The necklace itself looked subtly wrong — the gold color uneven now, as if something had been coated over it and the water had begun to lift it away.
I stood in my kitchen in the grey morning light and felt my own heartbeat in my ears.
I am an accountant. I spend my life noticing when a number is off by a cent, when a total doesn't reconcile, when something has been quietly added that shouldn't be there.
And everything about that glass of water was off.
I did not scream. I did not confront Julian.
The old woman's second instruction came back to me, just as clearly as the first.
Don't tell your husband.
So I didn't.
I poured a little of the water into a clean jar, sealed it, wrapped the necklace in a tissue, and sealed that too. I put both at the very bottom of my work bag.