Dezi’s Diamond Read online

  “I understand,” her father said. “At least you still have your hand-drawn designs in digital format, correct?”

  “I scan them all in, yes. As long as I can access them online.” She returned to her office, standing over her desk, and leaned forward to bring up her cloud storage on her laptop. “Yes, they’re all still here,” she said. She got out of the backup system and changed her password as she accessed it. “All these passwords are making me crazy.”

  “Get yourself a password manager app,” Dezi said. “The software handles changing out your passwords. You can change it every time you log out if you want.”

  She looked up at him in surprise. “I always figured I would have to memorize them.”

  He shook his head. “You just have to memorize the main one to sign in to the password manager website. The rest is taken care of by the software.”

  She looked around the office, hating her sense of violation. It didn’t feel like a place she wanted to work anymore. She was damned sure she couldn’t work here anymore. “Maybe I should go home and take a closer look at the vault there. Right now all I want to do is empty out this place and take it away with me. I won’t be able to work here anymore.”

  Dezi raised his eyebrows, cleared his throat.

  “Okay,” she said, with a wave of her hand toward him. “So I acknowledge that my home was invaded by Tony. That his two companions kidnapped me from beside my own pool. All as a ruse to let some fourth party gain access to my sketches in my home vault. While I may give up this storefront within twenty-four hours of the break-in here, especially since it also makes good business sense, I’m not willing to be so easily run out of my home. I love my unique backyard space. It speaks to me. It’s my creative oasis. And just like I won’t let these thieves destroy my business, I won’t let them deprive me of my special place where I connect with my muse.”

  Her father smiled. “There’s my girl. The fighter. The survivor.”

  “Working on it,” she said as she walked to her small studio space nearby and said, “My studio at home is much bigger. Plus I would have all my tools back in one place.” She gave a half laugh. “I’m forever wanting something I left behind, either at home or at work.”

  “You should have one place to work,” her father said. “It would cut back on some of your stress.”

  She nodded. “It would. I just hadn’t realized it until today.”

  *

  Dezi thought about the logistics of getting her business moved to her house. He turned toward Vince, a question in his eyes. “No reason we can’t bring in a team,” he said. “We could do it on the sly right now, before the bad guys realize what we’re doing, but we could also end up in trouble that way as well. Maybe the bad guys anticipated this and want to ambush us, take the truck with all the jewels.”

  “True,” Vince said, “but, if we pull in a team, the good guys might outnumber the bad guys at that point. Increases our chances of a smooth uninterrupted transition.”

  Dezi nodded, then faced Diamond. “Would you want a second vault in your house, or do you intend to replace the one you have at home?”

  She looked at him in confusion. “Do I have to decide right now?”

  “No. If you want to wait, then you should probably maintain these business premises to keep the jewelry safe,” he said. “Or … we can bring in a security team, make sure that everything in here is securely transferred to your home vault. I’ve seen both vaults, and, just eyeballing them, I think you can combine your inventory and store it all in your smaller vault at home. It might be more cluttered than you ideally want to begin with. Then you can sort out later if you want to move this business vault to your home or just leave it here or whatever else you come up with.”

  She looked at him and then brightened. “Meaning, if we did it right now, we could be moved out of here into my home within days?”

  “Absolutely. Possibly less,” Dezi said. “You could make it a permanent move too. It wouldn’t take much to relocate this vault either. What about your staff?”

  At that, her spirits dwindled. “I’m out of business for at least a week while I order new glass cases. Even with rushed shipping, I still have to wait on them to arrive, then to have them bolted into the floor. And I’d have to pay my staff severance pay if I’m shutting down the store.”

  “If you give them two weeks’ notice and, thus, two weeks’ pay,” her father said, “that’s plenty. They can turn around and get a job in that time frame.”

  “But they’re not just employees to me, Dad,” she said quietly. “They’re friends.”

  He nodded. “But it sounds like it’s time for a change. So it doesn’t matter who they are to you,” he said gently. “If you’re not keeping the store, their jobs no longer exist.”

  She groaned.

  The phone rang beside her. It was one of the women who worked for her. “Hey, Patty. Sorry I haven’t had a chance to call you yet. It’s been a bit of a nightmare.”

  “The store really got broken into?”

  “Yes, it did.”

  “Oh,” Patty said in a squeak. “I’m sorry.”

  “Thank you,” Diamond said.

  “I’m not sure I want to come back there,” Patty said nervously. “You know how I feel about even being alone there.”

  Diamond winced. “I know,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

  “No, no, no,” Patty said. “I’m sorry for you. I hope everything ends up okay. My cousin offered me a job at their store. So, if it’s okay with you, I’ll take that job, and I won’t return to your store. After all, I presume it’ll be shut down for a while?”

  “For the rest of the week at least,” Diamond said. “Maybe next week too. So I understand, Patty, you wanting to take the job with your cousin. I really appreciate all the hard work you did for me.”

  Patty said, “Good. I’ll start right away then. It was great working with you. I still need my last paycheck though.”

