Chapter 3
“Paul!”
He didn’t stop.
I chased him between two rows of parked cars.
He glanced back.
That was his mistake.
His shoulder slammed into the side mirror of an SUV.
He stumbled.
The laptop flew out of his hands.
It hit the pavement and slid beneath a truck.
Paul recovered immediately.
He kept running.
I didn’t.
I stopped at the laptop.
My father’s voice echoed from behind me.
“Ethan!”
Daniel and two mall security guards came through the employee exit.
I pointed.
“He went that way.”
The guards ran after Paul.
Dad reached me, breathing hard.
“You could’ve gotten hurt.”
“He dropped this.”
I crouched beside the truck and pulled the laptop out.
The corner was cracked.
The screen had survived.
Daniel returned a minute later.
“Security has exits covered.”
Dad looked at him.
“Police?”
“On the way.”
Daniel took the laptop.
“Company property?”
I looked at the silver sticker.
Harrison Jewelers inventory number.
“Yes.”
Dad’s phone rang again.
He walked away.
I could hear pieces of the conversation.
Accounts.
Wire transfers.
Shell vendors.
Emergency audit.
This had stopped being about a rude saleswoman.
Melissa stood in the doorway watching us.
Her face was still pale.
Then she said something quietly.
“Mr. Harrison?”
Dad turned.
She looked terrified.
“There’s something I should tell you.”
Daniel stepped toward her.
“What?”
Melissa glanced around the parking lot.
“Not here.”
We went back inside.
The doors were locked behind us.
The couple who had witnessed everything had already left after giving their information to security.
Jennifer sat near the register.
She was crying now too.
Melissa stayed standing.
Dad looked at her.
“Talk.”
She swallowed.
“Paul has been acting strange for months.”
“How?”
“He makes us use certain customer profiles.”
Daniel frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“When someone comes in asking about high-end pieces, he sometimes tells us not to create a new client account.”
Dad’s expression hardened.
“Why?”
“He says to ring the purchase under an existing profile.”
Daniel exchanged a look with Dad.
“That makes no sense.”
“I know.”
“Did you do it?”
“Sometimes.”
Melissa started crying harder.
“He told us it was for VIP tracking. He said corporate preferred consolidating purchases.”
Daniel shook his head immediately.
“No corporate policy says that.”
“I know that now.”
Dad asked, “Whose profiles?”
Melissa looked toward the computer terminals.
“There were several names.”
“Do you remember them?”
“One was Margaret Ellis.”
Dad went still.
So did Daniel.
I noticed.
“Who is Margaret Ellis?”
Neither answered.
I looked at my father.
“Dad?”
He finally said, “Your mother.”
The room seemed to shrink.
My mother’s maiden name had been Ellis.
Margaret Harrison died four years ago.
Cancer.
She hadn’t used Ellis professionally since marrying my father.
“Why would her name be in the system?”
Daniel moved toward the register computer.
“Melissa, show me.”
She logged in with shaking hands.
Then she searched.
A customer profile appeared.
MARGARET ELLIS.
My stomach tightened.
The address wasn’t ours.
The email wasn’t hers.
But the birth date was.
Dad leaned closer.
“There are purchases.”
Daniel scrolled.
Dozens.
Luxury watches.
Loose diamonds.
Bracelets.
Total spending over eighteen months?
$684,000.
I stared at the number.
“That isn’t possible.”
Dad whispered, “No.”
Daniel clicked another tab.
Returns.
Credits.
Transfers.
His face hardened.
“Richard.”
“What?”
“These weren’t normal sales.”
Dad already seemed to understand.
I didn’t.
“What am I looking at?”
Daniel pointed at the screen.
“Somebody used fake transactions under your mother’s old identity.”
“For what?”
“To move inventory.”
My stomach dropped.
Melissa covered her mouth.
Dad stepped backward.
I had seen my father angry.
I had seen him grieving.
I had never seen both at once.
“Paul used Margaret?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
My father looked at me.
And for the first time since Mom died, his eyes looked exactly like they had at her funeral.
Lost.
Not weak.
Lost.
Then his grief turned into fury.
“Find every transaction.”
Daniel nodded.
“Already doing it.”
“Every store.”
“Yes.”
“Every employee.”
“Yes.”
“And call Angela.”
My stomach tightened again.
Angela Harrison was my older sister.
