Chapter 515
“You think it’s pretty, too?” Shirley suddenly raised her voice a little, sounding as if she’d found a kindred spirit. “Me too! Looks like we really have similar tastes!”
That exclamation drew quite a few people’s attention.
Not wanting to be in the spotlight, Hannah stepped past Shirley and quickly walked away.
But just then, a maid came toward her from the other direction. By accident, one of the cakes on the tray got smeared onto Hannah’s dress.
“Oh, no! I’m so sorry! 1-1 didn’t mean to!” The maid apologized quickly, looking panicked.
“It’s fine, just be more careful next time,” Hannah said, not wanting to make things hard for a worker.
“Your dress got stained. Let me take you to the restroom to get it cleaned up,” the maid suggested cautiously.
Hannah glanced at the cream–stained hem and could only nod, following the maid to the restroom.
Thankfully, it wasn’t much cream, and it came off quickly.
After drying it off, Hannah returned to the party venue. She glanced around but didn’t see Anathea. She picked up her phone, about to call Anathea.
But before she could dial, an anxious voice rang out. “Oh, no! My necklace is missing!”
Hannah turned toward the voice, seeing Shirley looking flustered. The gift box that had once held the white diamond necklace was now empty. “I was going to give this to Ms. Lancaster!”
When Frederick saw this, he quickly approached Shirley to comfort her. “Calm down. Maybe it was misplaced.”
“That’s impossible! The box is still here. I never even took the necklace out! What should I do?” Shirley’s eyes were brimming with tears.
Upon hearing the commotion, Grace walked over. “What’s going on?”
Shirley looked at Grace with tear–filled eyes. “Mrs. Lancaster, t–the necklace I prepared for Ms. Lancaster suddenly went missing. I’m so sorry. I must’ve lost it somewhere.”
At the same time, someone in the crowd muttered, “Something as important as a necklace usually doesn’t just go missing. It’s either dropped somewhere or someone else stole it.”
“Huh? No way. This is the Lancaster residence. Are you saying there’s a thief here?”
Grace’s expression darkened at that. “Our family has always been strict and upright. There’s no way a thief would be here!”
“We all know the Lancaster family has a good reputation, but there are many people here.”
“Exactly. You can’t vouch for every outsider here, can you, Mrs, Lancaster?”
Grace frowned.
It was true. So many guests were here for the party. Grace couldn’t possibly know each and every one of them in depth. So, it really was possible someone did it on purpose. Maybe they wanted to sabotage the whole event.
She absolutely couldn’t allow something like that to happen.
Grace sighed and patted Shirley on the shoulder, reassuring her, “Don’t worry. I’ll get the necklace back.”
Shirley nodded. “Thank you, Mrs. Lancaster.”
“Other than the party venue, did you go anywhere else?” Grace asked.
1/2
Chapter 515
+25 BONUS
Shirley thought carefully for a moment, then seemed to recall something. “I did take the necklace to the restroom earlier. It was in my bag, but I left the bag on the sink counter. I only picked it up when I was leaving.”
In other words, the necklace could very well have been stolen during the time her bag was out of her sight.
Grace quickly ordered someone to check the surveillance footage.
A guard hurried over and reported, “Ms. Watson’s bag appeared to have been tampered with. The zip wasn’t in the same position as when she entered the restroom.”
“That’s impossible! I’m sure I never opened my bag at the time!” Shirley said urgently.
“Calm down,” Grace uttered before turning to the guard.
“Besides Shirley, who else went in and out of the restroom at that me?”
“Um…” The guard hesitated, then glanced toward Hannali. “Only that young lady.”