  “I’ll tell the accountant to send it,” she said, “and we’ll send the final separation paperwork too.”

  Patty sounded relieved. “Thanks. And I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

  When Diamond hung up, she said, “Well, apparently I have four employees because that one just quit.”

  “And one’s in the hospital, so you have three,” Dezi said. “What about the woman here today, helping you inventory the safe? Would you keep her on?”

  “That’s Maggie, and yes. At least for a while.”

  “So you have two others. Both part-time, right?”

  She nodded. “Yes. They worked in shifts. Maggie and Sammy were my only full-time employees.”

  “We must call the accountant anyway,” her father said, “and inform him your store is closed for at least two weeks, and you’re not sure about the future of keeping this store. We also should consider job openings at Liechester—if these two part-time employees of yours would be interested. Your staff will get two weeks’ pay regardless, as that is standard in this situation,” her father said firmly. “That gives you time to think about it.”

  Chapter 14

  Not wanting to, but knowing she needed to make the calls, Diamond called her other two employees and explained what had happened. Both were upset for her more than anything. One said it was no problem, to just let her know if and when things got back up and running. Then considered this further.

  “And, if you close the store,” she said, “that’s not a problem. My husband doesn’t really want me doing as many hours as I have been anyway.”

  Diamond realized that Helen, who was in her sixties, was probably more than ready to quit. “Maybe it’s time for you to think about what you and your husband want to do, now that he’s retiring,” she said.

  “We’ve been talking a lot about it,” Helen said. “So this isn’t bad timing.”

  “There might be a job for you at the Liechester store. We’re willing to make that happen, if you’d like.”

  “Thank y
ou,” Helen said. “But with the extended commute to that location, it’s not ideal. I’ll consider it though and get back to you.”

  When Diamond hung up, she was smiling. “Well, that’s another one who’s not an issue.” But she knew Roberta would be a problem. Roberta loved being at the store, loved to be part of the whole glamour of the jewelry center. And she was looking for full-time work.

  Sure enough, that phone call was difficult. Roberta definitely wanted Diamond to keep the store going. Roberta cried through the whole conversation. “All I can tell you,” Diamond said, keeping her voice even and calm, “is I’m talking to the insurance company this afternoon. We’ll see what happens after that. And we will find you a place at Liechester, if you’d like …”

  Roberta bawled noisily and hung up without a goodbye.

  As she placed her phone down, Diamond said, “There’s a lot to be said about not having staff.”

  Dezi nodded. “Personalities can make things difficult. What about Maggie?”

  Diamond picked up her phone again and dialed Maggie. “Hey, Maggie,” she said. “I’m meeting the insurance company rep this afternoon. It’ll take probably a couple weeks to get the store fixed up and running again, and I’m thinking about maybe just working from my house from now on.”

  Maggie said, “Sure. I wondered if you would do that now. The staff has often talked about how you don’t really want to be at the store.”

  “No, and the store was never doing as well as my actual custom designs do.”

  “If you close it down,” Maggie said, “I’ll be disappointed. But I’d understand.”

  “Do you need a full-time job, or would you be interested in some part-time work instead?”

  “Part-time would be better,” Maggie said. “I was meaning to tell you, but I just hadn’t gotten around to it.” Her voice warmed. “I’m pregnant,” she said. “As this is my second child, I might want to spend more time at home.”

  “Wow,” Diamond said with excitement. “I’m so delighted for you. I know you’ve been trying.”

  “Yes,” she said. “So figure out what you’re doing, then tell me what you think could work. What about the other girls?”

  Diamond brought Maggie up to speed on those recent phone calls. “So I’m not really sure what I’m doing. I need to see how Sammy’s doing too.”

  “Absolutely,” Maggie said. “Don’t worry about me. But it would be nice to continue to work for you part-time. A little bit of spare money will never hurt when it comes to having kids.”

  “Isn’t that the truth,” Diamond said. With further well-wishes, she hung up and stood, feeling a weight off her shoulders.

  She looked to her father and Dezi. “How come I didn’t realize this store was such an added stress on me? Right now I’m standing here, feeling like I dropped one hundred pounds, and the whole world is a different place.”

  “Because you were so busy trying to get through the day,” her father said gently, “you never had time to look ahead. I’ve been there. I know to be successful you have to hire good managers to take over. But you never quite got to that point where you were ready to leave the day-to-day activities to your manager. You had Sammy but never utilized him fully. When I realized you were coming here every day, I knew it would wear you down.”

  She smiled up at him and gave him a big hug. “You’re way smarter than I am,” she announced.

  “No,” he said with a chuckle, giving her a warm hug back. “I’m just older and more experienced.”

  She stepped back from her father’s embrace. “So, if I was to move my business home again, what would I have to do?”

  He waved an arm around her studio. “We need to pack you up.”

  She walked through the rest of the store and realized, with everything in the vault, how little there was to move elsewhere in the store. She rubbed her forehead. “I should talk to my landlord and see what he wants to do about the vault. It’s mine unless he wants it for future leases.”

  “Let me talk to him,” her father said. “Who is it?”

