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“No! And it wouldn’t be any of your business if he had,” I said. “Now why are you calling?”
“I’m on my way over to Yesterday’s Treasures and Dad wants you to meet me there. He wants you to describe the pin to Kate and see if she can tell us anything about it while I take notes.”
“Why didn’t Dad call?” I asked, wondering if this was a ploy for him to talk with Kate.
My cell dinged just as Josh said, “Didn’t Dad text you?”
“He just did,” I said, reading his text asking more politely than Josh if I’d do him a favor. I sent my dad a quick text letting him know I was leaving now. “I’ll meet you there,” I told Josh and hung up.
I got another text as I was getting my jacket on.
Take your SUV.
I texted my dad back. I planned to.
I had to smile when my dad sent me a thumbs up emoji.
My SUV had four-wheel drive and would handle better in the snow and the snow was falling pretty steady and heavily. No wonder my dad sent the text.
I was getting close to town when my cell rang. It was easy to answer since my SUV had Bluetooth.
“What’s wrong, Pep? Josh says you were crying,” Ian said right after I answered.
“Did he blame you?” I asked, ready to kill my brother.
“No, though he may have wanted to see how I’d respond.”
“And how did you?”
“I was upset to hear you were in tears. Now please tell me what happened.”
I heard his worry and gave him a rushed rendition of what happened and finished with, “I was not in tears. I got teary-eyed afterward and sniffled back unshed tears just as I answered the phone. Leave it to Josh to exaggerate the situation.”
“He’s your brother and worries about you.”
“He’s nosy and interferes in my life as do my other two brothers. I just hope they don’t chase you away.”
“You forget I’m a mighty Highlander, lass. Your brothers dinnae frighten me.”
I grinned as I parked near Yesterday’s Treasures. I had myself a real-life romance hero and a sexy Scottish one at that.
Josh was already inside, his squad car parked in front of the shop. I wanted to snap at him for calling Ian, but not in front of Kate, who seemed engrossed in conversation with him, and they both had twinkles of interest in their eyes and not due to the conversation.
“Hey, Pep. I explained the situation to Kate and she’s only too glad to help out.”
“I am,” Kate said eagerly. “Detail the pin as best you can, and I’ll see what I can do. I started collecting vintage costume jewelry when I was about twelve. After a while I spread out to more collectible items until I knew I had to open a shop to deal with my collectible obsession.” She laughed.
I grinned seeing the twinkle in my brother’s eye ignite into a spark. I was definitely going to have fun with this.
“There’s a room that’s closed off right now. I have plans to turn it into the vintage jewelry room.” Kate shook her head. “I’m going on and on which is easy for me to do when I talk about vintage collectibles. Please, Pepper, tell me about the pin.”
“Unfortunately, it was caked in a good amount of dirt, but from what I could tell it was similar to the pin I bought from you for Amy, faux gold, pearls, and amber, only this one was round-shaped.”
“It was a style of pin sold at the popular jewelry house parties in the 1950s. My grandmother had one like you described or so my mother told me,” Kate said.
I recalled Kate saying she had family in the area when we first met. “Did you inherit it?”
“My mother inherited my grandmother’s jewelry and quickly gave it to me, to my relief. She had some gorgeous pieces. Unfortunately, the pin wasn’t with them. My mom’s older sister, Deanna, liked wearing it. Deanna ran away every now and then, but usually came home after a few days… one time she didn’t.”
My antenna went up. “Sorry to hear that, Kate. Would you happen to know the date of when she ran away and never returned home?”
“Let me think.” Kate scrunched her face as if calculating the time in her head. “From what I can recall, my grandfather moved the family away about three years later which would put her disappearance somewhere in the mid-eighties.”
I glanced at Josh to see if he thought what I did. His question to Kate answered it for me.
“Would you be willing to give us a DNA sample?”
“Whatever fo—” Kate gasped. “Oh, my goodness. I should have realized it. The female bones, the time frame, the pin. The bones you found could be my aunt.” She shook her head. “Which means she didn’t run away all those years ago. She was murdered.”
