Flawless. Heather Graham

for Daniel...

      The diamond was still in his pocket. Kieran was aware that all three of them were now in on the theft of a flawless stone worth at least half a million dollars.

      “Let me rephrase this. What the hell were you two thinking? You’re talking grand larceny!” Kieran said.

      “But I don’t want the diamond!” Julie insisted. “I don’t intend to keep it. I just want to get him in trouble for stealing it. Or losing it, if his boss feels like giving him the benefit of the doubt.” Petite Julie, with her short blond hair and big brown eyes, looked as innocent as a newborn babe as she stared at Kieran. “You know how his store works. Each sales agent is responsible for a certain collection of diamonds and other stones. Any of the associates can show them, but the sales agent has to count and log them in at the end of the day. I just—I just wanted Gary to suffer for a while. I wanted him to sweat it out. When there’s a count, it won’t be there. He’ll be in major trouble. I couldn’t care less about the stone itself.”

      “Oh, God!” Kieran said, sitting back and crossing her arms. “There’s been a rash of jewelry store holdups. Don’t you two idiots see? You’re in the same category now.”

      “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve never been armed,” Daniel protested. “I didn’t hold anyone up. I just pocketed the stone.”

      “It has to go back right away—as in now,” Kieran said. She scowled at her brother. “How exactly did you manage to take it?”

      He shrugged. “Well, I said I was there to see Julie’s scumbag almost ex—”

      “You said that at his place of work?” Kieran asked.

      “No, of course not,” Daniel said indignantly. “I knew he wasn’t in at the time, since he was here. At the pub, I mean. So I asked Neil Davis if I could see Gary’s stones in particular—after, of course, acting disappointed that he wasn’t there. I know Davis is the king of the lazy asses because Julie’s told me about him. He’d just want the sale, and he wouldn’t count until the end of the day. I said I’d heard Benton had some great stones that could be set in the design of my choosing and that I wanted to create the perfect ring for my fiancée. And he did the usual jeweler thing—displayed the unmounted stones on a velvet cloth on the counter. Then I told him he had a fleck of something on his chin, and when he turned to the mirror, I pocketed the stone.”

      “You’ll be on a security tape filching that diamond,” Kieran said, her heart sinking. How the hell was she going to get him out of this one?

      “Don’t be ridiculous. I made sure my back was to the camera and that my head blocked it.”

      “They’ll still come after you. They’ll go through the security tapes and see that you’re the one hiding his face. Neil can describe you, and Gary will know exactly who you are,” Kieran said. “Give it to me. I have to get that stone back before they realize it’s missing.”

      “No, Kieran. I’ll take it back there,” Julie told her.

      “Don’t be a fool. You have no finesse when it comes to doing anything dishonest,” Daniel said. “You’ll look guilty as hell, and you’ll wind up confessing, saying you did it. Gary might have you arrested, not to mention what his boss might do.”

      “I left the house, trying to give him space to screw anyone he wanted, and what did he do? He nearly killed my dogs!” Julie said, tears rising to her eyes.

      “Asshole,” Daniel muttered, placing his arm around Julie. “He doesn’t deserve you. There are good guys out there, and you’ll find one, I swear.”

      Kieran lowered her head, listening to the two of them. They just didn’t get it.

      “You idiots,” she said. “This wasn’t just juvenile—it was criminal. Yes, Gary’s behaved like the worst and most despicable jerk on earth, but, Julie, if you want to get even, get over him! Finalize the divorce and learn to live a better life on your own. And, Daniel, how could you, you dunce? You’ve stayed out of trouble for years. You’re working. You have a life and a career ahead of you. Think. You’ve risked your whole future. Both of you have to think about yourselves. Forget about Gary. Do you understand?”

      They both reddened, nodding their agreement.

      “Give me the stone,” Kieran said to her brother.

      “No, I’ll get it back where it belongs,” Daniel said.

      “No! If something goes wrong, they’ll have you on tape twice. I’ll go. And you can’t go with me, Julie. If Scumbag’s there—” She cut herself off. “If Gary is there, I can say I’ve just come to ask him to start behaving civilly. If he’s not there, I’ll...I’ll let it fall on the floor when no one’s looking, pick it up and just hand it over. What you did is serious. I mean years-in-prison serious, grand-larceny serious, you—”

      She stopped herself. She wasn’t going to call them idiots again.

      Even though they were, she’d made her point.

      Daniel very casually reached into his pocket and handed her the stone. Casual was the way to do it. She should know. They’d all been proficient at pilfering little things during those difficult early years. Gum, candy—small stuff. Now she understood that they’d been bitter and unable to handle the death of their mother, so they’d acted out.

      They’d been good at it. What wasn’t good was that they’d never been caught. They hadn’t been hauled down to juvenile court, then threatened with their father’s wrath and whatever the system could do to them.

      “I’m terrified that you don’t realize what you did. Grand larceny. You could be put away for years and years. Honestly, this is no joke. And no lie—sometimes the sentences for theft are longer than the ones for murder,” she said sternly.

      They both looked contrite, but what scared her was that they still didn’t seem to comprehend just how foolish they’d been. How dangerously foolish.

      She pointed a finger at her brother. “You promised me. No more stealing.”

      “But I wasn’t stealing it. I was just...borrowing it for a while.”

      “My company works with the police,” she retorted. “Aside from everything else, think about the position you’ve put me in.”

      “You’re a psychologist who works with a bunch of doctors,” Daniel said.

      “Who work with the police,” she finished. “You—”

      Julie broke in. “It was my fault,” she said.

      “Yes, in a way it was,” Kieran said. “And then again, no. Daniel is responsible for his own behavior. Daniel, I need you to promise me, once and for all, that you’ll never steal again.”

      “Kieran...” he murmured, glancing away. “This was an exception. I did it for—”

      “Daniel.”

      “All right, I promise.” She could tell by the way he looked at her that he knew she doubted him. “Never again. I swear it on our parents’ grave.”

      That, to her brother, was a solemn vow.

      “I wonder if they’ll even miss it,” Julie said. “The diamond, I mean.”

      “You wonder if they’ll miss it? A flawless stone worth a half a million or more?” Kieran asked incredulously.

      “Like you said, there’s been a rash of jewelry store holdups in the city.”

      “Yeah. Armed men come in and wipe out half a store. Do you think Gary’s boss and coworkers wouldn’t notice if they’d been held up by men with guns?”

      She checked her watch. She had to leave now if she was going to make it before the store closed for the day.

      “What do you want me to do now?” Daniel asked