“How can we possibly know?”
“Hell if I know.” Several velvet pouches sat among the necklaces and rings. I picked one up and poured the contents into my hand. “Diamonds?”
Marj grabbed her phone and turned on the flashlight. “No. They’re not clear. They’re yellow. Could be citrine, a semiprecious stone.”
“Why would he keep a semiprecious stone locked up?”
“The color’s not right either. They’re too light. Maybe they are— I mean, if they are…”
“What?”
“They could be fancy yellow canary diamonds. Those are rarer than clear diamonds.”
“How do you know— Never mind.” She was a Steel heiress. Of course she knew about jewels.
“Some of these are three carats at least. Maybe four or five.”
The gems sparkled in the light from her phone. She picked up what appeared to be a large pendant with a pink stone.
“This is gorgeous! I’ve never seen a pink sapphire so big.”
“Shouldn’t it be on a chain?” I asked.
Marjorie laughed. “It’s a brooch, silly. A pin to wear on your collar or lapel.”
“Sorry. I’m not a jewelry expert.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to be.” She smiled.
“There are several other pouches,” I said, quickly putting the yellow gems back in their pouch. “What am I going to do with all this?”
“I guess first we need to figure out if they’re stolen or if they were bought with dirty money,” she said.
“And how are we going to do that?”
“We go home, and we go through these files,” she said. “Maybe there’s something in there.”
I placed my finger over my lips, signaling her to be quiet. We’d both forgotten that we shouldn’t be talking in here.
“Let’s just get this out to the car,” I said quietly.
She nodded.
Once everything was safely ensconced in my trunk, I led Marjorie away from the cabin and the car. The moon shone above in the clear night sky. I pressed my lips to hers in a soft kiss and then pulled away. “I hope I didn’t just make a terrible mistake.”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head. “You said you love me.”
I laughed. “Not about that. I broke Joe’s confidence. In over thirty years, I’ve never done that.”
“I won’t tell a soul, Bryce. I promise.”
“I made that same promise to Joe.”
“You really don’t think he told Mel?”
“He swore he hasn’t.”
“But he might have. They’re really close, and they’ve both been through a lot of crap. Melanie was left tied up in a garage with a running car. Remember?”