Nick looked at her seriously. “Come on, Phoebe. Would a note really have had the same effect?”
Chapter Twelve
Now that the semester had started, Lauren had resumed her internship at Giroux New York, though she had been promoted in her responsibilities after the success of her jewelry line in the fall. Not only was she designing the line, but she had been given the chance to work under the merchandising director in setting up the jewelry displays at the store. Giroux was always known for its elegant and creative displays: last year they had displayed jewelry inside giant fish tanks with real fish, and the year before, they had rented a grove of potted Japanese maples on which the pieces had hung.
On Wednesday afternoon, she met with Antonio, the merchandising director, about the display, and then went downstairs to the design library, where they kept a collection of reference books and magazines. The concept was the zodiac, with a different set of jewelry representing each astrological sign. She felt like she was hit in the gut when she got to the images for Leo, which was Alejandro’s sign.
His birthday would have been in August. Since they had met in September, she had never even gotten to celebrate his birthday with him. She gulped back her tears and tried to focus on her work.
About an hour into her research, the intercom buzzed. It was a salesgirl from the first floor. “Lauren, there’s someone here to see you.”
Lauren walked upstairs, wondering who it could be.
When she saw that it was Claire Chilton and her mother, she rolled her eyes, only realizing as she did it that she was fully in their view.
“Lauren,” Claire’s mother, Letty, said. “What a treat.”
Letty Chilton was a stout woman who was known for her personal frugality, even though she sat on the boards of several multimillion-dollar institutions and was known to give generously. She would wear Oscar de la Renta suits from the eighties until the elbows were nearly worn through, and she hadn’t redecorated their apartment since Claire had been born. Recently, however, her husband had come into a great deal of family money, and the word was that she was spending more freely. Still, the main thing Lauren always associated with her was that she stank of stale Chanel No. 5. Today was no exception.
Lauren greeted her and Claire civilly.
“I’m hoping you can help us out,” Mrs. Chilton said. “In fact, I know you can help us out. Claire needs some new clothes for the season, and I’ve heard you have the best eye.”
“Well, I can recommend you to a stylist,” she said. “I’m really focusing on the jewelry now.”
“That’s right, your little jewelry line,” Mrs. Chilton said. “So sweet.”
“We want your employee discount,” Claire said.
Mrs. Chilton glared at her daughter, and then smiled at Lauren. “We wouldn’t want to impose, of course.”
“You know, I’m really not supposed to do that,” Lauren said. “They don’t even let us use it all the time. And I’m not really a full-fledged employee.”
“Of course you’re not. So what does it matter? Anyway, we so appreciate it. I know you’ll do a marvelous job picking out some outfits for Claire.”
“Actually, I don’t really have time-”
“Thank you, Lauren.” Mrs. Chilton turned and walked away, as if the matter was settled and there was nothing more to discuss.
“I’ll give you the name of a stylist,” Lauren said to Claire. Lauren wrote a name down on a card and handed it to Claire. “If you want a discount, you’ll have to talk to Sebastian. Here’s his extension. He’d be happy to talk to you, I’m sure.”
After Lauren had said good-bye to Claire, she was fuming. How dare Claire march in there and demand that she serve her like a shopgirl? Even Lauren didn’t like using her employee discount too often for herself, as it made her look like a spendthrift in front of the other employees, who could barely afford clothes at a designer sample sale, let alone at Giroux. The thing that really annoyed Lauren was that Claire would probably get the discount from Sebastian, if she spent enough.
At the end of the day, after Lauren had finished her work downstairs and created a look board for the concept, there was a flurry of activity near the door.
Sabrina Harriman, the store’s creative director, stood near the front door. The store had closed for the evening, and the staff was getting ready to leave.
“People, listen up, we have a problem! The pair of limited-edition sapphire earrings is gone from the jewelry case. They were here this afternoon, so I don’t know what could have happened. We didn’t even show them to any customers.”
Everyone gasped. The sapphire earrings were one of the most expensive items in the entire store and were kept in a locked glass case. They retailed for four thousand dollars.
“I’m so sorry to have to do this,” Sabrina said, “but we’re going to need to search everyone’s bags before you leave.”
Lauren stood in line, annoyed that this would make her late in getting home. What kind of person would work at the store and steal a pair of earrings? Not only that, but a pair that would certainly be missed?
Lauren reached the front of the line. “Hey, Danny,” she said to the security guard. He was a sweet bear of a guy, and she had always made an effort to greet him by name. He took her bag.
“Sorry about this,” he said, muttering under his breath. His eyes suddenly opened wide. “Lauren, what the-”
“What?”
“Lauren!” He pulled out the earrings, still in their box, and held them up for Sabrina and everyone else to see.
“What!?” Lauren felt her neck growing hot. “That’s absurd!” She turned to Sabrina. “Sabrina, you know I would never do anything like this.”
She grabbed the earrings from Danny and handed the jewelry box back to Sabrina.
“Lauren, I don’t know what to say,” Sabrina said as she took the box.
Sebastian Giroux had come up from his office. “What is going on?”
“We have a problem here. Lauren, I’m afraid we might need to press charges.”
Lauren glared at her, though inside she was completely mortified. Someone must have planted the earrings in her bag while she was working. Her bag had been in her locker most of the afternoon. The lockers were in an employee staff area, and anyone could have gained access to it-that is, anyone with the master combination.
Who would have done it? One of the Society’s lackeys? A Giroux staff member? Sebastian himself? Sebastian was a member of the Society, but Lauren couldn’t imagine him doing this to her.
It didn’t matter who had done this; it only mattered that it had happened. She was being sent a message, just like the handbag she had received back in September. Only this time, it was a message of a different type: a spiteful reminder that she shouldn’t miss any more meetings.
“No charges will be pressed,” Sebastian said to his staff. “We’ll handle it internally. You can all go home for the night. Lauren, please stay behind so we can discuss this.”
Everyone filed out, a few of them giving Lauren sympathetic looks and others averting their eyes.
Lauren sat down on a chaise where customers usually tried on shoes. “Look, I am completely horrified, but you’ve got to believe me, I have no idea how those earrings got into my bag. It was in my employee locker for most of the afternoon-could someone have slipped them in there? I mean, come on, Sebastian, you know me. If I really wanted those earrings, I would have asked my mom to buy them for me. Why would I do something to jeopardize my relationship with the store?”
Sabrina shrugged.
“She’s right,” Sebastian said. “Sabrina, you and I can discuss this between the two of us. Good night, Lauren.”
Lauren zipped up her bag and slinked away. No one at the store would have done this to her. Even though Sebastian was in the Society, she knew that he liked her. The horrible thing, of course, about being accused of something like this was that even if you didn’t do it, you still felt guilty.