A Ruler in Disguise novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Marker

Weston left the shop so fast he forgot to slam the door.

Dina came in two minutes later with a tray of coffees and a face.

She was twenty-six like me, black pixie cut, nose ring, denim overalls, and she had been up all night.

"I called the sheriff's office twelve times," she said. "Nobody would tell me anything."

"They let us go."

"They let you go? Both of you?" She looked at Dev behind the counter. "And who is the tall one?"

"Dev. He works for us now."

"Does he?" Dina handed him a coffee and studied him. "He looks very decorative for a delivery boy."

"Thank you," Dev said politely.

"Dina, the necklace was planted," I said. "Dev saw Weston do it. But there's no proof, so it's his word and mine."

Dina set her tray down slowly.

"Clo. The van has a dashcam."

I stopped breathing.

"It faces the cab," she said.

"It records when something moves inside, even with the engine off.

"I put it in after somebody broke into a neighbor's truck last spring."

"Did it record Sunday?"

"Let's find out."

She pulled the little memory card out of the van and plugged it into the shop's laptop.

We watched together, the three of us, shoulder to shoulder.

At 5:31 p.m., the sliding door of the van rolled open.

A man in a navy suit leaned in, looked around, and pulled a string of pearls from his pocket.

He wrapped them in a scrap of green ribbon from my own supply box.

He tucked them under the passenger seat, grinned at his own cleverness, and looked straight into the lens.

It was Weston Harlow, clear as a postcard.

"Oh, you stupid man," Dina breathed.

Dev said nothing.

When I turned, he had a look on his face that I had not seen yet.

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