“What are you two going on about?” Lana asked.
Ignoring her, I looked at Mina. “It’s the same, isn’t it?”
“It sure looks like it. We need to call Ozzie.” Spinning on her heel, Mina walked over to the couch to get her phone from her purse.
“Who?” Dad asked. “Why do you two look like you’ve seen a ghost?”
Realizing we owed my family some sort of explanation for our weird behavior, I turned the album around while Mina called. “See these earrings Miranda’s wearing?”
Dad squinted at the picture. “So? They’re just earrings.”
“We found one in the rubble during renovations at the antique store. It was behind the cabinets in the back room.”
“He’s not answering,” Mina said.
I glanced over to see her tap the screen, then lift it to her ear again, probably calling Claire. I turned back to Dad. “Do you know why her earring would be in the back room of the antique store?”
He let out an inelegant snort. “Why would I know how it got there? You said yourself she was the owner’s realtor. Maybe that’s how it got there.”
“If it had just been lying on the floor, I might agree with you, but this wasbehindthe countertop, wedged between it and the wall. It fell to the floor when we pulled the cabinet base away. I doubt she was peering into the crack and lost her earring. Did she know Walter Shuman before she listed his property?”
“I don’t know. Like I said, I didn’t spend much time with her. Just when she was with Tommy, and we were all together. They didn’t date long. Just the tail end of our senior year and then that summer. She dumped him when she went off to college.”
“Claire didn’t answer, either.” Mina tossed her phone back into her purse. “They must be out of cell range.”
“We can try again later,” I said. “Dad, can we take this picture?”
“Sure. Just bring it back. I like that one, despite her being in it.”
Balancing the book on my arm, I peeled back the acetate and carefully lifted the photo from the tabs holding it in place. “I’ll be careful with it.”
“I still don’t understand why it’s such a big deal to you. That earring could have ended up there any number of ways.” Dad took the book back when I held it out to him.
I shared a look with Mina, considering how much to share. Ozzie hadn’t forbidden us from talking about the case with others. He hadn’t wanted the bit about the earring to get out, but that couldn’t be helped in this case. “Miranda is involved in some shady real estate deals from the time Moira died,” I said. “This puts her at the scene where Moira’s body was. Maybe not at the same time, but it puts her at the location at some point. It’s just really coincidental.”
“That’s… disturbing.” Dad’s brows twitched into a quick frown. “She was always a little on the type A side and a bit manipulative, but I never got psycho vibes from her.”
“Like I said, it could all be coincidence.” I passed the picture to Mina, who tucked it into a pocket of her handbag. “We’ll let Ozzie sort it out.”
I shared another glance with Mina, having no trouble reading her expression. It said Ozzie was going to hate us for interrupting his time off. Although considering the timing, if we didn’t reach him until tonight or tomorrow, it would be Monday before he could investigate the lead anyway.
Maybe Ozzie and Claire’s weekend wouldn’t be a bust after all.
