Chapter 5
Sophie could not give Isabella a useful timeline.
She was three.
Three-year-olds remembered colors, feelings, favorite shoes, and whether somebody had been mean.
Not shipment numbers.
So Isabella did not keep questioning her.
She told Rachel what Sophie had said and stopped there.
The auditors worked with records instead.
Over the next week, they identified four pieces whose current specifications differed from older appraisals.
Not obvious fakes.
Real gemstones.
Real gold.
But lower-value substitutions.
Someone understood enough about the collection to avoid replacing a million-dollar stone with glass.
The differences were subtle enough to survive casual viewing.
Claire looked personally offended.
“I appraised two of these after restoration.”
Isabella studied her.
“You missed it?”
“Yes.”
Claire did not defend herself.
That honesty preserved Isabella’s trust.
“How?”
“The documentation matched. The weight was close. The stones were genuine.”
She looked at the sapphire again.
“I was verifying condition, not assuming someone inside the chain had swapped components.”
Rachel asked the question nobody wanted.
“How much value is missing?”
The preliminary estimate was between $420,000 and $600,000.
Diane could afford that.
So could Preston.
Which meant simple greed did not explain enough.
Then the restoration workshop produced archived billing records.
The replica brooch had been ordered through a company called Hale Exhibition Consulting.
Preston’s company.
His attorney responded within an hour.
The replica had been commissioned for “display planning and insurance contingency.”
Claire shook her head.
“That isn’t automatically absurd.”
High-quality replicas were sometimes used for lighting tests, transportation practice, photography, or low-security displays.
The problem was authorization.
Nobody could find one.
Then Diane called Isabella.
Her voice had changed.
Less angry.
More careful.
“You need to stop this audit.”
“Why?”
“You’re going to expose things you don’t understand.”
“Explain them.”
“I can’t over the phone.”
“Then come over.”
“No.”
A long pause followed.
“Ask Claire what happened to the Lombard emerald two years ago.”
Diane disconnected.
May you like
Isabella looked across the conference table at Claire.
For the first time since the investigation began, the appraiser looked frightened.
