Authors: Sarah Biglow
The storm had let up a little by the time Kalina and Chris headed out for the rescheduled ceremony. She was working up the nerve to tell him she needed to stop by the jewelry store afterwards. She didn’t want to get him involved. After all, in his dress blues, he more than screamed police. As Chris pulled into the parking lot of the station—there weren’t that many people coming—he glanced over at her.
“Are you OK?”
“Huh, yeah. Just thinking. My mom wanted me to pick out some earrings for the wedding and I realized I forgot to do it.”
“I could come with you if you want.”
She shook her head. “No that’s OK. I don’t really know what I’m looking for and you have so much other stuff going on with work right now. I’ll be fine.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I am. Come on, let’s get you all sworn in as captain.”
They walked arm in arm through the front of the station. The small police force was assembled and in their dress uniforms as well. The mayor stood chatting with Jimmy in low tones, Kalina hoped it wasn’t about the finger but they pointed in Chris’s direction and her heart fell.
“I’ll be right back,” he said with a quick kiss to her cheek.
It turned out not to be about the finger, just logistics for the ceremony itself. She thought it was sweet that Jimmy would get to give Chris his captain’s stripes. She settled in the front row and got her phone ready for some good photos. A hush fell over the bullpen and all eyes turned to the mayor, Chris and Jimmy. It was a brief exchange when all was said and done. The mayor gave a short welcome and thanked Chris for his dedicated service to keeping the town safe. Jimmy stepped up and tried to hide his excited grin as he adorned Chris’s uniform. They saluted each other and then the applause from the rest of the force erupted. Kalina snapped a few quick pictures before Chris pulled her to her feet and into a bear hug.
“Thanks for being by my side for all of this,” he whispered.
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
She could feel her phone buzzing in her purse and stepped away to see what was going on. Chris was immediately swallowed up by other people congratulating him. Her sister’s number flashed across the screen.
“Hey, Jill. I’m looking into the earrings,” she said automatically.
“What earrings?” AJ asked.
“Sorry, kiddo. I thought you were your mom. Grandma wants me to pick out earrings for us to wear for the wedding. Your mom reminded me this morning.”
“Oh. Cool. You excited for that?”
“Of course I am.” She switched the phone to her other ear. “What’s up?”
“I just wanted to know how the ceremony went.”
“It was fine. You could have come, Chris wouldn’t have minded.”
“I’ve kind of been on lockdown for break. Mom wants me studying for the stupid SATs.”
“She’s got a point. Getting good SAT scores will help you get into college.”
“I know. It’s just boring as hell. And I miss work.”
Her nephew had been working for her during the school year on weekends and nights and she had to admit she was glad for the company. It made the small, family-owned comic shop feel homier having him around. And their shared love of all things nerdy was a bonus. Jillian had insisted he take a few months off to focus on studying for the SATs and she had agreed. She opened her mouth to tell him about the mystery package from that morning but stopped short. He would want to get involved and if someone was sending pieces of people to the police, that wasn’t something she wanted her sixteen-year-old nephew caught up in.
“You still there, Aunt K.?”
“Yes, sorry. I need to go. If you want to swing by the shop tonight I can probably convince your mom you need some air and we have some inventory to sort through.”
“You’re the best.”
Kalina laughed a little and ended the call. She felt a hand on her shoulder and spun around, coming face to face with the mayor. He was a doughy man in his forties with a thick head of blond hair and sharp, brown eyes.
“Didn’t mean to scare you,” he said with a smile.
“That’s OK. The ceremony was really nice. Thanks for convincing him to accept the position.”
“It wasn’t just me. I have a feeling his beautiful fiancée had something to do with it too.”
Heat warmed her cheeks and the back of her neck. “Not really. He knew he was right for the job. Would you excuse me? I have an errand I need to run for the wedding.”
He nodded and she went in search of her coat at the front of the building. Jimmy lounged by the reception desk, keeping an eye on the phones.
“Hey, can you let Chris know I’m heading out?”
“Sure. Everything OK, Kal?”
“Everything’s fine. I just need to run an errand. Let him know I’m taking the car.”
“If you need to talk about what happened this morning, I’m here,” Jimmy said in a sudden, somber tone.