Corporate chief financial officer.
The person my father trusted more than almost anyone.
She was also the person I trusted least.
Not because she was dishonest.
Because she had spent most of our adult lives making it clear she believed I was a disappointment.
She had joined Harrison Jewelers at twenty-three.
I had refused.
She had climbed every level.
I had started my own company.
Dad called me stubborn.
Angela called me selfish.
Our last conversation had ended with her telling me I’d abandoned the family after Mom died.
Dad looked at me.
“You should go.”
I stared at him.
“You’re telling me to leave?”
“You came here to buy Claire a birthday present.”
“And now somebody used Mom’s identity to steal from you.”
He looked exhausted.
“This is company business.”
“You called Angela.”
“She’s CFO.”
“I’m your son.”
Dad’s jaw tightened.
Daniel quietly moved away.
Everyone else suddenly became extremely interested in something else.
Dad lowered his voice.
“Ethan.”
“No.”
“What?”
“I’m not leaving.”
“This isn’t your responsibility.”
“You made it my responsibility when that manager ran because I walked in wearing a sweatshirt.”
Dad rubbed his forehead.
“That’s not rational.”
“I don’t care.”
He stared at me.
For one second, I thought we were about to have another one of our famous fights.
Instead, his shoulders dropped.
“Fine.”
It almost shocked me.
Then the front doors rattled.
Everyone turned.
A woman stood outside.
Blonde hair.
Cream coat.
Phone pressed to her ear.
My sister.
Angela.
Daniel unlocked the door.
She swept inside.
“What happened?”
She barely looked at me.
Dad said, “Paul Richards fled.”
“I heard.”
“Two million dollars is missing.”
“I heard that too.”
She finally noticed the laptop.
“And that?”
“Paul dropped it.”
Angela’s face changed.
“Has anyone opened it?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She looked at Daniel.
“Don’t.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
“Chain of custody.”
She reached for the laptop.
“Police should handle—”
I put my hand on it.
“No.”
Angela stared at me.
“What are you doing?”
“I found it.”
“That doesn’t make it yours.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
“Then take your hand off it.”
Dad spoke.
“Enough.”
Angela’s eyes narrowed.
“Why is Ethan even here?”
I laughed once.
“Nice to see you too.”
“This is serious.”
“I know.”
“You don’t work here.”
“And apparently that’s why I accidentally uncovered whatever this is.”
Angela looked at Dad.
“What does that mean?”
Dad hesitated.
I answered.
“They’ve been using Mom’s maiden name.”
Angela froze.
“What?”
Daniel turned the screen toward her.
She stared at Margaret Ellis’s profile.
All the color drained from her face.
“No.”
Dad said nothing.
Angela scrolled quickly.
Then faster.
“No. This isn’t possible.”
“Clearly it is.”
She glared at me.
“I’m not talking to you.”
“Angela.”
Dad’s voice stopped us both.
She looked at him.
“How long has this profile existed?”
Daniel answered.
“Eighteen months.”
Angela shook her head.
“I’ve never seen it.”
I watched her closely.
She sounded convincing.
Maybe too convincing.
Then Daniel’s phone buzzed.
He checked the message.
“Police have Paul.”
Everyone exhaled.
But Daniel kept reading.
His face became grim.
“What?”
Dad stepped toward him.
Daniel looked up.
“He had three passports.”
Angela frowned.
“What?”
“Three different names.”
Nobody spoke.
Daniel continued.
“And a one-way ticket.”
“To where?” I asked.
He looked at me.
“Switzerland.”
Dad’s phone rang.
At almost the same moment, every display screen in the store went black.
Then the lights flickered.
The computers shut down.
Daniel cursed.
Angela rushed toward the terminal.
“What happened?”
A red message appeared across the main monitor.
REMOTE ACCESS DETECTED.
Dad stared at it.
Daniel grabbed his phone.
“Kill the network.”
Jennifer said, “How?”
“Unplug everything.”
We moved.
I reached behind the register and ripped the ethernet cable from the wall.
Melissa disconnected another terminal.
Angela powered down the office computer.
The red warning disappeared.
For a moment, everything was silent.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I looked at the screen.
A text message.
YOU SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE NECKLACE AND GONE HOME.
Below it was a photograph.
Claire.
My girlfriend.
May you like
Walking out of her office.
Taken less than five minutes earlier.
