TITANIC: A STORY TOLD
Chapter Fifty
Jack and Rose crossed the foyer, entering the
corridor. Lovejoy was waiting for them in the hall as they approached the room.
"We’ve been looking for you, Miss."
Lovejoy followed and, unseen, moved close
behind Jack and smoothly slipped the diamond necklace into the pocket of his
overcoat.
Cal and Ruth waited in the sitting room,
along with the Master-at-Arms and two stewards. There was silence as Rose and
Jack entered. Ruth closed her robe at her throat when she saw Jack.
Rose spoke. "Something serious has
happened."
Cal smirked at her and responded.
"That’s right. Two things dear to me have disappeared this evening. Now
that one is back..." He looked from Rose to Jack. "...I have a pretty
good idea where to find the other. Search him."
The Master-at-Arms stepped up to Jack.
"Coat off, mate."
Lovejoy pulled at Jack’s coat and Jack shook
his head in dismay, shrugging out of it. The Master-at-Arms patted him down.
"This is horseshit," Jack said in
dismay.
Rose turned to Cal. "Cal, you can’t be
serious! We’re in the middle of an emergency, and you--"
Steward Barnes pulled the Heart of the Ocean
out of the pocket of Jack’s coat.
"Is this it?"
Rose was stunned. Needless to say, so was
Jack.
"That’s it." Cal took the necklace.
The Master-at-Arms looked at the diamond.
"Right then. Now don’t make a fuss."
He started to handcuff Jack.
"Don’t you believe it, Rose.
Don’t."
Rose looked up, uncertain. "He couldn’t
have."
"Of course he could. Easy enough for a
professional. He memorized the combination when you opened the safe."
Rose remembered standing at the safe, looking
in the mirror and meeting Jack’s eyes as he stood behind her, watching.
"But I was with him the whole
time."
Cal spoke just to her, low and cold.
"Maybe he did it while you were putting your clothes back on."
"They put it in my pocket!" Jack
was still protesting his innocence.
Lovejoy held Jack’s coat. "It’s not even
your pocket, son." He read the tag. "Property of A.L. Ryerson."
Lovejoy showed the coat to the Master-at-Arms.
There was a label inside the collar with the owner’s name.
"That was reported stolen today."
"I was going to return it! Rose--"
Rose felt utterly betrayed, hurt, and
confused. She shrunk away from him. He started shouting to her as Lovejoy and
the Master-at-Arms dragged him out into the hall. She couldn’t look him in the
eye.
"Rose, don’t listen to them...I didn’t
do this! You know I didn’t! You know it!"
She was devastated. Her mother laid a
comforting hand on her shoulder as the tears welled up.
"Why do women believe men?"