Mirror Three
Chapter 02 - Mirror Three
The police interview room smelled of burnt coffee and cold air.
Sloane sat beneath a fluorescent light with no ring light, no filters, and no visible audience. Without the leopard-print blouse and practiced outrage, she appeared younger than thirty-one.
She still denied knowing the necklace was fake.
“I was told Helena stole it before the stream,” she said. “I was creating the moment when the truth came out.”
Detective Mara Chen placed a still image from Mirror Three on the table.
“You put it in the bag.”
“I put back what I was told she had hidden.”
“In her bag?”
Sloane looked away.
At Sterling House, Marisol showed Helena the camera system. Mirror Three was one of four tiny devices hidden in fixtures facing high-value display areas. They recorded only counters and vault approaches. No audio. No connection to the store network.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Helena asked.
“I sent reports.”
“You sent reports to Julian.”
“He said you approved closing them.”
Helena had approved no such thing.
Marisol opened a folder containing six inventory discrepancies. Each occurred during a livestream event, celebrity appearance, or charity preview. Official footage skipped between forty-seven and eighty-three seconds. The missing pieces were later recovered through insurance.
Every report carried Julian Ross’s signature and Darren Pike’s security clearance.
Helena studied the dates.
One went back fifteen years—to the year gemologist Nora Mercer was accused of stealing a sapphire bracelet from the founder’s vault.
Sloane’s mother.
Nora lost her career, her home, and every appeal. She died six years later after a long illness. Sloane built her online following by exposing luxury fraud and humiliating wealthy people who assumed cameras belonged to them.
Someone had chosen the perfect weapon.
The police searched Darren’s office. His computer drives had been removed. His locker contained a spare earpiece, three passports under false names, and a key card for Conrad Vale’s private floor at corporate headquarters.
Conrad arrived at the boutique before midnight.
As chairman of Ward & Vale Holdings and son of the company’s co-founder, he carried authority with the ease of inheritance. His silver hair, dark overcoat, and measured concern reassured reporters outside.
Inside, he embraced Helena.
“This is catastrophic,” he whispered.
“For whom?”
“For everyone.”
Helena stepped back.
Conrad proposed a joint statement: condemn Sloane, call the necklace an insurance matter, and keep the missing original private until the board vote concluded.
The vote would decide whether Ward & Vale sold its retail empire to Arden Luxe for four billion dollars.
Helena opposed the sale.
Conrad needed it.
Marisol handed Detective Chen one final clip from Mirror Three. Ten minutes before the livestream, Darren stood alone at the counter speaking into his phone.
The mirror captured his screen in reflection.
May you like
A message glowed for half a second:
C.V.: MAKE HER LOOK LIKE HER MOTHER.
