Free Secret Star by Nora Roberts Page A

us with a stone, or a request for one. We’d also acquire certain gems on spec, with a particular client in mind.”
    â€œYou have a client list, then? Names, preferences?”
    â€œYes, and we have records of what a client had purchased, or sold.” She gripped her hands together. “Thomas would have kept it, in his office. Timothy would have copies in his. I’ll find them for you.”
    He touched her shoulder lightly before she could slide from the stool. “I’ll get them.”
    She let out a breath of relief. She had yet to be able to face going upstairs, into the room where she’d seen murder. “Thank you.”
    He took out his notebook. “If I asked you to name the top gem collectors, your top clients, what names come to mind? Off the top of your head?”
    â€œOh.” Concentrating, she gnawed on her lip. “Peter Morrison in London, Sylvia Smythe-Simmons of New York, Henry and Laura Muller here in D.C. Matthew Wolinski in California. And I suppose Charles Van Horn here in D.C., too, though he’s new to it. We sold him three lovely stones over the last two years. One was a spectacular opal I coveted. I’m still hoping he’ll let me set it for him. I have this design in my head….”
    She shook herself, trailed off when she realized why he was asking. “Lieutenant, I know these people. I’ve dealt with them personally. The Mullers were friends of my stepfather’s. Mrs. Smythe-Simmons is over eighty. None of them are thieves.”
    He didn’t bother to glance up, but continued to write. “Then we’ll be able to check them off the list. Taking anything or anyone at face value is a mistake in an investigation, Ms. James. We’ve had enough mistakes already.”
    â€œWith mine standing out.” Accepting that fact, she nudged her untouched soft drink over the table. “I should have gone to the police right away. I should have turned the information—at the very least, my suspicions—over to the authorities. Several people would still be alive if I had.”
    â€œIt’s possible, but it’s not a given.” Now he did glance up, noted the haunted look in those soft brown eyes. Compassion stirred. “Did you know your stepbrother was being blackmailed by a second-rate bail bondsman?”
    â€œNo,” she murmured.
    â€œDid you know that someone was pulling the strings, pulling them hard enough to turn your stepbrother into a killer?”
    She shook her head, bit down hard on her lip. “The things I didn’t know were the problem, weren’t they? I put the two people I love most in terrible danger, then I forgot about them.”
    â€œAmnesia isn’t a choice, it’s a condition. And your friends handled themselves. They still are—in fact, I saw Ms. Fontaine just this morning. She doesn’t look any the worse for wear to me.”
    Bailey caught the disdainful note and turned to face him. “You don’t understand her. I would have thought a man who does what you do for a living would be able to see more clearly than that.”
    He thought he caught a faint hint of pity in her voice, and resented it. “I’ve always thought of myself as clear-sighted.”
    â€œPeople are rarely clear-sighted when it comes to Grace. They only see what she lets them see—unless they care enough to look deeper. She has the most generous heart of any person I’ve ever known.”
    Bailey caught the quick flicker of amused disbelief in his eyes and felt her anger rising against it. Furious, she pushed off the stool. “You don’t know anything about her, but you’ve already dismissed her. Can you conceive of what she’s going through right now? Her cousin was murdered—and in her stead.”
    â€œShe’s hardly to blame for that.”
    â€œEasy to say. But she’ll blame herself, and so will her family. It’s easy to blame