“Mother.”
Margaret ignored him.
“Did you open my jewelry cabinet?”
“No.”
“You knew the necklace was there.”
“I knew you kept jewelry there. I never touched it.”
Margaret descended one step.
“You have been having money problems.”
Clara’s face flushed.
Her younger sister had needed surgery six months earlier, and Clara had borrowed money from two colleagues.
That information had somehow reached Margaret.
“My sister was ill.”
“And you needed money.”
“I worked extra hours to repay what I borrowed.”
Margaret looked toward Adam.
“There is your motive.”
Clara stared at her.
“Motive?”
The word sounded absurd.
She had spent thirteen years in rooms containing watches worth more than her apartment, cash left inside suit jackets, diamond earrings abandoned beside sinks, and credit cards sitting openly on countertops.
Nothing had ever disappeared.
Adam stepped forward.
“Let’s not accuse anyone before security checks the house.”
But Margaret’s certainty grew stronger precisely because Adam resisted.
“Who else would take it?”
Clara felt something inside her chest tighten.
“Mrs. Hamilton, please search everything.”
Margaret turned toward her.
“We intend to.”
