Page 49 of Win a Date with a Detective

I glance up from my desk. Derek is standing in my doorway, holding two cups of coffee.

“Am I?”

“It’s disturbing.”

“Good morning to you, too.”

He places a cup on my desk. “Please tell me you’ve got something useful.”

I turn my computer monitor toward him. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

The photograph Rachel discovers leads us to a jewelry store just off the Strip.

More specifically, to the jeweler who reset Vanessa’s engagement ring. And according to the records we obtained, her fiancé had commissioned considerably more work than Vanessa knew about.

“Let me get this straight,” Derek says, examining the documents. “He had the original diamond removed?”

“Three weeks ago.”

“And replaced it with a replica?”

“According to the jeweler.”

Derek whistles. “That’s bold.”

“That’s fraud.”

The jeweler’s records establish that Vanessa’s fiancé arranged to have her grandmother’s diamond removed and replaced with a convincing imitation.

The original diamond was supposed to be returned to him.

And judging by the recently increased insurance coverage, I have a pretty good idea what he intended to do next.

The problem is proving it.

Which is where Rachel comes in.

Again.

Because the photograph she discovered establishes something particularly interesting.

Vanessa’s fiancé was holding the jewelry box at their engagement party. The same party where he supposedly presented her with the newly reset ring.

And according to the jeweler, the original diamond had already been removed. Meaning Vanessa had been wearing a fake for weeks.

“Think he planned the whole thing?” Derek asks.

“I think he planned to report the ring stolen.”

“And you girlfriend?”

I shrug. “Wrong place. Wrong time.”

Derek considers this. “Or the perfect opportunity.”

Exactly.

Because when Vanessa offered to let Rachel try on her ring, her fiancé suddenly had someone else to blame for its disappearance.