The officer on duty listened to Gladys, then looked me up and down in my servant's uniform. Disdain settled over his face immediately.
"All right. Start talking. How'd you get this?"
"I bought it. Give it back."
He didn't believe a word. In his eyes, a servant couldn't possibly afford the Bloodstone Qilin.
"If the Farleys find out about this, you're done for. So you'd better come clean now. Cooperate and maybe you'll get a lighter sentence. Unless you're eager to go back to prison?"
Gladys's shrill voice cut in from beside me. I ignored her completely.
I turned to the officer and asked if I could make a phone call. He nodded. I pulled out my phone and dialed Dudley's number.
The call connected.
And in that same instant, the phone was slapped out of my hand. It hit the concrete floor with a sickening crack.
"Oh, give it up, sis." Gladys's voice dripped with mock sweetness. "Who are you even calling? Your dead mother? Or some man you found on the side? I heard you shacked up with some guy thirty years older than you. The second you left Elliot, you turned into nothing. Proved everyone right."