“So do I.” We hadn’t discussed it, but it was the right thing to do. These women were our best friends. In this little group, we shared everything.
“Tell us what?” Emily asked.
Jane sat up a little straighter and cleared her throat. “Shannon found a priceless antique necklace in Uncle Jesse’s basement. It’s made of gold and encrusted with diamonds and rubies and all sorts of other jewels.”
“Good heavens,” Marigold said.
“We believe he found it a few years ago,” Jane continued, “while scuba diving around the Glorious Maiden shipwreck.”
“We believe he showed it to a few people at first,” I said. “He was probably trying to get an estimate of the cost or maybe trying to sell it, but he kept it hidden after that.”
Jane glanced around. “We think it might’ve been the reason he was killed.”
I gasped. “Jane, no!”
“Oops.” Jane pressed her fingers to her lips.
Lizzie pounced. “Why ‘oops’? What’s the story? Come on, spill it.”
Jane winced, and shot a glance at me. “He didn’t say we couldn’t mention it was murder. Just, you know, the means by which it was done.”
I gave her a withering look, although, technically, she was right. We had only promised Eric we wouldn’t mention the fact that the investigators hadn’t found a prescription for sleeping pills inside Jesse’s house. Still, if he found out about this conversation, I had no doubt that Jane would escape unharmed while I would be thrown into that jail cell he’d threatened us with.
“Fine,” I said. “We think Jesse was murdered, but we’re not allowed to say how it might’ve been done. So I don’t want to hear this conversation repeated outside this room.”
Jane nodded, on board with me here. “Or he’ll kill us.”
“He’ll kill me,” I muttered, then glared at everyone seated around the table. “So all of you must promise not to say a word.”
I must’ve scared them with my intensity, because they all swore not to breathe a word of it to anyone. I gave them all a tight smile, took a sip of wine, and confessed, “And the necklace presents another problem. We weren’t going to tell you about it, because we were afraid that if word got out, Jane’s life would be in danger.”
“In danger?” Lizzie cried. “But why?”
“Because if someone was willing to kill Jesse to get it, they might think nothing of hurting Jane, too.”
A couple of tense seconds of silence passed before we seemed to take a collective deep breath.
“Jane,” Emily said, “you must give it to the police.”
“I will,” she said. “For now, it’s in a safe place.”
“Not on your premises, I hope.”
“No.” She stared at each one of us in turn. “Now, look, you’re all sworn to secrecy until after my grand opening.”
“Jane,” I said. “That’s—”
She held up her hand to silence me. “I know it’s selfish and silly of me, but I want my grand opening to be the focus of everyone’s attention for the next few days. Not the necklace.”
“I’m going to tell Eric,” I warned, knowing the penalty for holding out on the chief of police. “He’ll keep it quiet.”
Lizzie nodded. “And he can help protect Jane.”
And not imprison me, I thought. Besides, now that the girls knew, it was only a matter of time before the secret leaked out. It wouldn’t look good if Eric found out through another source.
“Why did you want to wait to tell everyone until after your opening?” Marigold asked.
Jane frowned. “Because if people start talking about the necklace, it’ll consume every conversation. And then they’ll inevitably talk about Jesse, too, and rumors will fly and I just don’t want my guests to show up and be confronted with gossip about a possible murder and burglary and . . . well, you know.”
Emily reached over and squeezed Jane’s arm. “You don’t want word to get out that murder has once again tainted our little town.”
I sighed, knowing that that was exactly the way the gossip would go.
“So, if it’s possible,” Jane pleaded, “can we please keep the news among the five of us for now?”
We all looked at Lizzie. She was the only one who was married, so of course she would tell Hal.
“I can keep a secret,” she insisted.
“If you want to tell Hal, go ahead,” Jane said, then gave me a worried look. “There’s no way we can contain it.”
“Your party is in two days,” I said. “We can all keep a secret for two days, can’t we?” I glanced around the table. “It’s important.”
“I promise we can,” Marigold asserted. “It’s not just Jane’s grand opening we’re concerned about, but her safety. For that, we can all keep our lips zipped. Yes?”
Emily extended her arm. “Promise.”
I did the same and grabbed her hand. “Promise.”
The others joined in. Once we were all holding hands, we raised our arms in the air and shouted, “Promise!”
“That was stirring,” Emily said, chuckling, as she reached for the wine bottle.
Jane smiled. “Just like cheerleader camp.”