Page 51 of Savannah Heat

Harper came to life and jerked her arm out of Dan’s hand. She smiled at the senator and Mrs. Roseland. “It’s easy enough to prove, right? Let’s go see the other necklace, the real one in the safe. I can spot a fake, too, you know.”

“Very well, let’s get this over with, and then you must leave, Miss Wells. I don’t want rumors of this leaking out to the press and spoiling another one of my events,” the senator said.

“This is a ruse, senator. It’s to get you to open the safe and confuse things,” Dan said.

“Be that as it may, I want this over and done. I don’t want Miss Wells spreading rumors about all this to the press. This necklace has turned out to be a curse, I think,” the senator mumbled, as he motioned for them to follow him down the hallway.

Jenna could feel the hairs on her neck stand, and a chill traveled through her body. This was it.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jenna and Dan made their way up the staircase to the second floor where the senator kept a safe in his office. The room was large with a traditional, home-style safe behind one large painting on the wall across from the senator’s desk. One security guard, a huge and muscled man, stood with his back to the door once they were all in the room, and another man, equally as intimidating, positioned himself at the safe as the senator opened it to retrieve the necklace.

Jenna noticed immediately the safe was not the ordinary wall safe. In fact, it looked much more like what she used at her magazine, a commercial-grade safe. She held her breath as the senator punched in his code numbers and the door of the safe popped open.

For a few seconds, everyone stood looking at each other.

The senator sighed, reached for the blue velvet case, and handed it to his wife. “Let this please be the end of the necklace drama.”

Everyone walked behind Mrs. Roseland as she carried the leather case to the small round table by the windows. She opened the blue velvet bag inside the case, removed the necklace, and laid it on top of the leather case. “Here it is, the real one.”

The necklace was a stunning piece of jewelry, and Jenna knew immediately it was the real thing. She opened her mouth to say so.

Then Gail stepped forward and leaned down to inspect it. She looked at the fake around Marta’s neck and then back to the other one on the table, and then did so again.

Harper pushed forward and reached down to finger the necklace.

But Marta Roseland pushed away. “Do you mind?”

They all felt the tension in the room, and everyone looked at the senator to see what he would say or do now. Jenna saw Dan ease his way to get closer to Gail.

“Well, Gail, are you satisfied now?” Dan stepped up to the necklace to get a good look.

“I suppose so, it does seem real, but I think we should take them both over to the big table under the bigger lamp there and put them side by side to be sure.” Gail pointed toward the larger table and started walking toward it. “I do this for a living, you know. Part of my job is to find fakes. If what you said is true, Dan, then you shouldn’t mind me verifying it my way.”

“Your verification doesn’t impress me much, Gail,” Dan said.

The senator held up his hands and looked over at his wife. “Very well, enough, and if this will end this thing once and for all, fine. Come on, Marta, let’s do this and put an end to it. I’ll help you take the fake off,” he said, reaching up to unhook the necklace from around his wife’s neck. “Let’s look at them again, one more time, side by side for all of these many experts in the room.”

Marta rolled her eyes, but she let her husband proceed with removing the necklace. “How many more supposed experts do we need? I was happy with the ones we had.”

“Indeed,” Dan said, never taking his eyes off the necklaces.

“I guess it never hurts to have a second opinion.” Marta smiled at Dan. “Let’s put them down, side by side. The light can distort the colors if held at different angles, you know.”

“Yes, but it means nothing to a real expert who knows that and would verify the diamonds and gems other ways.” Jenna returned Harper’s stare.

Gail shrugged and watched as the senator laid the fake necklace down on the table next to one they knew as the real one.

Just as the senator stepped back to give Gail a clear view of both, a scream erupted from the back of the room as Harper tripped and fell over the ottoman, knocking off a glass bowl from a side table on her way down. Everyone turned to see what happened.

Dan, closest to her, helped her up. “You’re bleeding. I think a piece of broken glass got you. No real harm done.”

“Get away from me.” Harper slapped his hand and inspected the cut.

“Gladly,” Dan said.

Everyone turned back to the necklaces.