I hoped Veronica would get my hint and stay. We needed to talk about how I was supposed to have another meeting with Adrienne in her attic if Michael was working from home. Of course, my plan would work only if Michael excused himself, which he did not.
Instead, he stood and pulled out Veronica’s chair. “I think we’re good. We’re headed home anyway, aren’t we, Veronica?”
Before she could respond, Jolly’s voice came over the phone’s speaker. “Detective Thomas Riley is here to see you. Should I send him in?”
I pushed the button to respond, but Thomas appeared in my doorway before I could say anything. “Sorry—I hope I’m not intruding. Hello, Veronica, Michael.” He nodded in their direction. “I was headed your way after I spoke with Melanie, but since everyone’s here, I’ll let you all know that I have new information about Adrienne’s case.”
Veronica’s hand went to her throat while Michael put his hand on her shoulder. I stood and came around to the front of the desk. The gold chain that I wore around my neck for safekeeping heated my skin and sent an electric jolt down my spine. Almost as if it were alive.
Thomas reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a photograph. “Lauren’s parents sent me this. It was taken on her last visit home before she disappeared, over Christmas break.”
He handed it to Veronica, and I moved next to her to get a closer look, with Michael standing behind us, tall enough to lean over us. An Olan Mills photography studio stamp embossed in gold sat at the bottom right of the professional headshot. It showed an attractive blonde with sun-bleached hair and a suntanned face against a typical speckled blue studio background.
Veronica narrowed her eyes at the photograph. “That’s Lauren, isn’t it? We saw her picture in Adrienne’s yearbook.”
Thomas pointed at something in the photo, directing our attention to the necklace the girl wore, partially hidden by her collar: a thin gold chain and dangling Greek letters. The skin on my neck began to pulse with heat.
Thomas looked at Veronica, his voice gentle. “It looks like the necklace we found with Adrienne’s things, doesn’t it?”
Veronica nodded. “Although I can’t say for sure it belonged to her. I don’t think I ever saw Adrienne wear it, but she loved jewelry and clothes, so she had a lot of both. I think because of a lack of funds, she and her friends did a lot of borrowing to stretch their wardrobes.” She looked away from the picture and shook her head. “Adrienne was living at the dorm, so I didn’t see her every day. I’m afraid I just don’t know if the necklace belonged to Adrienne or not. All I know is that it was found in the box of her belongings in the attic.”
“Would you mind if I borrowed it too?” Thomas asked. “I promise to keep it safe and return it to you.”
“Sure. If you think it will help. But Melanie has it. I thought she could use her”—Veronica glanced nervously at Michael before continuing—“her intuition to hopefully find out more.”
I reached behind my neck to undo the safety pin I’d used to replace the broken clasp, then handed the chain to Thomas. “Were Lauren and Adrienne both members of Omega Chi?”
Thomas nodded. “And all of the items we looked through in your attic came from Adrienne’s dorm room after she died?”
“All of it,” Veronica said. “I know because Michael and I packed it up ourselves. It was too hard for my parents. I think we all just forgot it was there. It was easier that way.”
“And no one else has been up there in all this time? No roof repairman or pest control? Anybody who might have taken a partial gold charm and a CD?”
Veronica shook her head. “No. No one. Just you and Melanie and me. And Michael, of course. We keep our Christmas decorations in the attic, so we have to go up twice a year.”
Thomas nodded slowly. “I see.” He held up the necklace. “I’ll get this back to you as soon as I can.”
A shudder went through me as I recalled what had happened when my mother had touched it. The dark voice that had erupted from my mother’s mouth. You. Don’t. Want. To. Know. The. Truth. An icy chill chased the blood through my veins as I watched the gold chain dangle between Thomas’s fingers before he placed it into his coat pocket.
“What do you think this means?” Michael asked.
“I’m not sure,” Thomas said. “If I can find the missing half of this necklace, I think a lot of questions will be answered.”
“Well, then,” Michael said, steering Veronica toward my office door. “I guess we need to keep looking. Right now let’s go home and change clothes. Then we’ll go somewhere nice to celebrate our big step forward. And tomorrow we’re going to be sorting through all the junk that has accumulated in the house over the years and start getting rid of some things. It’s the only way for a fresh start, right, honey?”
Michael smiled broadly, but Veronica’s attempt seemed pulled by a puppeteer’s strings. “Text me day or night,” Michael said to me, holding up his phone. “I want to know when it’s official.”
They said good-bye, and I returned to my seat behind my desk, but Thomas lingered, looking uncomfortable. “There was something you wanted to see me about?”
He shoved his hands into his pants pockets and smiled shyly. “There is. It’s, um, about your sister.”
“Jayne?”
“Do you have more than one?”
“Not that I know of.” I smiled, trying to put him at ease. “What about Jayne?”
“You may or may not recall, but she and I stopped seeing each other because I thought the two of you shouldn’t go public with your . . . gifts. And then Anthony Longo came along and we’ve had trouble reconnecting since then. I, ah, still have feelings for her, and I sense that she reciprocates those feelings. But getting her to talk to me is like trying to get ahold of a greased pig at the county fair, you know?”
“Did you just compare my sister to a greased pig?”
He shook his head. “Sorry. It’s just an expression my sisters and I have used ever since they took me to the state fair and I tried to catch a squealing piglet. The piglet won.”