I draw a deep breath. “If the blood turns out to be Ms. Robb’s, she was probably killed there in the basement, and the killer missed the blood under the table, and he may have missed the necklace too when he cleaned up. When Dr. Bradley went to return his tools, he dropped the box of nails. When he bent down to pick it up, he found the necklace, so I think either Dr. Bradley is the killer and needed to remove the necklace from the scene, or he’s not the killer, but knows about the missing woman because the sheriff called him when it happened last summer. He brings the necklace back to Graybridge and locks it in his filing cabinet. But then who killed him? They were obviously looking for something in the office. If it was the necklace, how did the perp know it was in there unless Dr. Bradley told him? One way or another, Dr. Bradley knew Ms. Robb was missing. He would’ve deduced that the necklace was probably hers. Either he killed her, or he knew who did and let the killer know he had the necklace in the office.”

Chase clears his throat. “If the doctor was innocent, why wouldn’t he call the police when he found the necklace?”

“Think. If the necklace was found inside his house, and he had guests there the night Annalise disappeared, who could the murderer be?”

I lean back in my chair, prop up my feet.

“Dr. Bradley,” I say, “didn’t call the police because he knew who the murderer was. It could only be someone who was in that house the night of July Fourth.”

Lauren’s mouth pops open. “It was one of his friends.”

I pick up a legal pad and list their names: Dr. Bradley, Mrs. Bradley, Elise Westmore, Scott Westmore, Cal Ferris, Laken Ferris, Josh Pearson, Kim Pearson, Hayes Branch, Alice Branch. “It all depends on the blood belonging to Ms. Robb, but if it does, I believe one of these people killed her.” I drop my pen and pad on the desk. “When Dr. Bradley found the necklace, he put two and two together. He probably didn’t see the blood. He would’ve had to get down on the floor and use a flashlight. Annalise was only missing at that point. I think he figured out one of his friends was involved, and when the doctor confronted him, he killed the doctor.” I take a deep breath. “Who can I eliminate?”

“Alice,” Lauren says.

I draw a line through her name. “Okay, it’s highly unlikely an eleven-year-old was involved in a double homicide. Anybody else?”

“It could be any one of them,” Chase says.

“No.” Lauren leans forward. “I don’t think it was any of the women. Women don’t usually kill women they don’t know. It’s highly unlikely that one of them killed and buried Ms. Robb.”