Chapter 3 - The Bracelet in Her Pocket.
The smile lasted less than a second.
Elena saw it anyway.
Celeste quickly covered it with outrage.
"I knew it was missing."
Patricia pressed a hand to her chest.
"That bracelet has been in our family for seventy years."
Ruby stared at the diamonds as though they were insects crawling across Elena's palm.
"I didn't take it."
"Of course you didn't," Elena said.
Celeste shook her head.
"Elena, please don't make this worse."
"Worse for whom?"
Damian stepped between the two women.
"Everyone needs to calm down."
Elena looked at him.
"You keep saying that whenever evidence appears."
His smile faded.
Marcus took the bracelet using a folded linen napkin.
"Tomas, put this in the security safe."
Patricia objected immediately.
"That belongs to my daughter."
"Then she'll get it back after we know how it ended up in Ruby's pocket."
Celeste's voice became soft.
"Marcus, are you accusing me of planting my own bracelet on a child?"
"I'm not accusing anyone yet."
"You canceled our wedding."
"Because my niece nearly drowned."
"She slipped."
Ruby began crying again.
Elena snapped her gaze toward Celeste.
"Stop saying that."
Something in Elena's tone made Celeste step back.
Marcus ordered the guests moved into the resort ballroom while security interviewed everyone who had been on the pier.
The festive procession turned into a silent march through the palm-lined courtyard.
Flowers that had looked romantic an hour earlier now looked staged and strange.
Elena took Ruby upstairs to her private suite.
She wrapped the child in a white bathrobe and sat beside her on the bed.
"You are not in trouble."
Ruby stared at her knees.
"Even if I tell?"
"Especially if you tell."
Ruby's voice was barely audible.
"The bride said I was making Marcus look at me instead of her."
Elena felt her jaw tighten.
"When did she say that?"
"Before the pictures."
"What happened next?"
Ruby twisted the belt of the robe.
"She told me there was a surprise at the end of the pier."
"What kind of surprise?"
"A seashell from my mommy."
Elena stopped breathing for a moment.
Ruby's mother, Sophia, had died two years earlier in a boating accident.
Nobody in the family used her memory as a game.
Nobody except someone cruel enough to know it would make Ruby follow without question.
"Did Celeste walk with you?"
Ruby shook her head.
"The other lady did."
"Which other lady?"
Ruby frowned as if searching through a frightening picture.
"The lady with the silver shoes."
Elena mentally reviewed the wedding party.
Three bridesmaids wore silver shoes.
Before she could ask more, someone knocked.
Marcus entered alone.
He looked older than he had an hour earlier.
"Security searched the pier."
Elena stood.
"And?"
"They found Ruby's left sandal under the west railing."
"That makes sense."
"They also found this."
Marcus placed a cracked black phone on the dresser.
Ruby gasped.
Elena turned.
"You've seen it before?"
Ruby pointed at the phone.
"The lady dropped it when she grabbed me."
Marcus and Elena exchanged a look.
"Can Tomas unlock it?" Elena asked.
"He's trying."
Ruby suddenly climbed off the bed.
"I know the picture."
Marcus crouched.
"What picture?"
"On the screen."
She drew a small circle in the air with one finger.
"It was Uncle Marcus."
Marcus frowned.
"Me?"
Ruby shook her head.
"You were sleeping."
Elena felt cold despite the warm room.
"Ruby, where was Marcus sleeping?"
The little girl looked toward the balcony doors.
"On the floor."
Marcus's face changed.
"I've never seen that phone in my life."
Then his own phone buzzed.
He read the message once.
Then again.
"What is it?" Elena asked.
May you like
Marcus slowly lifted his eyes.
"The black phone is registered to Damian Cross."
