“So, you didn’t tell the police about this car?”
“No. I’d forgotten all about it until just now. Did they take anything?” Clarissa asked. “I called a locksmith today. They changed all of my locks, got double bolts and bars for my sliders. This used to be a such safe neighborhood.”
“Good idea,” Aubrey said. “Thank you for stopping by. I’ll tell Emma when she wakes that you were asking about her.”
“Oh, thank you. If you need anything, Aubrey, just ask. Anytime. You’re not staying here, are you? Mercy! What a mess. It’ll take weeks to clean this up.”
“No, I’m not staying here. Don’t worry about me.”
Clarissa patted her hand. “You take care now, dear.”
After the woman left, Aubrey sat down on the edge of the couch, staring at the room.
“That’s good information,” Jacob said. “We should give that to the detectives.”
Aubrey grabbed her wrist, trying to stop her hand from shaking. “What if I’d been here? Was he waiting for me to come home or waiting to see if I’d left already?”
The worry on Jacob’s face deepened.
She reached for the necklace at her throat that she absently twiddled when she was stressed. She gasped. “My necklace! It’s gone!”
“Your mom’s peace necklace?”
“Yes! Did I drop it somewhere?” She crawled around the floor, looking under the jumble of stuff there.
“You’re going to cut yourself on the broken glass.” Jacob pulled her to her feet. “I didn’t notice it before. I don’t think you were wearing it.”
“I always wear it.” She hurried to her bedroom to look through the tangle of jewelry spread across her bed. “It’s not here.”
She couldn’t think. It had belonged to her mother. One of the only things she’d left to her. It was a little nothing. A trinket. But it was special to her. And he was right. She never took it off.
Unless…
Unless she was getting a facial. Like she had two days ago.
Relief swamped her. “I must’ve taken it off at the spa. I must have left it there.” She rubbed her forehead. “I can’t even remember…”
He sat down beside her and rubbed her shoulders. “You’re tired, Aub. We’ll go there. We’ll find it.”
“No, wait. I…I didn’t take it off at the spa. I remember now—Emma drove me, dropped me off, remember? You picked me up.”
“And your necklace?”
“I took it off in Emma’s car.”
*
Emma and Connorstood at the entrance to the hospital, but she balked at going in. He turned a curious look on her. “What?”
“I can’t,” she said. “Don’t make me go back in there yet.”
“Why not?”
“I need to be in the air, not in there.” Trading the scents of Scottish Highlands for those of a hospital made her want to cry.
It had occurred to her, somewhere between that beautiful pile of ancient rocks in the Highlands and this asphalt-covered parking lot, that too much of her life had been wasted chasing something that she couldn’t even hold. What she had done for the past nine years—sell homes, dreams to other people—was all well and good, until you stood back to look at your own life.
All the times she’d said no to a chance, backed away from an opportunity for happiness. All the personal sacrifice she’d made. And for what? Money? Security? Being alone?
