A ray of sun came through the grimy windows and hit the emerald ring. It seemed to wink at them as though to say, “Glad to meet you.”
Sara, who was experienced in imagining how things were done, knew that someone had sawed open the skull, removed the brain, filled the cavity with jewelry, then... What? Glued it all back together? “I think I’ll sit down,” she said.
“Me too.” Kate and her aunt sat close together on the nearby window seat.
“Are those jewels from...?” Sara asked her brother.
“Yes,” he said. “I recognize those pieces. They were owned by Mrs. Oliver. It’s not all of them, but some.”
Jack hadn’t stopped staring at the skull. “What’s that?” He was pointing to a fuzzy bit of fabric that appeared to have eyes.
Randal looked at it in astonishment. “I think that’s what’s left of Kate’s hedgehog.” He turned to her. “Remember it? When you lost it, you were crying so hard. Lea was rocking you.” He looked at his sister.
“It’s the one I gave her?” Sara asked softly.
Randal nodded.
Jack spoke up. “I think the jewels were inside it. Could it have fit in a brain cavity?”
“I don’t know from personal experience,” Randal said quickly, “but I think so.”
“So someone put jewels in Kate’s stuffed animal, then...” Jack said.
“Then shoved it into Derek Oliver’s skull,” Randal said.
“After sawing it in half.” Jack glanced at the toolbox.
“And after removing the brain,” Sara added. “It, uh, took up space so it had to go.” She was swallowing hard.
The men were standing in front of the women on the window seat. No one wanted to look back at what was on the floor.
“Who’s going to call Sheriff Flynn?” Kate asked.
“Jack,” Sara said. “He’s the alpha male. He should do it.”
“In normal circumstances,” Randal said, “I’d resent that, but in this case I don’t even want to be a beta male. D minus is my speed.”
“Speaking of alpha,” Jack said, “who is Uncle Roy?”
“Your father,” Randal said.
“He was here?”
“Yes.” Randal’s tone told that he was tired of defending his friend. “Often. Your father wasn’t always in a tavern starting fights.”
“My mother wouldn’t agree with that. She divorced him because—”
“Hey!” Sara said. “Let’s stay on track. Who is going to call Sheriff Flynn?”
They were silent for a moment, then all heads turned toward Kate.
“Why me?” she asked in a whine.
“Because he adores you,” Randal said. Sara and Jack nodded in agreement.
Kate sighed. “Okay, but who is going to tell Billy that we found a skeleton in his house? And that he is a suspect for murder?”
“We don’t know when this happened,” Randal said. He’d had a lifetime of false accusations—and some not false.
