Page 80 of Uncharted

I glance at him because there’s too much to tell him. I don’t slow down to explain to Dante, but Haley does. “We found the...”

I skid around the corner to where Calvin is snoring like my old man. Easton is already on his knees, opening the compartment in the bottom cupboard. “I want to see if I’m right,” he says, “but where’s Haley?”

“I’m here. I was just filling Dante in.”

“Right, well, Dad had... I suppose it doesn’t matter. Dad had this safe built for the house in Maine. It looks like this complicated thing, but it’s not even locked. You just have to know where to press. At his house, it’s not a real safe but a bar. Susan didn’t like him drinking, so he had the room installed. What if this is like that? There’s no key needed.”

My stomach flips. Rich people make no sense. “No key for something that costs 55 million?”

“Sometimes you just have to look tough, not be tough. You don’t always have to be the best, but you have to make others think you are,” Easton says.

“That’s some motto.” I’ve got my own rules that I live by. Things my dad said to me before he passed. Rules I’ve made after I’ve been hurt by something, someone.

“It’s one of the many things my dad likes to say.” Easton’s hands hover over the dark wood.

“What are you going to try?” Haley drops to her knees next to him.

“What do you think?” Easton cocks his head at Haley.

“The lock is flush, almost like a button,” Haley says.

I’m still gripping the planner. “Did your dad have a favorite number?”

“Yes.” Easton’s blue eyes flash up at me. He pushes the lock. And it clicks open. “Holy hell,” he says. The lid swings open, but we can’t see what’s in it.

“How is the diamond in there?” Haley glances back at me.

Easton stands and opens the top drawer, from which he pulls out a bag and unwraps a pink diamond the size of a small egg. It matches the one that is sitting in the safe. “They’re identical.” Easton takes out the one in the safe and the one from the bag and sets them on the dresser side by side.

“Identical, but one’s a fake,” Dante says.

“But which one is the fake?” I ask. I might be able to see patterns in numbers, but the two pink blobs in front of me look like the same damn thing.

Dante reaches around me. He takes the one sitting on top of the bag. “This is the real one. Look at the depth of color in the inclusions. This other one’s good, but lab grown. It’s a good fake, though. I could use the real one to scratch the fake if you want? But it’s pretty enough on its own.”

“That’s okay, I believe you,” Easton says.

“Candy was stealing her own diamond?” Haley pushes at the one on the dresser.

Dante puts the diamond back and sits on the end of the bed next to Calvin. His snoring stops. We all stop and stare, first at Calvin and then at Dante. “What? He’s not going to wake up.”

“Candy caused the sabotage?” Haley shakes her head. “That doesn’t fit. I don’t think she could fake how upset she was that night. And if she knew, why wouldn’t she have had the diamond ready to go? As it was, she didn’t take either of them. That doesn’t fit. It really doesn’t fit with someone who would go to the effort of making a fake diamond. This must have cost a lot to make as it was.”

“That’s worth at least twenty thousand,” Dante says, crossing his ankle over his knee.

“How do you know so much?”

“My uncle. He owned a little bit of everything in town. A construction company, a restaurant, and a jewelry store. That was my favorite summer job. The jeweler who ran it liked to teach. While I wasn’t there long, he did teach me the basics, but I might be wrong. If I didn’t know one of them was a fake, it’s not as obvious.” Dante yanks his shirt off. “All the time on the raft and then in the treehouse... I really was looking forward to sleeping in a bed. But it’s stuffy as hell down here. It’s better than the crew cabins, but damn, I’m glad we’re not going to normally stay here. Where on the bed are you going to sleep, Sassy?”

We’ve got a little schedule. It’s not official, but it’s becoming, well, official. But then, we’ve got to throw Sam in the mix.

And just like that, Sam appears at the door. “How are things going down here?” Penny’s at his side. She trots into the room and jumps on the bed. In all the seasons I’ve been with her, I’ve never seen her jump on a bed. She puts her head on Calvin’s back and sighs. “Get down, Penny.” But Calvin wakes up enough to put his hand over her head. She turns and looks at Sam. “Fine. You can stay for now.” The sigh that comes out of the dog is longer and louder. “I haven’t been keeping watch on the horizon for a while. But now that we have more people, we could.” It’s more of a suggestion than an order, and I’m put off guard.

“Sure, I can take first watch,” I say. As much as I want time in bed with Haley, the energy in the room is off. The awkwardness is more palpable than the dog’s sighs.

“Thanks. Wake me in four.” Sam hands me the binoculars.

“I’m going to go get cleaned up.” Haley eases around the group of us, into the hall.

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