The Bride Changed. The Bill Didn't. novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Suspect

I walked into the precinct at nine on Thursday morning with Florence on my left and a folder on my arm.

Cal had texted me before I left the hotel car.

"Did you land? Yes or no. You can say no."

I had written back: "Landed. Going in."

He had answered: "Ask me for anything after."

I put the phone in my pocket and gave my name at the desk.

The detective made us wait twenty minutes in plastic chairs.

Estelle's friend had a gray mustache and a framed photo of a charity gala on his wall.

He did not stand up when I came in.

"Ms. Linden. You left the country the same night a report was coming."

"I flew out the night before my own wedding," I said. "Mrs. Thurston filed on Monday, while I was already across the ocean."

"You fled before you knew."

"I flew before there was anything to flee."

He turned a page in his file.

"Mrs. Thurston says you took valuable jewelry and admitted to the venue that you owed the wedding balance."

"Which jewelry?"

"A pearl necklace, family property."

"It was my grandmother's," I said. "It was in a photo from 1961. Four million people have seen the clip of that wedding."

Florence made a small sound that was almost a laugh.

The detective's neck went red above his collar.

"The jewelry is a civil matter," he said. "The unpaid balance is not. Your signature is on the guarantee."

"It is not my signature."

"It looks like your signature."

"It looks like it because someone copied it from my cards. I've signed three hundred vendor contracts for her. She had a dozen in her kitchen drawer."

I opened the folder.

I laid the venue's scanned page on his desk, and then a second sheet next to it.

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