Page 121 of Gave Proof Through the Night

“Yes, now pay attention.”

She goes on to say that to keep the necklace out of her son’s reach for good, Mary gifted it to Eleanor. For her unwavering friendship, she wrote. Eleanor kept that necklace for the rest of her life and wrote about it constantly in her own diary, the friendship it stood for as much as the jewel itself. Tucked inside the pages, folded small, she kept the actual letter Mary Todd Lincoln had written her about the gift. Proof, in Mary’s own hand, that it had been freely given. One friend to another. Both of Kentucky lineage.

Erica is a born storyteller. I’ve never noticed it before tonight, mostly because I’ve never seen her sit still long enough to tell one all the way through. Grandfathers do this. So do scout leaders, hunched around a campfire. She’s got that same rhythm, like she’s memorized an Oscar-winning script.

The jewel was guarded by the Armitage family for decades, until 1951, when a predatory lending company falsified loan documents and seized every piece of property the Lexington family owned. Everything the Armitages had was taken by the loan company, and they were left with nothing, including the necklace. It was never found again until the early seventies, when it surfaced as an anonymous donation to the Bellenden Museum of American History.

“Where Hobbs works now,” I say.

“Yes. Hobbs was the inside man on my dad’s crew. It was during the pandemic. It should have been an easy job.”

Then she tells me what happened six years ago. How her father planned for months, bringing Hobbs onto his crew against better judgment. Back then, it was all about the necklace. He was narrow-sighted, and maybe that’s part of why he failed.

But now Erica tells me how she will right those wrongs. How claiming the Friendship Jewel for her family is all she’s thought about for six years. And how tonight, at a hockey banquet of all places, is her one chance.

When she finally stops talking, I just look at her.

“Woah!”

“Are you okay?”

“When Hobbs said you were a thief I thought he was talking about wristwatches and cell phones. I hadn’t even considered… GRAND LARCENY. I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t that.”

“Please don’t hate me.”

“I could never hate you.” I brush a stray strand of hair off her face with the back of my fingers. “Sticky fingers. You already stole every piece of me. You don’t have to steal anything else.”

Her breath catches on that like she wasn’t ready for it.

“This is bigger than you or me.”

“Nothing is bigger than what I feel for you.”

“I… you…”

“Whatever this is taking over my heart… It’s making my whole chest hurt.”

I don’t know how else to say it, so I just say it.

“Erica… I’m falling in love with you.”

Her eyes glisten with the beginning of tears, but she keeps them at bay.

“I was afraid of that.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m falling in love with you, too.”

“Is that such a bad thing?”

She sniffles. “It is if you get hurt. I couldn’t handle it if something happened to you.”

“Nothing is going to happen to me. I’m supposed to protect you. Not the other way around.”

“You don’t know what Hobbs is capable of. I have to execute this very carefully.”

Execute. She’s really thinking of finishing what her father started. I tread carefully.