She could have had a chauffeur deliver her directly to the flagship entrance. Instead, she parked the Civic in a public lot and walked the final block. She liked entering a neighborhood on foot, seeing what potential customers saw before they crossed a threshold. The sidewalks were immaculate, the shop fronts carefully arranged, and even the planters seemed designed to avoid looking accidental. It was a world that worked very hard at the appearance of effortless perfection.
At nine forty-six she stopped outside Luminous Designs Beverly Hills. Through the windows she could see pale stone flooring, velvet seating, low arrangements of fresh flowers, and the illuminated Aurora collection near the center of the showroom. Above the doorway, the company's silver emblem caught the light: a small sunburst surrounded by a circle, a design Diana had sketched on the back of a repair receipt more than twenty years earlier. She rested her fingers on the old bracelet and went inside.
The first thing she noticed was not the diamonds. It was a display case positioned a fraction of an inch out of alignment with the floor pattern. Most shoppers would never have seen it, and Diana knew that a slightly crooked case did not mean a business was failing. But someone who spent twenty-three years checking details developed a habit of noticing small deviations. She made a mental note to mention the case to whoever was responsible for visual merchandising.
The second thing she noticed was the human arrangement. Two associates stood near the rear counter, one reviewing paperwork while another reorganized presentation trays. A uniformed security guard occupied a discreet position beside the entrance, where he could watch the room without blocking customers. A woman in a cream designer jacket moved through the showroom checking flowers and the position of a champagne bucket, occasionally correcting staff with clipped gestures.
Diana recognized the name printed beneath the manager's portrait on the latest operations report: Patricia Wittmann. Thirty-eight, recruited eight months earlier from a luxury retail group, with a polished resume and an impressive history of high-value sales. Their previous conversations had been brief video calls and email exchanges, sometimes with so many people present that neither woman had received more than a few minutes of individual attention. Diana had never met her face to face.
Patricia noticed Diana standing beside the Aurora display, and something small but unmistakable changed in her expression. Before she took a step, her eyes moved over the blazer, the ordinary shoes, the modest bag, and the tarnished silver bracelet. Then she arranged a smile on her face and approached, already prepared to tell the woman what sort of merchandise was likely to be appropriate for her. Diana watched the smile arrive before Patricia did.
"Good morning," Patricia said. "Welcome to Luminous Designs. Are you looking for something special today?"
"Yes, I am," Diana answered, letting her gaze rest on the collection at the heart of the room. "I'd like to see the Aurora pieces, particularly the necklace."