“Thanks, Jimmy. I really appreciate that.”
Kalina pulled on her coat and scarf and headed out to the car. She could still picture the ring in her head, sitting primly on the severed finger. Holding on to the small hope that its owner was alive—losing a single finger wasn’t usually fatal—she headed to Carmichael Jewelers. It was a small shop with a clean exterior. Sets of earrings and watches adorned the front windows on display. She could see a single counter inside as she parked in one of the few spaces in the lot. Whoever owned the place had taken care to shovel the sidewalk in front of the door for ease of access. An electronic sound tolled as she pushed the door open. Gentle lighting reflected off the display cases on the center counter. It was definitely a small operation but the owner clearly had good taste in fine jewelry.
“Hello? Is anyone here?” Kalina called out.
Silence answered her at first. She took a quick look around the small space until she spotted the single section of delicate diamond rings with a small sign announcing there was a discount for “wedding season”. Finally, footsteps echoed from beyond the counter and a man in his forties appeared. He wore a sweater vest over a white dress shirt with navy blue slacks. His jet black hair lay in a natural swirl off his forehead, drawing attention away from beady grey eyes.
“Sorry, I must not have heard the bell,” he said and set a ledger down on the counter.
“That’s all right. I’m guessing with this storm you weren’t expecting anyone to come in anyway.” She unwound her scarf and undid her jacket. Her engagement ring caught the light and twinkled on her finger. His gaze zeroed in on the ring.
“How can I help you? Wedding bands perhaps?”
His directness made the little hairs on her neck stand on edge. “I’m sorry?”
He pointed to her ring. “Well, I’m assuming you’re already engaged. I have some lovely bands. Is your fiancé joining us?”
“Oh, no. We have our bands picked out. We’re getting married in a couple weeks and I was wondering if you had any emerald earrings I could look at for myself and my matron of honor.”
“Earrings?”
“Yes. To be honest, my mother is insisting and you know it is important to keep the mother of the bride happy.”
He smiled briefly and coughed. Clearing his throat, he waved her over to a case of delicate studs. He pulled out a tray and pointed to a few of them. “How about these?”
“Um, I was thinking something that dangled. We’re wearing our hair up so it would be a nice contrast.”
“I’ll have to see what I have in the back.”
He started to move away and her gaze darted to the ledger book sitting on the other end of the counter. An idea was forming but she needed one more piece of information before she could implement it.
“Oh, actually, before you do that, there’s one other thing I wanted to look at.”
He gave an exasperated sigh at being interrupted but turned back to face her. “Yes?”
“A friend of mine is thinking of proposing to his girlfriend and it would be really nice if he knew what was out there. I noticed your collection. Could I take a look?”
“You’re quite the busy bride, aren’t you? Wedding on the horizon and checking out what’s out there for other people?”
“He’s still working up the nerve to buy the ring but it would go a long way if I told him there was a great jeweler with reasonable prices right here in town.”
The compliment seemed to bolster the jeweler’s mood and he pulled out the tray of engagement rings. She bent low to study them, looking at the tiny tags and their ID numbers. It was exactly what she’d needed. She even spotted one that looked remarkably like the one from the mystery finger. She pointed to that one and he handed it over. She committed the ID to memory before handing it back. She also noted that there appeared to be three empty spots that used to hold rings that had been sold.
“I could put it on lay away for your friend, if you’d like?”
“I’ll ask him.” She licked her lips and turned back toward the other display. “So, about those earrings?”
“Yes. Of course. I’ll see what I can find. Just wait here a moment.”
He disappeared back the way he’d come and she seized the opportunity to pour over the ledger. It was open to a page conveniently marked “Engagement Rings”. Despite the three empty slots, she found only two people had come in within the last month to purchase diamonds for their sweethearts. Instead of jotting down the names and addresses, Kalina retrieved her phone from her purse and snapped a shot, making sure to zoom in close for the names of the buyers. The fact that this particular entry had been left open was a little strange but she tried to brush it off. Maybe he was just cataloging his inventory. She understood how that went.
