Chapter 3 - The Burner Phone and the Stolen Ring
“Mom?” I whispered, taking a step toward her.
My mother, Sarah, looked terrified. She clutched her worn purse to her chest, her eyes darting between the security guards and Vincent’s icy glare. She was a housekeeper at the neighboring estate, and she had only come by tonight to drop off my forgotten asthma inhaler.
“Elena, I swear I didn't steal anything,” my mother sobbed, her voice echoing in the silent dining room.
Natalie immediately seized the moment. The color rushed back to her face, replacing her panic with venomous triumph.
“There it is!” Natalie cried, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at my mother. “Vincent, don't you see? The maid and her mother are a team of thieves! Elena knocked the glass out of my hand to create a distraction, while her mother raided the safe. Daniel is obviously their accomplice!”
It was a brilliant, wicked pivot. For a second, the wealthy guests murmured in agreement. It made perfect sense to them—the desperate staff stealing from the rich masters.
Vincent looked at me. For a moment, I thought he was going to fire me right then and there. I had forty-three dollars to my name. If we were arrested for grand larceny, my mother and I would lose everything.
“Did you take the diamonds, Sarah?” Vincent asked my mother, his tone unreadable.
“No, sir,” my mother said, lifting her chin with a sudden, fierce dignity. “I was walking out the back corridor when Miss Caldwell stopped me. She shoved the velvet pouch into my hands. She told me if I didn't take it out of the house and hide it behind the garden shed, she would tell you Elena stole from her purse, and ensure my daughter never worked in this city again.”
Natalie let out a theatrical laugh. “A ridiculous lie. Why would I hand a million-dollar necklace to a scrubwoman?”
“Because you saw Marcus walking down the hall and you panicked,” Daniel interjected, stepping closer to Natalie. “You needed the real diamonds out of the house before the appraiser arrived tomorrow morning.”
“She’s lying!” Natalie shrieked. “Vincent, check the security cameras!”
Vincent nodded to Marcus. Marcus pulled out his tablet and tapped the screen, pulling up the feed from the rear service hallway. He held it up for Vincent to see.
I held my breath.
Vincent watched the screen for ten seconds. Then he turned the tablet around so Natalie could see it.
The footage clearly showed Natalie shoving the velvet pouch into my mother’s hands. But that wasn't all. The camera had captured Natalie pressing something else into my mother’s coat pocket.
“What else did you give her, Natalie?” Vincent asked, his voice dead flat.
My mother reached into her coat pocket. She pulled out a cheap, black burner phone.
“She told me to keep this powered on,” my mother said, setting it on the edge of the dining table. “She said she would call it when the coast was clear.”
Natalie stared at the phone as if it were a live grenade. “That isn't mine.”
Right on cue, the burner phone began to vibrate violently against the polished mahogany table. The screen lit up with an blocked number.
Nobody moved.
Vincent reached out and pressed the speaker button.
“Natalie?” a deep, muffled voice crackled through the speaker.
It wasn't a child. It was a man.
“I have the boy,” the man said, his tone chillingly calm. “If the three million isn't wired into the offshore account by midnight, Daniel gets a box of ashes, and Vincent gets the financial ledgers showing exactly what you and I have been doing to his company.”
Vincent’s eyes locked onto Natalie.
May you like
But before Vincent could speak, the man on the phone chuckled.
“Don't try to double-cross me, Natalie,” the voice said. “I’m sitting right across from Vincent at his own table, and he hasn't suspected a thing.”
