“It’s gone.” My voice came out tight, almost a whisper.
Cleo frowned. “What’s gone?”
“The brooch.” I turned to the drawer and pulled it open. “The Harrington heirloom. It’s not here.”
For a second, she didn’t move. “You mean… not here as in you moved it? Or…”
“As in gone,” I said. “Vanished.”
Her mouth fell open. “Shit! You’re kidding. Tell me you’re kidding.”
I just stared at her.
“Oh my god, it’s been stolen?” she yelped, pressing both hands to her head. “No, no, no,no.Holly, this cannot be happening.”
I started pacing. “Look. I put it in this drawer last night. I shut it. I checked it. It was right there!”
“Maybe housekeeping…”
“They haven’t been through yet. The sign’s still on the door.”
Cleo darted around the room, scanning surfaces, opening drawers, pulling at the bed skirt like the thing might have sprouted legs and crawled away. “You checked everywhere?”
“Yes.”
“Under the bed?”
“Yes.”
“Behind the curtains?”
“Cleo.”
She froze mid-step, eyes wide and a little wild.
She pressed a hand to her chest, trying to breathe. “Margaret’s going to have an aneurysm. And then she’s going to kill us. Both of us. Slowly. With very expensive lawyers.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Your business will be ruined! We’ll have to move to Perth and start doing school fetes and engagement parties at bowling clubs!”
“Cleo.”
She started pacing too now, both of us caught in the same tight orbit of panic. “All right, all right, we just need to find it. Maybe someone came in? Maybe one of the guests…”
“No,” I said quickly. “We can’t accuse anyone. Not without proof. If word gets out, it’ll destroy the weekend. And Noah’s reputation.”
Cleo threw her arms up. “Oh great, let’s protectMr Doesn’t-Need-a-Safewhile we lose our entire business!”
I groaned. “I know, okay? But if Margaret finds out before we know what happened, it’s over. For everyone.”
Cleo stopped, her eyes darted to the open drawer again, that empty space, taunting us both. “So what do we do?”
I inhaled slowly, trying to sound like the calm, capable version of myself people actually paid for. “We start small. Quiet. Check with staff. Maybe someone saw something?”
Cleo nodded, though her face was still pale. “And if they didn’t?”
“Then,” I said grimly, “we figure out how to tell Noah before the Harringtons find out.”
