I'll add."
"He's not my boyfriend," I said as I plopped down in the chair.
David gave me another funny look before zipping the suitcase shut again. "Whatever you say, Ems."
"But you're right. It looks they've been through everything. If the emerald was in Gia's things, the police would have found it already."
Which, now that I said it out loud, sounded ridiculously obvious.
"Hey, it was worth looking," David said softly. "It was always possible they overlooked something."
Possible. But not likely.
Even though I knew it wasn't my fault, I felt like I'd let Ava down.
I absently grabbed the makeup bag, riffling through its also-not-tidily searched contents. Partly out of a last shred of hope there was something left behind and partly out of at least being able to tell Ava we'd left no stone unturned.
Eyeshadow, liner, lipstick in a dozen or more shades. Even though professional makeup artists had been on hand for the show, it appeared Gia didn't like to leave anything to chance. Or maybe this was just her personal stash—all the important tricks of her trade that made her look as stunning as she had for after parties and meet-and-greets. I noticed several small jars of different types of moisturizers, cover ups, under eye concealers. And one round container that caught my attention.
I reached inside the makeup bag and pulled it out. "Wrinkle cream?"
David looked up from the fruitless searching again. "What?"
"Gia had wrinkle cream in her makeup bag."
"So?" he asked. "Don't all women have that?"
"Maybe over thirty, but Gia was way too young to need this."
"Or maybe she only looked way too young," David said, giving me a shrug.
"I don't know," I said. I twisted the top of the container to take a sniff of the stuff.
But as the lid came off in my hand, I froze.
"David!"
"What?" In a second he was at my side, staring down into the container too. "Whoa."
At the bottom of the little plastic jar sat a soft pile of tissues, and nestled in the paper was a sparkling green princess cut emerald.
"Is that—"
But David didn't get to finish the question, as a sound outside the door pulled our attention away from the shiny green gem.
"…Columbo!" came Ava's voice.
Accompanied by footsteps.
And a second voice that I knew all too well.
"Ava, what's going on?" Grant asked, his voice loud. Deep. Menacing.
And moving closer to the dressing room door.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
My gaze whipped wildly around the room, looking for an escape route to pop up out of nowhere. File cabinets, vanity, cupboards. Still no magical door to freedom.
"What do we do?" I whispered to David.
His usually sardonic smile was missing, and his eyes actually registered fear. "I dunno." He shrugged. "Hide?"
"Where?" I hissed, hearing Ava try to stall on the other side of the door.
"…uh, tell me again how search warrants work?" I heard her voice asking. "I mean, all I know about them comes from Columbo!"
I had to hand it to her, she was really trying.
Not that I thought it was really working.
"Here," David whispered, pulling one of the file cabinets back from the wall. The open space left between them wasn't much, but at least it was dark and in a corner.
I shot one dubious look toward the door again before I shoved the emerald into my pocket, skittered into the corner, and ducked down into a little ball. David pulled a second cabinet away from the wall and hunkered down behind it, next to me.
Close next to me.
So close I could smell the mingling scents of weed and some expensive brand of aftershave coming off his warm body as he pressed against me. The proximity suddenly felt way too intimate. And worse—it had been long enough since a man was pressed up against me that it wasn't entirely unpleasant.
"You're squishing me," I breathed.
"I'm hiding you. Stay still."
"I don't think this is a good—"
That was as far as I got before the sound of the dressing room door opening caused us both to shut up. I clamped my lips together, saying a silent prayer to be at least half as big as I was and twice as quiet.
"—don't know what you're doing here, Ava, but I don't like it," I heard Grant's voice boom in the space as his boots stepped into view through the small crack between the cabinets.
"Doing here?" Ava asked, her voice coming into the room as well, though I couldn't actually see her. "I'm not doing anything." She gave a nervous laugh. "I'm just…meeting a friend here and thought I'd, you know,