“So it could still be anyone,” said George, looking frustrated.

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I think I know who it is. And it was something Bess said that first made me suspicious of this person.”

“Me?” said Bess. “What did I say?”

“Remember last night, when we were in the museum and you and I were looking at that photograph of a bird about to take flight?”

Bess nodded.

“You told me that Lucas said that photograph was a moment of pure luck,” I continued. “I suppose he could have just read that somewhere, but I couldn’t help but wonder if he had learned it somewhere else. And then, while you were both sleeping, I looked at that old photograph of Terry Lawrence and Christopher DeSantos. The one you found, George, before their big falling-out. And look…”

I pulled out my phone and quickly found the image I was talking about. I once again zoomed in as much as possible on Terry Lawrence and his triangle-shaped earring.

“Look familiar?” I asked them.

At first Bess just shook her head. George looked similarly stumped by my question. But then Bess’s jaw dropped open and she said, “His earring is a shark tooth!”

I smiled at her. “Exactly,” I said.

“A shark tooth?” asked George, grabbing my phone and bringing it as close to her face as she could manage. “What does that mean? What am I missing here?”

“Not just any shark tooth,” I said. “It’s one we’ve all seen before. Because now, Lucas wears it as a necklace.”

George looked up, eyes wide, from where she was staring at my phone.

“When I visited Beverly DeSantos,” I continued, “she told me that she keeps trinkets from her grandfather in order to feel closer to him. What if Lucas does the same thing?”

“Because Lucas is Terry Lawrence’s grandson?” asked Bess tentatively.

I nodded, glad that my friends were thinking along the same lines that I was. “Remember that obituary we read for Terry Lawrence?” I said. “It said he had three grandchildren.”

“Lucas, Grace, and Jacob,” said George slowly. “You’re saying that they planned this whole thing together because they’re Terry Lawrence’s grandchildren?”

“I think so,” I said. “Emily told us that Jacob said he could pay her once this was all over, with the money he would get from someone’s will. Maybe there was something in Terry Lawrence’s will about keeping the idea of the curse alive.”

“Plus,” said Bess, “Lucas was the only one here in town who immediately knew who you were, Nancy. He said that he’d read about you solving cases before. So he probably knew that you were here to solve this case from the moment he saw you. It could explain why he was so eager to be friends with us.”

I hadn’t thought about that. I looked at Bess and hoped this information didn’t hurt her feelings, since she was closer to Lucas than either me or George. She didn’t look upset, though. She looked a little surprised by all this new information, but more than anything she looked pleased to have some answers and to have helped solve a piece of this mystery.