Somehow, after many wrong turns down never-ending hallways, I ended up in the kitchen only a few minutes late. Penelope was busy putting some final touches to the meal, whilst the others sat stiffly around the table. The silence was disconcerting, and I had a feeling it wasn't just due to my presence. These people spent every waking day together, so they should be friends, right? Even if they didn't like each other, surely they'd learn to tolerate each person, even talk to them a bit. They were more closed off than I realised, which pushed my plans of squeezing some information out of them over dinner out of joint.

Reagan leaped to her feet as she saw me arrive, and, rather more hesitantly, the two men stood up as well. "Er, you can sit. No need to stand for me." I said awkwardly, even as Reagan pulled out the chair beside her for me.

Penelope chose that moment to bang the plates of food down in front of us, mine with a little extra force so the peas scattered onto the table. She purses her lips. "I suppose I'll have to clean that up later." She snapped, even though I was pretty sure that wasn't a cook's job, and it was her own fault. Resisting my urge to bite back for once, I took a large forkful of the weird smelling chicken on my plate. Surely chicken would be okay - she wouldn't be stupid enough to risk giving me salmonella for a continuation of the raw food joke.

Thankfully, it was cooked, and cooked well at that. The flavoursome chicken complimented the crispy potatoes perfectly, and the mixed veg on the side made me feel super healthy for a change. Needless to say, I was absolutely famished, so I inhaled the meal in about two seconds and gulped down my drink.

"That was amazing. Thank you so much." Penelope's brow furrowed, as if she wasn't used to people expressing gratitude to her. I didn't think Kristen was the type to mind her manners. She didn't really know how to respond to my compliment, so instead she grunted and chucked a few leftover potatoes onto my plate. Hey, I wasn't complaining.

My words seemed to break the atmosphere around the table a bit. Ben mustered the courage to politely ask after Gibson's girlfriend, and I noted the immediate enthusiasm with which he responded.

"Yeah man, I just love Angie, ya know?" He nodded his head whilst Ben looked like he most definitely did not know. "She's been ignoring my texts a bit, but I'm not gonna give up on a real crackin' lass like her, ya know?"

Reagan leaned forward suddenly, thrusting her chest over the table. "She's been ignoring you? Tell me more." I glanced sideways at her, her voice tingled with excitement and nerves. I wondered why she cared so much about Angela - unless she had suspicions? If she'd accidentally stumbled into Gibson's room some day, it wouldn't be hard to put some pieces together.

Gibson looked delighted with the invitation to declare his love some more. "She's a real crackin' musician, I'll tell ya that, and she's a proper lass so she is."

Reagan interrupted. "Yeah, she sounds great. But if you're having problems, you can tell me. I can help."

"Not problems," he dismissed. "Just a little disagreement. Nothing ta worry about. She'll see sense soon, she loves me too, ya know?"

Reagan settled back in her seat, looking disappointed. "Yeah. Of course." Penelope picked up the conversation by inquiring about the weather forecast for tomorrow, but I couldn't concentrate. All my attention was fixed on Reagan, who picked at her delicious food with all the energy of a sloth. What the hell was that whole exchange with Gibson about?

When I heard my name, however, I zoned back in on the conversation again, with everyone looking at me expectantly. "Yes?" I said weakly, and to my surprise, Penelope smiled at me, she properly smiled. I tried hard to recover from the sudden shock by endeavouring to find out what had made her so happy. Luckily, she made it easy for me.

"I'm a big Michelle fan myself." She sighed, letting her hard exterior fall away to a rather more excitable side of her. "It's so nice to finally meet someone else who appreciates her best song is 'Playing With Unicorns'."

I had never heard that song before, and by the name of it, I didn't ever want to. But I smiled back at her, enthused by the fact she's brought up the subject of Michelle entirely without prompting. "Yes, it's so underrated." I agreed, trying to sound like I knew what I was talking about. I had a lot of practice with that.

"It's cheap, trashy pop music." Ben cut in smoothly. "Much along the lines of that dreadful Kaileen Roller. We shouldn't discuss it." I distantly heard Penelope's angry 'humph' as she cemented the walls surrounding her once more, but I couldn't draw my eyes away from Ben. I knew Kaileen Roller had been brought up for my benefit, and that he knew I was the detective that cracked the case. His face continued to be unreadable, but I'd cracked his facade once, so with more time I would surely be able to accomplish it again.

Unfortunately, he didn't give me the opportunity to. He got to his feet, and everyone else scrambled up as well, me a half-beat behind. So apparently they didn't just do it for me - how awkward. "I shall resume my duties." He said formally before leaving the overheated kitchen.

