Vanilla Musk saturated the air, compelling me to stick my finger inside the pillow and pull out whatever it was Adrienne needed me to see right then. A gold charm emerged, the hook that had once held it on a chain lying open, the word “THREE” in bold letters, the T sitting to the right of a manufactured jagged edge of gold.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t scream, or cry, or run, or do any of the things I needed to do. Because at that moment I had no doubt that if I matched the necklace to the one I’d given to Thomas, it would complete the charm: OMEGA CHI intersecting with OMEGA THREE. The name of Michael’s boat. And I knew without a doubt whom the necklace belonged to and why Adrienne had hidden it.
CHAPTER 33
Jack and Beau had already left by the time I made it outside, but Jack had called Thomas, and he, Jayne, and Veronica were waiting for me outside in Thomas’s car, the emergency light on the roof flashing at the same rate as my racing pulse.
I sat in the front seat, the gold charm hot against my palm. I held it up by the broken clasp, highlighting it with my phone’s light. “I found the missing half of the charm in Adrienne’s pillow.”
“What does it say?” Thomas asked, not risking a better look as he sped down darkened Charleston streets.
Jayne took the charm and held it up. “It reads ‘three.’?”
Thomas frowned. “So if we put the two pieces together, they’d spell—”
“Omega Three,” Veronica choked out. “That’s the name of Michael’s boat.”
I could see Thomas’s eyes narrowing as he filed through all the information we knew and reached the same conclusion as I had. “It’s Lauren Dempsey’s. It’s the necklace she was wearing in the photo her parents gave me.”
Jayne leaned forward from the backseat. “But why would it be in Adrienne’s pillow?”
I waited for Veronica to say it, unwilling to make her see the truth before she understood it herself.
“Adrienne put it there. She stitched it inside to keep anyone from finding it. Because she knew what it meant.” Veronica stopped, unable to continue.
“That Lauren and Michael were having an affair,” Jayne said gently. “He must have given it to her.”
“I can’t figure out why the two pieces would have been separated,” I said.
“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” Thomas said. “I think the chain had somehow broken and fallen off of Lauren’s neck and Adrienne found it. Maybe she returned part of the necklace to Lauren under the pretense that the remainder of the charm was lost so Lauren wouldn’t guess that Adrienne knew her secret.”
“Except Lauren somehow found out. Maybe she overheard Adrienne on the phone saying to me how she had something important to tell me. There was that public pay phone in Adrienne’s dorm. It would have been easy to overhear.” Veronica paused, and I could almost hear her mind racing, the wheels spinning as the cogs finally slipped into place. “But if Michael didn’t kill Adrienne, then . . .” She stopped, her realization temporarily stealing her voice.
“Lauren did.” Thomas’s voice was matter-of-fact, which was oddly reassuring. “Because she knew Adrienne was going to tell you about the affair. I believe that Lauren continued to wear the partial charm on the chain, but it got yanked off in the struggle with Adrienne in Adrienne’s dorm room. That’s why it was found with Adrienne’s belongings.”
“But how . . . ?” Veronica couldn’t say the words out loud.
More gently than before, Thomas said, “I think I figured out something else. Adrienne was killed by a blow to the head. Remember the missing sailing trophy? I bet that Lauren had taken it from her old boyfriend’s room—the sailing team captain—as a prank or just because she wanted it in her room. She may or may not have intended to kill Adrienne, but if they were arguing about Adrienne telling Veronica about the affair and there was a struggle, Lauren might have picked up the first thing she could find to subdue Adrienne. Unfortunately, she chose the trophy.”
“And when Michael found out that Lauren had killed Adrienne, he strangled her.” I touched my throat, remembering the press of icy hands. “He wanted to punish Lauren because he knew how much your sister meant to you.”
Veronica gave a choking laugh. “As if he cared enough to try to avenge my feelings.” She shook her head. “He . . . Michael travels a lot for work.” Veronica’s voice sounded stronger now, as if focusing on the details helped blur the truth of what her husband had done. “He could have sent those postcards in from Lauren.” Veronica paused. “They must have spent a lot of time in his fishing cabin and on the Omega Three, because of the necklace he gave her. Knowing him, he buried her body at sea so she wouldn’t be found.”
Thomas took a sharp turn onto Queen Street. I faced the backseat. “I’m sorry, Veronica.”
“Don’t be. There’s consolation in knowing that Adrienne can rest in peace now.” With a lifted chin, she added, “And in that we know who is responsible and can bring him to justice.” She didn’t say Michael’s name, but her words trembled with anger and hurt.
Thomas pulled up to the curb in front of Veronica’s house, shutting off the engine but leaving the lights on. “If he’s here, he’s either looking for the other half of the charm so he can destroy the evidence, or he’s packing. Or he’s already done both and is long gone.”
We scrambled out of the car. “Right now I just need to find Nola.”
I felt Thomas looking at me but didn’t meet his gaze. Because if I did, I’d have to acknowledge that Nola might be in the house with Michael, and if he felt threatened, I didn’t know what he might do.