The woman behind the table was middle-aged and tired-looking, sorting through a chipped china set.
“Where did you get these?” I asked. My voice didn’t sound like mine.
She glanced up and shrugged. “Those came in a box of estate things a couple of weeks ago. Don’t know whose exactly. My son does the pickups.”
“Please,” I whispered. “I need them.”
The woman named a price. I didn’t even count the bills.
My hands shook so badly I almost dropped them.
I drove home with those earrings pressed against my palm so tightly that they left marks.
When I walked into the kitchen, Rick was pouring coffee.
My husband turned pale, then red, when he saw them. Then he set his mug down on the counter, slowly and carefully, though I could see the tremor in his hand.
“Why would you bring those into this house?!” he shouted.
I froze.
“Because they were Hannah’s!”
He looked at them for a long moment. Then he shook his head.
“Those aren’t hers, Marlene,” he said, his voice flat. “Lots of jewelers make piano earrings. It’s a common design.”
“Common?” I said. “You designed them yourself!”
My husband suddenly grabbed the edge of the kitchen counter so hard that his knuckles looked like bone.
“Throw them away! Hannah is dead!”
I couldn’t understand because Hannah was missing, not dead.
Rick wouldn’t quite meet my eyes.
I slept in the guest room that night. I cried until morning, holding those earrings against my collarbone the way I used to hold my daughter when she was small.
Sometime before dawn, I finally drifted off.
A knock woke me up.
I pulled on my robe and opened the front door. Two officers stood on the porch, badges out, their faces careful.
“Mrs. Rhodes?” one of them asked.
My heart climbed into my throat.
“Yes?”
The same officer glanced over my shoulder. I turned. Rick was standing barefoot in the hallway, still wearing his old robe.
“Ma’am, we need to speak with both of you,” the officer said. “We have significant new information about Hannah. This is about the earrings you found yesterday.”
My breath caught in my throat.
“You found Hannah?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, his eyes stayed on my husband.
