Then suddenly the older woman was plucked off of her. Even as D.C. subdued Regina, she kept screaming. “It’s mine! It’s mine!”
When Fiona got herself upright, she still had the necklace, and she noted that Bobby had his gun aimed at Charity Watkins. Still, Regina screamed.
Over the din, D.C. said, “I see you got my call, Lieutenant. Good job.”
15
D.C. STOOD WITH CHANCE just outside the glass wall of Natalie Gibbs-Mitchell’s hospital room. Every inch of space inside the room was occupied by females, laughing and talking. The center of attention, of course, was Chance and Natalie’s new daughter, Noelle, who’d arrived just after the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve.
D.C. couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of Fiona, who sat at the foot of the bed holding the baby. She was there, and she was safe. Those final moments in the exhibition room were still vivid in his mind. Fiona’s head smacking into the display case, an obsessed woman’s hands closing around her throat.
Fiona Gallagher was quite a woman. And she was his. Impatience bubbled up. He was going to have to settle that. Soon.
But there hadn’t been time. And now she was in the midst of a crowd. Among the others filling the room to capacity were Natalie’s sisters, Rory and Sierra, and best friends, Sophie and Mac. It was when his mom, his sister, General Eddinger and Amanda had arrived that Chance had signaled the men out of the room. Then he’d dispatched his two brothers-in-law to pick up some food and champagne from a local deli.
D.C. was looking forward to both. The past twenty-four hours had been jam-packed, leaving little time for food or thought. Kathryn Lewen had been picked up in a car that had been waiting in a loading zone outside the National Gallery. He and Fiona had escorted all three women into the station where they’d promptly called their lawyers.
“Sorry I couldn’t be there at the end,” Chance said, joining him at the window.
“You had better things to do.” D.C.’s gaze remained steady on Fiona. He slipped his hand into his pocket and gripped the small package that had been burning a hole there. He had a plan, he reminded himself. He just needed time to put it into action.
“What’s the status of the case right now? I know that Fiona called Natalie with updates this morning. But that will still be her first question when this crowd leaves. In fact, she’s probably grilling Fiona about it right now.”
D.C. had to agree. His mother was holding the baby now and Fiona had moved closer to Natalie on the bed.
“You married a cop,” D.C. said.
“Yeah. You thinking of doing the same?”
“Yeah.” He wasn’t just thinking of it. He was going to do it. If he could just get her alone. It had been crowded enough at the station, but here at the hospital, privacy didn’t seem to be even remotely available.
“If you need a job close to the D.C. area, I can offer you one. Of course, Natalie’s going to offer you one, too.”
D.C. shot a look at Chance. “Really?”
Chance nodded. “And she can dangle the possibility of working with a great partner in front of you.”
“How did you know that I might be looking for a new job?” Then before Chance could answer, he said, “General Eddinger.”
Chance merely smiled. “I’m taking the fifth.” He glanced at his watch. “My brothers-in-law should be back shortly with the refreshments. While we wait, why don’t you update me on the case?”
“Regina Meyers alias Kate McGowan and Kate Lewen is a bitter and broken woman. But she’s smart, and her lawyer is hoping for a deal. He’s already hinting at some kind of diminished-capacity defense based on her overpowering obsession with the necklace. Together, they’re painting as sympathetic a picture of her as they can. She claims that while her obsession was with the diamond, Shalnokov’s obsession was with her. He fell in love with her, and he used the Rubinov to keep her with him for the last ten years.”
“A triangle of obsession and greed,” Chance murmured.
“Yeah. She was evidently threatening to leave Shalnokov two years ago. That’s when he put the necklace up for auction at Christie’s, and she thought she’d finally get her hands on it. Afterward, she realized that the only reason he did that was to dangle the possibility in front of her and make her stay. The incident only made her more determined, and by that time, she had her backup plan in place.”
“The two daughters,” Chance said.
D.C. nodded. “For years, she’d showered them with attention and got them as fascinated with the necklace as she was. She influenced every decision in their lives including career choices. Charity says she married her husband five years ago to secure her position at the National Gallery.”