the competition. Mr. Thompson, while an excellent artist, has struggled for years with finances as most true artists do. He needed both money and to win the competition. I wasn’t so sure about Twyla. She’s a student and starting out so she needs the money and the contract that goes to the winner.”
“I think, though it seems odd, her injured arm is what gave it away.”
“Twyla?”
“It wasn’t me,” Twyla protested. She peeled off her bandage for inspection. “It’s really cut. See?”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t,” Cara explained. “I tried picturing where everyone was when the accident happened, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t there to see that part. I only saw what happened afterwards. I clearly saw Twyla standing with her arm pressed against her side.”
“That’s how she hid the jewelry,” Mr. Thompson said triumphantly.
Twyla stood still, shocked. Her mo
uth hung open as she became the center of attention.
“It wasn’t Twyla,” Cara said. “It was Gina.”
Silence reigned supreme. Gina laughed nervously. “Why would I steal my own necklace?”
“Because of the two motives, money and the fact that it wouldn’t win if it was gone. Or more importantly, the judges wouldn’t see it.”
Gina looked from one face to the other. “No.”
“Yes. When the accident first happened, everyone tried to picture who had picked it up off the floor. The problem was, the necklace was gone before the table hit the floor. Twyla turned and had her back to you as the others approached. You grabbed the necklace and then orchestrated the accident. You used Twyla’s injury as an excuse to leave the scene and get rid of the necklace. Even if she hadn’t been hurt, you would have found a reason to get away for a few minutes, wouldn’t you?”
“You couldn’t throw it away, that would be the first place that we looked. But you could hide it and come back later for it. And you did just that. You hid it in plain sight.”
Cara reached into the punchbowl and ran her hand through the decorative stones. Please, she thought desperately, let it be there. If it wasn’t, she was going to look like a fool. She was just about to give up when her finger caught on a strand. She pulled the dripping necklace up jubilantly.
“But why?” Mrs. Reynolds asked.
“It struck me when you said that the judges being here was going to be a surprise. Gina thought she had more time and probably had a much better plan laid out for tomorrow’s judging. But she had to make do tonight because she couldn’t risk the judges inspecting the necklace too closely. You see, it’s not real.”
“But the money….”
“She pocketed the money. This is just excellent costume jewelry. The contract was a good offer, but it was a chance she wasn’t willing to take. Especially since she knew who she was up against. Some of the best in the business. Isn’t that true?”
Gina refused to answer, her lips pressed in a straight line.
“Gina,” Mrs. Reynolds said as she took the dripping necklace from Cara, “Is this costume jewelry? You know that we’re going to find out soon enough.”