Eliza came down from tucking in Janie for the night to find the jewelry box waiting at her place at the dining-room table.
“What’s this?”
“Open it and see. Even if the police do get your jewelry back, I hope this will be something that you’ll cherish as I cherish you, Eliza.” Samuel smiled contentedly.
Eliza felt like a louse. “Samuel. I can’t. I have to talk to you.”
“Open it first,” he urged. “Then we’ll talk.”
Uncomfortably, Eliza lifted the lid of the blue box. Inside was the companion necklace to the starfish earrings.
“It’s beautiful, Samuel. Absolutely beautiful. But I can’t . . .”
“Here, let me put it on you,” he interrupted. He stood behind her and fastened the gold clasp and then turned Eliza by the shoulders to face him.
“It looks wonderful on you.”
“I can’t accept it, Samuel.”
“Of course you can,” he insisted. “I want you to have it. It’s as if it was made for you.”
“Oh, Samuel. You dear, sweet man. You’ve been through so much. I wouldn’t want to hurt you for anything in the world.”
The happy expression on Samuel’s face changed as he began to get the picture.
That idiot Helene!
He’d been enraged when Helene had showed up with that pin at the station today. Now the cops were at his door with a search warrant.
Augie thought fast. Most everything he had stolen was gone. Fenced. Just the few things of Eliza’s he hadn’t gotten rid of yet Now he was glad that Larson’s strongbox had only had some papers in it.
All they could pin on him was the Blake burglary.
Augie demanded to call an attorney. A good lawyer might be able to get the charges dropped in exchange for information about a double murder.
“I’m so sorry, Samuel. But I hope, when you think about it, you’ll realize that I’m right. This isn’t the time for us, but I do hope we can still be friends.”
Friends. Even to Eliza it sounded so lame.
Samuel tried valiantly, but couldn’t conceal the hurt on his face. Stricken, he walked slowly to the door.
“Here. You must take this with you.” Eliza handed the jewelry box to him.
“No,” he shook his head. “Please. Keep it. For all you did for Sarah and for me.”