  She sat down, found it in her notes and gave it to him. Armed with the name and number, her father stepped out into the main part of the store with a notepad. She smiled up at Dezi. “He’s got that part handled. What are you up to?”

  “My job is to keep you safe,” he said comfortably. “So I get the best job of all. I make sure you don’t leave my sight.”

  Her eyes twinkled up at him. “Now if only we were home alone.”

  His dark eyes glinted. “If only …”

  “That’s enough, you two,” Vince said good-naturedly. “It looks like we have a team on the way.”

  “So soon?” she asked.

  Dezi looked at her. “It’s hard to secure both places with just the two of us,” he said. “We don’t know exactly what the intruders wanted here, but, if you make that move to be based from home, which it appears you are, I’m not sure there’s any point in waiting.”

  She nodded. “I just hadn’t expected it to happen right now.”

  “You have a huge house,” Dezi said. “You have lots of room to make some changes, if needed. It’s a company expense, so you might as well make as much of your home as you want to accommodate your workspace.”

  He waved an arm around the open store. “There’s hardly anything to do here in this part. You have a few photos on the walls, but that’s it. The lunchroom is mostly empty, except for a small table and a few chairs. Basically the bulk of stuff to be moved are in your office, studio and the vault.”

  “And some boxes in the employee break room.” She sighed. “Still, when you put it like that, let’s close it down.”

  Both men looked at her and said, “Exactly.”

  She laughed. “Then I have to take a serious look at making some changes at home.” She frowned. “That room on the other side of the vault would make a great office. I have a small one at home, but I would love a bigger one.”

  “The room that opens up onto the patio?” Dezi asked. “That would be dynamite. You could see the pool and the gardens. You could work half in and half out. With those doors open wide, you’d be letting the sunshine in.”

  The more she thought about it, the more she really warmed to the idea. “And it would ease a lot of my stress and keep me more in touch with my artistic side.”

  Dezi nodded. “That’s the bottom line here. In order for you to keep doing what you love to do, you’ll have to let go of some of the stuff you don’t love doing.”

  And just like that, it was an easy decision. “Good. Let’s get this moved today then.”

  “Already in progress,” Dezi said with a smile.

  *

  Levi arrived two hours later. By then Di, Dezi and Vince had already begun packing. When he saw the destroyed jewelry cases, he raised his eyebrows. “Somebody was in a fit?”

  Diamond came out and smiled up at him. “I’m really glad to have you helping out,” she admitted.

  “I am too,” he said. “I’m sorry for your problems though.” He shook his head, motioning at the broken glass. “This is bad news.”

  “Which is why we’re moving everything home,” she said. “I probably should have done this long ago. But I was raised to have jewelry stores.” She laughed. “I guess I was following in my father’s footsteps.”

  “When what you should have been doing,” her father said from behind her, “is taking your own footsteps. And you did, but then somehow you seemed to think you had to have your store too. But it’s all fixed.” He reached out to shake Levi’s hand.

  The two men introduced themselves.

  Her father said, “The landlord doesn’t want the vault. If you leave it, that’s fine. He’ll accept it and hope the new tenants can use it. But he’s not paying you for it. If you remove it, you have to leave the building as it was.”

  She groaned. “It’ll be difficult either way.”

  Levi said, “Let’s take a look.” He walked with Dezi and Vince to take a loo
k at the construction. The vault had been closed into a room by itself. Levi studied it and nodded. “She must have had a company install it. Why don’t we get a quote on moving it out?”

  “I have a smaller model at home,” Diamond said hesitantly. “But I’m not sure it will be enough. It would be nice to have this one too.”

  Levi nodded. “I might know someone …” he said. He walked away from them to make a couple calls.

  She glanced at Dezi. “Does he know everybody?”

  Dezi nodded his head and smiled. “It seems that way.” He looked back at the vault and realized something. “Pulling this out wouldn’t be all that bad. It’s right at the back of the building anyway. It must have been installed from that direction, so it wouldn’t be hard to take it out the same way.”

  “It would seem, if they moved it in, they could remove it,” she said. “I’m just not sure I have room for it at home.”

  “I suggest you box up your office,” her father said. “You and I and Dezi can move that to your house and take a look at the best spaces you have there for your new office. Leave Levi and his other guys here to do the rest, and we’ll go whenever you’re ready.”

  She brightened. “Help me get finished, will you?”

  A bunch of boxes in the staff break room contained the latest orders that had come in. Diamond mentioned it to the guys so that they could handle moving them, reminding Dezi how expensive those contents were. She and her dad completed boxing up her office and studio. She realized just how very little was left, … a few office chairs and a small table. With those dismantled and Dezi’s truck filled, nothing else remained except the vault and its contents.

  She sighed, turned to look at this stage of her life that was coming to an end.

  Dezi nudged her toward the truck. “Let’s go. I don’t want you standing outside in the open like this.”

  She shot him a look but got into his truck.

  Back home they unloaded everything into the room beside her studio.

  Her father looked at the vault and shook his head. “This is quite small.”