Brandt's whole face changed. "Starboard side, forward of the lifeboat davit. " Nair said. "Wedged between two deck boards. I photographed it in place before I touched it.
" She turned the phone around. The photo showed the necklace in a seam of teak, and in the corner was a timestamp, 2:34 p. M. Nobody was near it. This was the moment.
Naomi watched him weigh it. A necklace on a deck found after a search of his suspect's bag had turned up nothing. He could take it, log it, thank the officer, and reopen the question. It was the simplest reading in the room. "Then she dropped it, " Brandt said.
"Sergeant or passed it. She walked the starboard promenade at 1:58. I have a guest who watched her go out. " He turned to Naomi. "You took it from that table and put it where a partner could pick it up.
" "I went out to find the aft rail, " Naomi said. "I was back in my chair by 2:15. The deck cameras will show that. I'll get to the cameras. The necklace was reported missing at 2:15.
I've been in your sight ever since. You searched me yourself at 2:16. " She kept her voice level. "Please note that it was found outside. Then you had help.
" Kessler looked at the carpet. Nair had not moved. Under the lounge lights, she studied Naomi for a moment. The woman was cuffed, accused of holding a $4 million necklace, and still speaking as if the facts mattered more than the accusation. It did not look like guilt.
Nair couldn't have said what it looked like. She glanced at Brandt, then back at Naomi. "The photograph has the time on it, " she said. "I documented where I found it before I touched it. " "Miss Nair, " Brandt said, holding out his palm, "I'll take that.
" Nair folded the napkin over the necklace. "I'll need to issue a receipt, Sergeant. It goes in the bridge log first. The officer of the watch needs to sign the recovery. This is a police matter.
Then you'll want the chain of custody clean. " She tucked the napkin against her chest. "You'll get a copy. " Brandt's jaw tightened. He couldn't simply take the necklace and bypass the ship's recovery log in front of a witness.
He turned instead to Naomi's purse on the side table and picked it up. "Then I'll search this again. " "You've done that, " Naomi said. "Please write down that you're doing it twice. " He didn't write anything.
He pulled the zipper open anyway. Nair left. Outside the frosted glass, a woman's voice carried through the door, low and bewildered. She was just sitting there. I saw her the whole time.
A man shushed her. The shapes behind the panel shifted and did not disperse. In the corridor, Naomi walked fast until she reached the window at the end. She looked back once at the lounge door. A woman in handcuffs had asked a police sergeant to log her cuff checks, and he had not thrown the request out.