At the station, the rest of the story came out. The old appraiser’s name was Paul Grayson, though in criminal circles he had gone by “Grin.” Years ago he had been part of the jeweler robbery with Peter. He had been the lookout.
He was also the one who understood the value of the stones. When Peter was arrested, Grin went to ground, avoided prison, and later built a respectable life as a pawn shop appraiser.
But he never forgot that robbery. And he never forgot that the gold locket had never been recovered. The whole robbery, in fact, had been planned around that emerald.
Peter had later been killed in prison over it—on Grin’s orders. The men who attacked him had demanded to know where the stone was, but Peter never gave it up.
When Anna walked into Grin’s pawn shop with the locket, he recognized it immediately. The emerald was gone, yes. In its place were those sentimental little photos and the silly engraved inscription. Peter had clearly added those himself.
Even empty, the locket was worth money. But Grin wanted the emerald. Since Anna had shown ID at the pawn shop, he knew where she lived. He assumed she was Peter’s daughter and had hidden the stone herself.
He found a couple of old criminal associates, broke into her apartment, and tore it apart. They found only the empty locket. But they didn’t give up.
That was why they abducted her in broad daylight. They meant to force the truth out of her.
In the end, all three men were convicted and sent to prison for a long time. And after everything that happened, Anna and Mike finally made peace for real.
Mike brought back the things he had taken after the divorce. Half of it, they later laughed and threw away together. Along with the old rug.
This time they truly decided to start over. No affairs. No silence. No pretending.
They had spent too many years apart, even while living under the same roof, before they understood the obvious: life was worse without each other.
No one was happier than their daughter. Polly was overjoyed that her parents were together again. To her, they had always been the ideal couple.
And before long, Anna finally carried out the business plan she had talked about for years. She opened a small but lovely salon of her own.
Mike helped make it happen. He even took out a modest bank loan to get her started…