The rest of us were quick to disband after.Reagan had been instructed to check in on Kristen at half-six with a glass of water and some more tablets, so she scrambled off. Penelope and Gibson began the joint process of cleaning up the kitchen, and I felt a little out of place. I'd made enough excuses about going to lie down in my room, so instead I announced I was going to go outside and get some fresh air. Penelope waved me towards the back door, our bonding over Michelle earlier already a distant memory to her.

Even though it was barely half-six, the sun was already beginning to set, meaning the mansion would soon be cast into darkness. I shivered; this place was creepy enough already without adding pitch blackness into the midst.

It seemed that Kristen had been telling the truth about one thing - her security system was every detective's dream. If someone were to come within five miles of the mansion Kristen would be alerted immediately, and security cameras swept every inch of the lawn and beyond. I doubted anyone would dare break into such a formidable house, and if they did, I would know immediately. It seemed that the theft was an inside job after all.

Still, I needed to know more, I had to keep investigating. I had checked over each and every suspect's bedroom with a fine tooth comb, but it occurred to me there was still one bedroom I hadn't checked - Kristen's.

It was the scene of the crime, after all, the very last place the jewellery had been seen. There was always something at the scene, even if it was a minuscule clue that seemed to mean absolutely nothing at the time. I was losing my touch, waiting so long to check it out. I simply had to get a look at it, but I had a feeling Kristen would be less than accommodating. It was almost as if she didn't want this case solved at all.

Which is why I wouldn't go through her.

It wasn't hard to seek out Reagan, even in such an enormous place of residence. She was hovering anxiously about the corridor that led to the green and silver room I'd met her in that very morning, and she practically jumped out of her skin at the sight of me.

"Amber. What can I do for you?" I noted with satisfaction that she'd taken my suggestion of calling me by my actual name.

"I was just wondering if Kristen is in her room." I said casually, hoping to God that she wasn't.

She shook her head. "After she took some more tablets, her headache felt better, so she went into her sitting room to rest for a bit." She nodded her head towards the closed door. "However, I don't think she's in any state to see you..."

"No, no, I don't need to see her." I hastily set Reagan straight. "No, I was just wanting to visit her bedroom. To have a look about. Could you point the way?"

Reagan looked conflicted, glancing down at her chest. "Well... you shouldn't really have access to her room... that would upset things... I mean her, upset her."

Well, that was shifty as hell. Instead of trying to break the truth out of her, I patted her arm in a confident manner. People questioned your actions far less if you looked like you knew what you were doing. "Oh, it's completely cleared by her, of course." I smiled. "She told me to go look at it herself in her meeting earlier on."

"Well... there's nothing in there, I suppose." She returned the smile, shifting her gaze to my eyes. "Turn left at the end and go down the hallway, it's the second on the right."

"Great. Thanks so much." I practically skipped down the hallway. This whole case was meant to be easy, but so far real answers had eluded me. I was certain my luck would change soon - after all, with four suspects, things couldn't be too hard to figure out. I was sure there would be something in Kristen's room to lead me to the thief, especially after the suspicious way Reagan had just acted over me going there. Maybe she was the thief after all.

Kristen's room was annoying predictable; ridiculously decedent and over the top. A bed her size could have fit an entire extended family, never mind a single woman. She had a messy walk in wardrobe with clothes scattered everywhere, far more than any person could want or need. Evaluating the room, if you sold everything in it you could probably build schools for every single child in Africa. It was almost disgusting.

I was quick to locate the dresser completely dedicated to her jewellery. A velvet box was set in pride of place in the middle, and I immediately guessed she kept all of her most valuable items in there. If I was going to steal something from her room, I would look in the box first, so that's exactly what I did. Upon seeing its contents, I completely froze.

"A week ago, my sapphire earrings went missing, five days ago, the matching necklace disappeared and the day before yesterday my mother's engagement ring vanished."

That was how Kristen had described her missing items. And the description completely fit the three items lying in the open box rout in front of me.

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Hi! I'm back with another update. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, because there's a lot of clues in it that you'll understand very soon. The next chapter will be the FINAL chapter of part one, and hopefully you'll be satisfied by how I end it. I originally aimed to have it uploaded by the end of the week along with this one, and I know it's Friday so it doesn't seem very likely but I think I might have it done for Sunday, so keep an eye out. Thanks for reading this, I hope you're enjoying it. I know this book isn't exactly popular, but I do love it (I'm extremely biased, of course). Please vote and comment if you liked this chapter!