“So . . . what brings you to town?” Maybe she needed money. Of course, Celeste would help in any way she could. Looking at her sister’s daughter, she felt overwhelmed with guilt for not reaching out herself all these years. It’s not that she hadn’t thought about it—she had. Many times. And Jack had encouraged her. But something held her back, and it wasn’t just her father’s warning that the Maybrooks could make trouble for their family if any of them contacted Gemma. Once her niece became a legal adult, she knew that wasn’t really a threat. The truth was, if she reached out to Gemma, it would mean dealing with all the messiness and heartache she’d tried to forget about.

“I need to speak with you,” Gemma said.

“Are you in trouble?” She would help the girl. Of course she would.

“What? No,” she said, crossing her arms. “I just graduated from college. I’m a jewelry designer.”

A jewelry designer. Interesting that Gemma, raised away from the Pavlins, had grown up to be the first designer in their family since Celeste’s great-grandfather Isaac. Her father and grandfather had been businesspeople who hired design talent. Personally, Celeste couldn’t draw so much as a stick figure, and neither of her sisters had been particularly artistic.

“Congratulations,” Celeste said. An uncomfortable silence settled between them. There was so much to say that it made saying anything difficult. She felt she should apologize for not being in touch. Was that what her niece had come for? An explanation?

“I actually wanted to talk to you about the Pavlin Private Collection,” Gemma said. “A specific piece. My mother’s engagement ring.”

Celeste blanched. She thought she’d heard the last of that thing ages ago. And good riddance.

“Why?”

“Well, it’s my understanding that my mother left it to me,” Gemma said, looking uncomfortable. “It’s what I was told when I was young. I’m not—it’s not about the money. It’s just hugely sentimental to me.”

She seemed so earnest; Celeste wished that she could help her. But she hadn’t seen the ring since the last day she saw Paulina alive. And couldn’t imagine why her niece thought otherwise.

“Gemma, I think you need to talk to my sister Elodie. I have nothing to do with the company or any of the jewels.”

Gemma looked bewildered. “But Elodie told me that I should talk to you.”

Now Celeste was confused. “You’ve been in touch with Elodie?”

Gemma nodded, and out came a halting story about a party at Pavlin & Co, the ring not being on display, and Elodie accusing her of being a gold digger. “But then she called and told me you might know where to find it. That I should come out here.”

Elodie. What on earth was she up to, sending Gemma to the Cape on a wild-goose chase?

Her phone rang.