The sight of the earring had shocked me. For a moment, I had seen it dangling again against Millicent’s shoulders. And now I was suddenly angry at the woman sitting before me for withholding this important evidence. Highway 98 is heavily traveled. If Millicent were forced from the office, surely someone would have noticed something amiss, something they might have passed off as inconsequential unless they knew what had happened.

“What should I do?” she asked the towel.

“You know what you have to do,” I said calmly, pushing back my chair. I started toward the door, but anger got the better of me. I turned. “Call Major Bissell at the Florida Marine Patrol right now, Lolita! If you don’t, I will!”

So there!

I nearly ran over a woman who was coming into the kitchen with some dirty plates.

It was easy to spot the supernovas. Sister was bending over brushing at her shoe with a paper napkin. I grabbed her by the arm. “You’re not going to believe this.”

“Believe what?” She didn’t look up.

“We’ve got to find a bathroom or somewhere we can talk.”

“What about?”

“Just follow me.”

“Why? Berry and Fairchild have just come in.”

“Okay, suit yourself. But I just found out something very important about Millicent’s murder.”

“There’s a bathroom right down the hall.” Sister led the way.

“Okay,” I said, perched on the side of the tub, “you remember Lolita? The saleswoman in the Blue Bay Ranch office?”

“Sure. She has green hair.” Sister looked in the mirror. “Lord, I hope it’s the fluorescent light making me look like this.”

“Well, listen,” I said, and told her what had happened in the kitchen.

“She’s got the earring in her purse now?” Sister sat down on the toilet and frowned. “How come she told you?”

“Because she was desperate to tell someone. Maybe I look like the type of person who would know what to do.”

“Hmmm. And you told her to call Major Bissell?”

“I told her if she didn’t, I would.”

“Do you think she will?”

Somebody knocked on the door. “Just a minute!” Sister called.

“She has to,” I said. “If Millicent was abducted from the Blue Bay office, there could be fingerprints. Or somebody could have seen them leaving.”

Sister gazed up at the ceiling, which was papered in a Laura Ashley print, small pink flowers that coordinated with bouquets of the same flower on the wall. Definitely not a bachelor’s choice. Whose? Emily’s? Millicent’s?

“What are you doing?” I asked finally.

“Thinking.” She propped her feet on the tub. “Millicent didn’t go to the grocery for tomato juice. She came here to Blue Bay to meet her lover.”

“You don’t meet your lover early in the morning. God forbid.”

Sister continued as if I hadn’t said a word. “She met her lover in the office and they had a quarrel.”