She replaced the ledger and retreated to the other side of the counter. He returned a moment later and presented two pairs of silver earrings with simple emerald stones. They were definitely beautiful and exactly what she’d imagined wearing. She checked the price and tried not to look stunned. They were not cheap. But she only got married once and if she left without a purchase more than just her fiancé would be suspicious.
“I’ll take both pairs.”
“Very good. I’ll just need to get your information.”
“Thanks for making this so simple, Mr. Carmichael,” she said.
“Oh, my name’s Bruce Hempstead. Carmichael’s is a franchise.”
“I just assumed. I’m so sorry.”
He gave her a toothy grin and boxed up the two pairs of earrings. Ten minutes later she piled back into the car and shoved the key in the ignition. She needed to share what she’d found with Chris. She was about to hit speed dial when a call came through from his number.
“Well, this is good timing. I’ve got something to show you,” she said.
“That’s good because we have an ID on the finger.”
“I’ll come to the station right away.”
Kalina’s heart hammered against her ribs as she made her way back across town to the station. She had a bad feeling that one of the men in the ledger was going to have a fiancée with one less finger. The parking lot was emptier as she pulled into a spot and cut the engine. The rest of the officers had returned to their patrol duties and the few townspeople who were in attendance likely had gone back to their day jobs. Kalina stowed the earrings in the glove box just to be safe before heading inside. Jimmy and Chris stood side by side at Chris’s desk.
“You said you found out who the finger belongs to?” she said without waiting for them to look up from the file between them.
“Her name is Gabriella Baez,” Chris answered.
The name didn’t sound familiar. He showed her a photo from a missing person’s report but Kalina still didn’t recognize her. She did, however, recognize the name of the person who filed the report. She pulled up the photo of the ledger she’d taken and toyed with her phone.
“What’d you find, Kal?”
“So, um, don’t get mad at me. This was in plain view the whole time. I didn’t even touch the pages. But it looks like a couple of guys bought engagement rings similar to the one we found from Carmichael Jewelers recently and one of them”—she zoomed into the first name—“might be connected to Ms. Baez.”
Chris and Jimmy both bent forward and examined the neatly handwritten ledger for a Mr. Duncan Westford. Jimmy flipped through the pages of the missing person report and let out a sound of understanding.
“I think you’re right. Mr. Duncan filed the report. Ms. Baez is his fiancée and she didn’t return home after their engagement party.”
“When was that?” Kalina returned the photo to its original size while Jimmy skimmed the report.
“Looks like at least three days ago.”
“I doubt she cut off her own finger. If she didn’t want to marry the guy she would have just returned the ring,” Chris remarked and rubbed at his chin.
“But why would he report her missing if he hurt her?” Jimmy asked.
Kalina and Chris both started to speak but stopped. As they both knew, many things—money, or the promise of it, included—could be powerful motivators to falsely report a person as missing. After all, Jillian’s college best friend had attempted to do just that when she knew her husband was dead and she’d had a hand in it.
“We need to contact Mr. Westford, have him confirm the ring belonged to his fiancée,” Chris said.
“You aren’t going to show him the finger are you?”
“No, we’ve had one of the lab techs remove and photograph it separately. We got lucky that her prints were in the system.”
“How? She doesn’t look familiar.”
“She’s a teacher in the state. They have to get fingerprinted before they start teaching and we have access to the database.”
“Oh. So when is he coming in?”
“Not until tomorrow morning most likely. We have officers making the notification right now.”
“So what do you do now?”
Chris let out a sigh. “Now I got home and celebrate my promotion with my beautiful fiancée.”
Kalina smiled. “Oh, I don’t know if it helps or matters but you should probably take down the name of the other person who bought a ring like Gabriella’s. If it isn’t her fiancé, there might be someone else out there who is at risk.”
Jimmy took her phone to copy down the information before he gathered up the missing person report and his notes and headed for the reception desk. Chris tugged on his coat and hat and offered her his arm.
“Shall we?”
“Actually, I promised AJ I’d let him come by the shop and help me do some inventory.”
“I thought he was taking some time off.”
“He is, but he’s going a little stir crazy doing constant SAT prep. Jill’s going a bit overboard.”
“Well, I would like to spend some time with you later.”
“I won’t work too late. I promise.”