Secrets in a Still Life by Kari Ganske (mobi ebook reader .txt) 📕

and now hiking. I made a mental note to ice it when I got home. If I could find ice in my new place.

Colleen poked around in the grass and rocks. Then her head popped up suddenly. "I think I found it!"

"Don't touch it! Let me take a picture of it first. That way, in case it is Missy's, we will only be in a little bit of trouble from the police," I said. I limped over to Colleen and shot from several angles.

"We should have brought gloves," Colleen said in a hushed whisper as if we were superspies.

I replied in my normal voice. "For what?"

"There could be fingerprints on it! We don't want to contaminate the evidence when we touch it. 'Cause we're totally gonna touch it, right?"

I looked down at the locket. The smart thing to do would be to call the police. Of course, if this did turn out to belong to Missy, Chief Duncan would find it super suspicious that I was once again the one to find it. Definitely not a plus in the Alex is Innocent column.

On the other hand, if I didn't tell them about it and it did turn out to be evidence, that looked just as suspicious. Rock and a hard place. Again. I'd found myself in that particular spot too often for comfort lately.

"Find a stick," I said. "A pointy one."

"Are we going to poke at it?" Colleen asked with a chuckle. "People usually do that with dead bodies not jewelry."

I scowled at her. "If I can see the front, I could tell you if it belonged to Missy or not. Then we can decide if we're going to open it."

"Fine," Colleen conceded. She disappeared into the brush returning a moment later with a pointy stick. "Will this do?"

I took it from her and bent down to turn it over. But between the weight of the camera around my neck and trying to balance on one foot, I almost tipped face forward into the dirt.

"Let me do it," Colleen said. She took the stick and easily flicked the locket over. Not only was it Missy's locket—the engraved MVP on the front clearly visible—but the chain was also broken. I took several more pictures, making sure to get one of the clasp still locked tight.

"Of course, Missy would switch her initials so the moniker read MVP. Who else would be so vain?" Colleen asked.

"It's hers all right," I confirmed, still staring at the locket.

Missy was definitely wearing it when I saw her at the salon. Was it on her body when they found her in the woods? Only her leg was visible in the picture, so that didn't help. I closed my eyes to conjure the image of Missy's body on Sunday night as I swept the flashlight to her face. Thinking about it like a photograph helped me remember the details my mind tried desperately to forget. I pushed aside the blood and bruises to focus on Missy's neck. I was almost positive it was clear—no necklace. Which would make sense if it were in the grass when I took the shots by the reservoir.

I let out a breath. That was a futile exercise. Of course, Missy wasn't wearing it. Still, I'd found her body farther up the path and her necklace by the water—several feet away. Had it been broken in a struggle? Had someone tried to drag Missy up the path and given up? Had I interrupted their efforts?

That last thought sent a shiver down my spine. I could have been here at the same time as the murderer. Right after Missy was killed.

"Oh, for goodness' sake," Colleen cried when I had been silent for a while. She bent down and picked up the locket by its broken chain.

"Colleen! What are you doing? What about preserving evidence?" I cried, astonished at Colleen's impulsiveness.

"Whatever. I'm not even sure Piney Ridge has a fingerprint machine or however they do it. I swear I saw Chief Duncan photocopying someone's hand once."

I laughed. "Well, you might as well open it."

Colleen did. Inside was the picture I remembered from the salon. Two smiling kids that looked to be about elementary school age. They were pretty cute, now that I could focus since it wasn't held right under my nose. I could see the resemblance to Missy, especially with her daughter. The other side did not hold a picture of Mike Vandenburg like I originally assumed. Instead, Missy's little sister, Jodie, smiled back at me.

"I'd have thought the other side would be her husband," I mused.

"No kidding. I mean I love my siblings, but I don't feel the need to wear their picture around my neck," Colleen said. I could relate. I'd even lost a sibling, and although I have a faded picture of us together in my wallet, I don't carry one on my body.

"Wait a minute. This has to mean trouble in paradise," I said, excited again. "Missy must've known about the affairs or, at the very least, was unhappy in the marriage. Why else wouldn't she have her husband's picture in a heart-shaped locket?"

"Totally," Colleen agreed. "I mean, if they were both cheating, they couldn't have had a happy marriage, right?"

"Exactly. I think this puts Mike back on the top of the list. Put the locket in my camera bag for safekeeping. I don't want to touch it. The less my fingerprints show up on things, the better."

"So it's okay for my fingerprints to be on evidence?" Colleen asked.

"You're the one who picked it up! I didn't tell you to do that," I reminded her.

Colleen tucked the locket into the side pocket of the bag, then turned in a slow circle to survey the area. "Where did you find Missy?"

I pointed up the path. "In the brush there. A