Chapter 2 — The Ring That Disappeared During the Move
Six weeks earlier, Eleanor Cole moved out of the house where she had lived for thirty-four years.
Not because anyone forced her.
She simply wanted something smaller.
One bedroom.
No stairs.
No yard.
No furnace she had to threaten every winter.
Thomas organized most of the move.
Lucas helped too.
The brothers had never been especially close.
Thomas was methodical.
Lists.
Labels.
Schedules.
Lucas was the opposite.
He packed three boxes without labeling anything, disappeared for coffee, then returned carrying sandwiches for everybody.
They irritated each other naturally.
But the move went reasonably well.
Until Eleanor asked for her sapphire ring.
It normally sat inside a wooden jewelry case on her bedroom dresser.
The case had arrived at the new apartment.
The ring had not.
Thomas searched every box.
Nothing.
He called the movers.
Nothing.
Then he remembered something.
Lucas had spent almost an hour alone in Eleanor’s bedroom on the final morning.
“Why?” Emily asked.
Thomas looked uncomfortable.
“He said Mom asked him to sort some things.”
Thomas called Lucas.
“Do you know where Mom’s ring is?”
Lucas answered:
“It’s safe.”
Thomas immediately became suspicious.
“What does that mean?”
Lucas refused to explain.
“Mom knows.”
Thomas called Eleanor.
She was spending the weekend with her friend Margaret and didn’t answer.
By evening, Thomas was furious.
He called Lucas again.
“Do you have the ring?”
Lucas replied:
“Thomas, stop.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is safe.”
“Did you take it?”
Lucas paused.
Then:
“I didn’t steal anything.”
Thomas heard only the word steal.
To him, Lucas sounded defensive.
The brothers argued.
Then Lucas hung up.
Over the following days, Eleanor told Thomas not to worry about the ring.
“Did she explain where it was?” Richard asked.
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
“Why didn’t you ask directly?”
Thomas looked embarrassed.
He had.
Eleanor’s answer had been:
“Leave it alone until the gala.”
Thomas interpreted that as his mother trying to protect Lucas.
So he stopped asking Eleanor.
And started blaming his brother.