Chapter 10: The Loupe

Susie's POV

On Wednesday morning, the accountant sent me an email with the subject line FINAL NOTICE.

I didn't open it.

I put my phone in my locker, washed my hands, and slid the ring off my finger the way I did every morning.

I set it in the little steel dish by the sink, next to the mouthwash cups, and pulled on my gloves.

The text from Dalton had come at six.

I read every line. You were right. I'm so sorry. Can I see you tonight?

I had read it forty times and not answered.

My first patient was a man who talked through the whole cleaning with my hands in his mouth, which is the only way anyone ever talks to a hygienist.

I nodded and said "mm-hm" and thought about the pendant.

When I came back to the sink between patients, my boss was standing at it.

He was a round, cheerful man in his sixties who collected old watches and estate jewelry and went to auctions on Sundays.

He was holding my ring.

"Susie," he said, "where did you get this?"

"It's mine," I said. "I'm sorry, I'll move it. I know it's not allowed in the sink."

"No, no, I'm not scolding. I just picked it up to look." He turned it in the light. "It's very nice."

"It was a street-fair thing. Fifteen dollars."

"Hm."

He dug in his coat pocket, took out a small black loupe, and screwed it into his eye.

I laughed.

"You're going to check the glass?"

He didn't laugh.

He held the band under the lamp and bent over it for a long moment.

I watched his face, and I felt something in my stomach start to go cold.

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