Chapter 4: Stones

The lawyer's warning rode with her all the way across town.

Halcyon had her brothers' names, and Rhys landed in two days.

She checked the street twice for a gray van, then decided the stones could not wait.

She would be quick, and she would be gone before anyone thought to look for her here.

The jeweler's door had to be buzzed open.

Inside, the street noise stopped, and the lights were built to make every stone look better than it was.

The owner came out himself, a third-generation jeweler with silver at his temples.

"Are you shopping for something particular?"

"Diamonds and emeralds," Jessa said. "The biggest and cleanest you have. I only want the stones."

He raised his eyebrows. She had walked in looking like a girl after a ring.

"I have five million to spend today," she said, "and I'd like to spend all of it."

He studied her a moment longer than polite, then nodded and went to the back.

He returned with a rolling case and laid the stones on black velvet.

Three diamonds first, twelve carats and up.

Then emeralds, deep green and cloudless, and a handful of sapphires.

She did not haggle.

She chose by size and clarity and nothing else, and eighteen stones later he ran the total twice.

"Four point nine seven million."

"Round it up."

He wrapped the case, sealed it, and walked her to the door himself.

In the garage under her building she locked the car doors and put her hand on the velvet box.

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