Part 6
“You don’t know what she did before the recording began.”
Amelia gave a disbelieving breath.
Vanessa turned toward her. “You were cataloging the brooch all afternoon.”
“Yes.”
“You entered the secure gallery twice.”
“With authorization.”
“You knew where the camera blind spots were.”
Daniel said, “There are no blind spots covering the display.”
“In the corridor.”
Amelia stared at her. “You studied them.”
Vanessa’s gaze flicked toward the monitor.
“You knew exactly where my bag was,” Amelia said. “You knew the office camera would see the doorway but not the coat rack from the far angle. You thought kneeling behind the door would hide what you were doing.”
“I wasn’t hiding.”
“You looked both ways.”
“Because I had found valuable property.”
“You carried it for half an hour instead of reporting it.”
Vanessa’s voice rose for the first time. “Because you had already touched the original.”
Arthur looked toward Amelia.
The accusation changed the room again.
Amelia felt it before anyone spoke. The same small retreat of trust. The same possibility reopening.
“When?” Daniel asked.
Vanessa pointed at Amelia. “This afternoon. She removed the brooch from the mount during cataloging.”
“That was before the final seal,” Amelia said. “I measured the pin assembly with conservation gloves. Mr. Bell was present.”
Arthur nodded. “She followed procedure.”
“But she noticed the copy,” Vanessa said.
Amelia stopped.
Daniel turned toward her. “Did you?”
Vanessa’s mouth tightened in satisfaction.
Amelia remembered the gray case on Arthur’s worktable at four thirty. She had asked why the study copy was out, and Arthur had said he was checking the backing dimensions. She had opened it long enough to compare the repaired clasp for her notes.
“Yes,” she said. “I saw it.”
Vanessa spread one hand. “There.”
“There what?”
“You knew there was a duplicate.”
“So did you.”
“She also complained about her pay,” Vanessa said to Evelyn. “In the donor lounge. I heard her.”
Amelia’s skin heated beneath the dried champagne.
“I was speaking privately to Mr. Bell.”
“You said the museum trusted you with objects worth millions while paying you less than the catering supervisor.”
Arthur looked uncomfortable.
“Did you say it?” Daniel asked.
Amelia looked at him. “Yes.”
The word felt dangerous, but she would not allow Vanessa to control it.
“I said it because it’s true. I also said I was considering another job.”
Vanessa nodded as if a final piece had settled into place. “Motive.”
“For stealing a brooch I could never sell?”
“People do irrational things when they are resentful.”
“You threw champagne at me because you believed rational behavior would make you look suspicious.”
Daniel said, “Enough.”
He turned to Amelia. “Did you touch the study copy?”
“With gloves. In the preparation room. At four thirty-six, approximately.”
“Did you return it to the gray case?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see Arthur lock it away?”
“No. He said he needed it later.”
Daniel made a note on the security phone.
Amelia watched him write. Even now, every answer became evidence. Vanessa’s accusation had been disproved, yet Amelia remained part of the investigation because facts did not rearrange themselves around fairness.
She bent toward her bag.
Daniel looked up. “Don’t.”
“I need my cardigan.”
“Not yet.”
“I’m freezing.”
He glanced at her wet blouse and removed his suit jacket.
Amelia almost refused it. Then she saw that refusal would be another performance, another way of pretending she did not need anything from anyone. She allowed him to place the jacket across the back of a marble bench rather than around her shoulders.
“Thank you,” she said.
Vanessa watched her pick it up.
Daniel’s jacket smelled faintly of cedar and coffee. Amelia put it on without pushing her arms fully into the sleeves, careful not to transfer champagne onto the lining.
Arthur sat beside Evelyn on the staircase, leaving one step between them.
“I failed you,” he said.
Evelyn did not look at him. “Which one of us?”
Arthur glanced toward Amelia.
“That is not an answer,” Evelyn said.
“No.”
“It is becoming a habit.”
He folded his hands. “I believed I could manage the access personally.”
“You believed Vanessa was not the kind of person rules were written for.”
Vanessa looked away.
Arthur’s voice lowered. “Yes.”
The admission seemed to cost him more than any defense.
Evelyn stared at the broken glass. “And Amelia?”
Arthur swallowed. “I let the accusation breathe longer than I should have.”
“You asked for discretion.”
“I was thinking about the museum.”
“You were thinking about yourself inside the museum.”
He accepted that too.
Vanessa paced once toward the doors and back. Her movements had lost their elegance. The silver clutch remained beneath her arm, held so tightly that one corner pressed into the satin of her gown.
Amelia watched the seam.
“Daniel,” she said.
He came closer.
“The clutch has an internal frame. See the left edge?”
He followed her gaze.
“It should be symmetrical,” she continued. “But that side is almost half an inch thicker.”
Vanessa laughed. “Are we appraising handbags now?”
Amelia ignored her. “When she opened it, her thumb pressed there. Not near the clasp. Along the lining.”
Daniel looked at Vanessa. “Is there an interior compartment?”
“No.”
“Would you place the clutch on the console again?”
“It is already in my possession.”
“Then keep it still.”
She stepped away from him. “Do not come closer.”
Daniel stopped immediately and raised both hands slightly. “I have not touched you.”
“Your posture is threatening.”
“My posture is between you and the exit.”
“Exactly.”
Evelyn stood from the stair.
“Vanessa,” she said. “Why did you need the brooch?”
The directness altered Vanessa’s face more than Daniel’s accusation had.
“I didn’t.”
“Were you going to sell it?”
“No.”
“Use it as collateral?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“I do not have it.”
Evelyn crossed the space between them. She did not crowd Vanessa. She stopped far enough away that the two women might have been speaking at a reception.
May you like
“I defended you for years,” Evelyn said.
Vanessa’s eyes hardened. “From what?”
