“I don’t know.” She had lowered her voice. “She appeared nice, but she was very serious.” Her eyes watered. “If she would have been Bea’s friend, I might have felt differently. But Adrianna didn’t have friends like her. She liked her friends like herself—freewheeling. Also I felt that she was…disapproving of my daughter.”

“If so, why do you think they became friends?”

“This is going to sound terrible…and it’s based on nothing…”

“Go ahead,” Decker said. “I like conjecture.”

“I sensed that Mandy liked Adrianna because she could feel superior to her, like mentoring her through nursing school. And she did help her. But once Adrianna stopped being…dependent on Mandy, I think Mandy became bitter.”

“Was it you who told me that Mandy introduced Garth to Adrianna?”

“I think so.” Kathy paused. “Maybe that’s why Mandy was bitter. Maybe Mandy liked Garth. In any case, Mandy was certainly not like Adrianna’s other friends.”

“Not like Crystal Larabee, for instance?”

“Poor Crystal.” Tears raced down Kathy’s cheeks. “Her mother is coming in this afternoon. I’ve invited Pandy to stay with us until both of the girls…”—sobs now—“are laid to rest.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

Kathy dried her eyes with a tissue. “Are you coming to the memorial service?”

“When is it?”

“Tomorrow at eleven.”

The date was not only on Shabbat, but was the first weekend in years when his entire family would be together. He said, “Of course.”

“That would be nice.” Another swipe at her eyes. It didn’t little to stanch the flow. Her eyes focused on the gold pieces. “What exactly should I do?”

“We found these in Chuck Tinsley’s apartment. He claims the pieces belonged to his late mother. I’d like you to tell me if any of the items might have belonged to Adrianna. If you need to touch anything, I’ll give you some latex gloves.”

She studied the pieces with her hands in her lap. “These are all yellow gold. Adrianna never wore yellow gold. She thought yellow gold was very old ladyish.”

Decker noticed the yellow gold chain around Kathy Blanc’s neck. “So…as far as you know, none of these items is Adrianna’s.”

“As far as I know, that is correct. I don’t know all of her jewelry, but these pieces aren’t her style. Maybe my style, but not hers.”

“That helps a lot. Thanks so much for coming down.” He studied the jewelry for a few moments more than he should have. Something was catching in his brain.

Kathy said, “Would it have helped your case against Tinsley if I would have identified one of the pieces as Adrianna’s?”

“Of course. It would have helped the case immensely.”

“And you would have arrested him?”

“Probably.”