“What time tomorrow, Patricia Anne?”

“Whenever you’re ready, Luke. And only if you feel like it. I talked to Betsy Mahall about the key and she said she’d be home all day.”

“Okay. Good night, y’all.”

“Good night,” Richard added.

“Did something happen today that I don’t know about?” I asked after they had gone upstairs. “Richard seems antsy.”

Virgil explained. “Virginia was in the car with Monk Crawford when they got to Pulaski. There was a receipt on the floor from a gas station not far from where he was found. Virginia had signed it. When he checked and showed them her picture, they remembered her.”

My arm clasped Fred’s leg.

“Which means?” Surely they didn’t believe Virginia had been involved in Monk’s death.

“We don’t know,” Virgil admitted. “All we know is that she was in Pulaski and that the guy she was with is dead.”

“Snakebit,” Fred said. His hand was on my head and I felt his fingers tighten. “Shit.”

And then what I knew was coming.

“I really don’t want you involved in this, Patricia Anne. It’s too dangerous. And you’re sure as hell not going to find Virginia. Not in Steele.”

“Which reminds me,” Virgil said. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a cameo on a long gold chain. “This was in Mrs. Nelson’s car, between the seats. I meant to give it to Mr. Nelson.”

“I don’t think that’s Virginia’s, Virgil. I’ll bet that’s the cameo that Betsy Mahall was looking for.”

I got up, took the cameo, and held it to the light. The profile of a beautiful young woman with her hair pulled back in an old-fashioned bun was carved into a pale pink oval of stone and surrounded by a quarter-inch rim of gold. It was old and exquisite.

“Do you remember Virginia having this?” I asked Sister.

“I don’t know anything about Virginia’s jewelry.” Sister reached over Virgil, took the cameo, and examined it. “This doesn’t look like her, though.” And to Virgil, “She’s the diamond tennis bracelet type.”

“It’s got to be Susan Crawford’s, Mary Alice. The one Betsy was asking about.”

“What about it?” Virgil wanted to know.

“She wondered if we’d seen a cameo when we found her sister’s body,” I explained. “She said that Susan wore it all the time, but they hadn’t given it to her when they gave her Susan’s effects.”

“Let me see that,” Fred said.

Mary Alice passed it over to him.

“My grandmother used to have one of these. Everybody’s grandmother did. Why don’t I just go ask Luke if it’s Virginia’s?”

“It’s not,” I said. I knew in my bones that this was the cameo that had belonged to Susan Crawford.