"Where is she?"
Marcus and I looked at each other. Vanessa.
Before anyone could answer, shouting carried in from the lobby.
She swept into the hallway less than a minute later, with Richard several steps behind her.
"Where is Princess?"
Then she saw me. Her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed.
"You again."
I removed the note from the carrier and handed it to her.
"Recognise the handwriting?"
"Where is Princess?"
She looked at the carrier.
Then at Richard.
"You left Princess here?"
"Yes."
"Have you completely lost your mind?" She reached for the carrier. "We're leaving."
Richard stepped between her and the door.
"Recognise the handwriting?"
"Move," she snarled.
"No. Mr. Bennett needs to hear something first, doesn't he, Vanessa?"
Vanessa paled. She glanced around the room.
"We don't have time for this. Princess needs to see a veterinarian."
Richard's expression barely changed. "I'm sure the vet will tell us exactly what they told us last time."
"Princess needs to see a veterinarian."
Vanessa froze.
I looked between them.
"What happened last time?"
"Nothing," Vanessa said quickly.
Richard looked at me.
"Princess swallowed one of Vanessa's earrings."
"What happened last time?"
Vanessa snapped, "Richard."
"A small diamond earring," he continued. "We thought it was lost until an X-ray found it."
Suddenly the missing ring wasn't the only problem. Vanessa had known there was another explanation before I was fired.
My heart started pounding.
Vanessa shook her head. "That doesn't mean anything."
"We thought it was lost until an X-ray found it."
"When your ring disappeared," Richard said, "I told you Princess might have swallowed it."
"We didn't know!"
I stepped forward. "You didn't know I stole it either."
Vanessa looked at me.
"You knew there was another possibility," I said. "And you let them fire me anyway."
For the first time since I'd met her, she had nothing ready to say.
"We didn't know!"
Mr. Bennett's face had gone gray.
Richard looked at him. "After Rachel was fired, I told Vanessa to call the hotel and explain what she hadn't told you—that Princess had swallowed jewelry before."
Vanessa glared at him. "Stop talking."
"You had no right to destroy someone's job when you weren't sure," he said.
"Is that why you left Princess here?" I looked at Richard.
"Stop talking."
He nodded. "I knew she'd come back for Princess."
Vanessa stared at him. "You used my dog to humiliate me."
