The Perfect Solitaire. Carmen Green
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I.N.V., and responded about two other cases that weren’t closed yet. His sister, who owned her own cleaning company, knocked on his office door.
“Come in, Mel.”
“Ben, I’m about to head down to Rob’s house, but I found something interesting behind your nightstand.”
He swung around in his chair. “What are you doing behind my nightstand? Didn’t you just have surgery on your rotator cuff six weeks ago?”
Mel, the baby of the family of five, was a hard worker, supporting her hearing-impaired daughter and her six-year-old all on her own. “I wasn’t lifting anything.” Her compact size fooled many people, but not her brothers and sister who knew of her black belts in Aikido and Hapkido. “I found these fancy pearls when I was dusting, and I couldn’t help but think you might want to give them back, or I can take them home and consider them an early bonus.”
Ben was out of his chair in a slow movement. The fun he’d had with Zoe and these pearls brought back fond memories. “You may clean behind my nightstand anytime. Thanks, sis. Your bonus is in the mail.”
She laughed as he popped a kiss onto her forehead. “Tahitian pearls. Nice.”
Ben relieved Mel of the fancy baubles. “How do you know they’re Tahitian?”
“I have a deep appreciation for fine jewelry.” She touched his chin. “That look says that you should return them. She must be pretty special.”
“Very much so.” Ben walked his sister to her car. The sun warmed his skin and he had the feeling the day was only going to get better.
“Approach her as if she’s a case. Carefully and with a lot of passion. You’ll get her.”
Ben saw his sister off and studied the pearls before deciding what he wanted. He’d return the pearls. The same way he’d gotten them. He’d seduce Zoe, just like he had three months ago. And he’d start by finding out who was trying to ruin her business.
Chapter 2
“Why not hire a twenty-four-hour guard service, Zoe? I don’t think you need to get some expensive investigation company to charge a whole lot of money to come in and solve a petty theft problem.”
At the store, Zoe locked the safe that held loose diamonds, and other precious stones. She turned around and looked at her older sister, Faye, who’d been hovering for the better part of an hour. “I don’t want guards sitting in my stores. None of the other stores have them, and I’m afraid they’ll turn off customers.”
She straightened the clingy fuchsia dress over her curves—fuchsia being the signature color of Zoe’s Diamonds on Peachtree—and checked her makeup one last time.
The past two months had been tough with her stores having been robbed three times. She couldn’t believe she’d been targeted after all the security measures she’d taken.
When Zoe turned around, Faye held a long strand of silver pearls in one hand and a gold rope necklace in the other. Zoe chose the pearls. Similar to the ones she’d worn the evening she’d spent at Ben’s, but not nearly as expensive. That night had cost her emotionally and financially. From the moment she’d met Ben, she’d been attracted to him. She liked his talk of his big family and the crazy antics of his two brothers from when they were boys. He’d even confided, after some probing, that he’d wanted children.
Zoe had been impressed. She only had one sister, but she and Faye didn’t see eye-to-eye on much, and having another sibling might have helped them bond better as children. But his being an investigator was a turn off, despite his good looks, his ability to hold a stimulating conversation and his limitless talent in bed.
But her biggest regret of the evening was that she’d lost the ten-thousand-dollar strand of Tahitian pearls. She’d never found them, and as much as she’d thought of calling Ben to ask if she’d dropped them, she’d never completely found the nerve.
Zoe took the strand of freshwater pearls her sister offered, and wrapped her neck with them twice, making a choker. She completed the look with an amethyst cuff bracelet and a thin amethyst anklet that accented her high heels. She was ready.
“What now?” Zoe asked Faye while she pulled back her hair, wishing she’d straightened the wild curls.
“You don’t need Hood. They’re too expensive.”
“They get results and that’s all I care about. I’m ready to move on to the next phase of my life. When I stopped paying Charles spousal support two years ago, I said I wasn’t ever going to get married again. I saved all that money and it’s getting invested in my dream, Faye. Zoe’s Diamonds on Peachtree is my dream. Nobody has the right to steal that from me.”
“I know, but giving the money to Hood is the same thing as giving it to Charles.”
“How do you figure that? If you’re still arguing Charles’ side of the divorce four years after the ink dried, you may as well leave now.”
So many unsaid words hung between them. There had always been jealousy between her and Faye for years. Faye had grown up falsely believing that Zoe had somehow gotten more out of life than she had. Though Faye was five years older and had taken the lion’s share of college-fund money their parents had saved, Faye still made snide comments about Zoe getting to go to the school of her choice. She didn’t bother to mention that Zoe had gone on scholarships with little assistance from their parents.
“Zoe, I don’t know why you still think I’m on Charles’ side.”
“I know what I saw which was you and Flint move into my house with my ex after he and I broke up. I saw you and Flint and Charles’ new woman become virtually best friends when I could have used a sister to comfort me. You brought her to the same salon I got my hair done at, our church here in Atlanta, even my favorite dinner spots when you were visiting Mom and Dad. If you weren’t trying to rub it in my face that you were Charles’ lady’s best friend, I don’t know what else to call it.”
Faye looked humiliated and embarrassed. “Okay, Zoe. At the time, I wasn’t a VP at the bank, I was just a manager. Flint had gotten laid off so things were getting tight. You’d always had the best and I wanted to see how the other half lived. I got carried away,” Fay offered with a shrug. “I shouldn’t have forgotten that blood is thicker than water.”
Anger pulsed through Zoe’s veins. She was surprised that her feelings were still so strong. “Why’d you come down here, Faye? This is the last day of your vacation, and you’re here in the store with me. I’ve got an appointment. Why don’t you go spend your last day in Atlanta with Mom and Dad?”
“Because I just want it to be us girls. I do have a lot to atone for.” Faye looked like she wanted to cry, and Zoe didn’t want to deal with her emotions today. “I just thought we could recapture some of the days of our youth. We weren’t always fighting.” She laughed and it sounded like a sob. “I see how wrong I was now that Flint and I are getting divorced. I empathize with you.”
Zoe had felt betrayed by her sister and she wasn’t sure there was a way to recapture the days they had gotten along when they were young. “The thing about that kind of hurt, Faye, is that it doesn’t come with an expiration date. Family is supposed to stick together, and I couldn’t tell you then and I can’t tell you now who to be friends with. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got work to do.”
“So you’re dismissing me?” Faye no longer sounded sincere, but hard, and Zoe wasn’t intimidated by her older sister anymore.
“It took you years to say those words to me. I need more than three minutes to process them. What brought about this change of heart, Faye?”
“It’s just time to bury the hatchet. I mean—” she chuckled hard. “I really do need a break from all the stress of my divorce. Maybe when this is over, you can treat me to a sister weekend away to Savannah or something.”
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