Chapter 4

“Why are you here?” Diane demanded.

I ignored her.

“You told me I lost it, Eric.”

He looked at the bracelet, then at the officers.

Vanessa started talking over him.

“Tell them. You bought it for me. Three years together. Remember?”

Diane's shopping bag landed beside her son's.

“Take it off,” she told me. “It belongs to Vanessa.”

“My mother put it on my wrist before she died.”

The younger officer glanced from Eric to Vanessa.

I kept my voice steady.

“My husband took it to fix the clasp. During our move. Afterward, he told me I'd thrown it away.”

“Your husband?” Vanessa repeated.

Eric didn't answer.

I looked directly at him.

“How did repairing it turn into putting it on another woman's arm?”

The officers separated our accounts. They photographed the bracelet and asked for proof of ownership. The damage report remained a separate matter.

Eric suddenly wanted to be reasonable.

“We can deal with the property damage,” he said. “I don't want anybody arrested. We just need to talk.”

Vanessa protested. Diane told her to let him handle it.

I realized they were all doing the same calculation. How much of the truth would have to go on paper if this continued?

One officer gave me the report number and asked whether I felt safe leaving.

“I'm going home alone,” I said.

Eric followed me into the hall.

“Don't do this here.”

“You already did it here.”

He reached for my arm. I moved beyond his hand and pressed the elevator button.

When the doors opened, he stepped in beside me, leaving his mother with his other family.