“And you believed him?”

“He was very convincing, Tessa. He had papers.”

She reached into her heavy trench coat pocket and pulled out a small velvet pouch.

Her fingers trembled as she untied the silver drawstring.

“But then I saw the news. I saw the police at your house.”

She looked at the ring on her finger, then slowly slid it off.

The platinum band caught the dim green light of my heart monitor.

“He gave me this last month,” she said, holding it out to me.

“He told me it was a replica he bought at an estate sale.”

I held out my hand, palm up.

She dropped the ring into my palm.

The weight of it was familiar, a solid piece of my grandmother’s legacy.

“It’s real,” I said, my thumb tracing the vintage filigree. “It belonged to my grandmother, Evelyn.”

“I know that now,” Brielle said. “I looked up the registry after the police started asking questions around our building.”

She pulled her coat tighter around herself, shivering despite the warmth of the recovery room.

“Grant is desperate, Tessa. He’s completely unraveling.”