Harbor police sergeant Dale Brandt held one finger an inch from her face and announced it to the whole atrium. The black woman in the gray blazer, she's my suspect in a $4 million necklace theft. Naomi Sutherland did not step back. Her hands stayed folded over the gold chain of her purse. "I'll cooperate, " she said.
"Please write down what you're searching for and why. " Brandt heard defiance in that. Her life was stitched across the vest under his chin, and he turned it toward the crowd on the Meridian Star's grand staircase, hundreds of guests in gowns and dark suits. His department had been contracted to provide additional security for the VIP event and he wore the contract like a promotion. He raised his voice.
"Nobody leaves this section. Nobody. " Her purse buzzed against her hip. The screen lit through the leather. Officer Mike Kessler, Brandt's partner, stood at her elbow with his own police patch on his shoulder and read the single word on it, "Command.
" She let it ring out. Kessler looked away too quickly. "Incident report number? " Naomi asked. Brandt's mouth tightened.
He hadn't opened one. "Stand up. " She was already standing. It took him a second to notice. "Turn around then.
" She turned. Half an hour earlier, she had been a woman alone at a corner table holding a cup of tea she wasn't drinking. "Where did you get the blazer? " Brandt asked. "I bought it.
" "Where? Does that bear on the necklace? " "I'll decide what bears. " He looked her up and down like a customs inspector. "Why are you sitting by yourself?
Who invited you? " "I'm a guest of the Fleet Veterans Association. My name is on the list. " "Lots of names on lists. " Phones were rising now.
She counted them without moving her head. A woman in champagne silk, a teenager at the railing, two men near the buffet. Someone at the back said quietly but clearly, "She did look nervous earlier. Naomi had not been nervous. She hadn't been nervous once, not at the corner table and not now.
And she noticed that no one in the room could explain why. She let the comment sit and did not answer it. A man in a linen suit, who had been leaning on her table, picked up his drink and moved three tables away. Nobody stopped him. Nobody said her name.
If you've ever been the only person in a room that someone decided was suspicious, tell me in the comments. Then stay with Naomi because she was about to make one more request and Brandt was about to refuse it. "Sergeant, " Naomi said, "the guest list is at the boarding desk. Check the record. It takes a minute.
I don't need a boarding desk. " "Then the atrium has security cameras, those two above the staircase. They'll show where everyone stood. " Brandt didn't look up. "I don't need cameras, either.