asked, sipping my coffee.
"About Gia threatening to fire her agent?"
I shrugged. "I think it was a good diversion from answering our questions about why he'd argued with Gia."
"You caught that too, huh?" Ava nodded, blowing off her hot tea. "You know, I'm starting to wonder if maybe you weren't right last night."
"Right about?" I asked.
"About maybe Gia being the killer's target and not the necklace."
I sipped my coffee. While I had been the one to float that idea last night, it had been born out of trying to alleviate Ava's guilt rather than any real evidence. And in the light of day, I wasn't as sure it held much merit. "If that was the case, then why take the emerald?"
"I don't know. Maybe they just panicked? Grabbed it because it was there? Or maybe they took it to throw the police off. I mean, they're out there looking for a random thief, right? Not someone who might have had a grudge against Gia."
I nodded. "Actually, you're right," I agreed. "That would be a pretty effective misdirect."
"Exactly!" Ava said, some of the light I normally associated with my best friend returning to her eyes. "And, if Costello is telling the truth, Gia had heated arguments with two separate people before she died. Doesn't sound like she was very well liked."
"I think that's a fair assumption," I said, thinking of my one and only interaction with her. "If Costello is to be believed."
"Easy enough to find out." Ava set her teacup down and pulled her phone from her purse, swiping open a search engine.
"What are you doing?" I asked as she did some typing and more swiping.
"Calling Hughie Smart."
I paused, coffee cup midway to my mouth. "You're just going to call him up and ask if he murdered Gia?"
Ava gave me a playful get real look. "No! But I am going to casually ask if he possibly had a disagreement with her coincidentally right before she died." She set the phone on the table as it began to ring on the other end.
"Ava, I'm not sure this is a—"
But that was as far as I got before a voice answered, "Good morning. Smart Models, this is Kelly speaking. How may I direct your call?"
"Hughie Smart, please," Ava said in an upbeat tone. She shot me a smile.
"May I ask who is calling?"
"Uh, yes, this is"—Ava glanced my way again—"Ava Barnett, head of special promotional projects at Oak Valley Vineyards."
I set my coffee down on the table with a clang and shot her a look.
Ava did an innocent palms-up thing before forging ahead. "We're looking to hire a model for our latest social media campaign."
"I see. Well, I can certainly set something up for you to look over our talent list."
"Actually, I was hoping to discuss it with Mr. Smart directly," Ava told her.
"Oh, well, I'm afraid that Mr. Smart is out of the office at the moment."
Ava's face fell. "He is?"
"I'm sorry. May I take a message?" she asked.
"Uh, sure. Can you please have him call me as soon as he gets in?" she asked, rattling off her phone number to the woman.
"Of course. I'll give Mr. Smart the message as soon as he returns."
Ava thanked the woman and hung up, looking dejected. "So much for that."
I shook my head as our food arrived. "Special promotional projects, huh?"
She shrugged as she picked up her fork and stabbed a blistery tomato. "Hey, it's not like Oak Valley couldn't use the marketing."
She had me there.
* * *
After we'd fully gorged ourselves on the sweet, savory, and creamy frittata, I drove Ava to Silver Girl, where I helped her open up the shop and unload all of the jewelry the models had worn in the show, returning the pieces to her glass cases. While the square footage of the store itself wasn't vast, Ava made the most of the space she had, with several long L-shaped cases displaying her wares around the room, as well as hanging racks on the walls. I could feel her anxiety as we carefully placed all of the pieces that had been showcased on the runway back on display. Ava had worked hard over the past few years to grow her jewelry business from an online Etsy shop to a physical location in the heart of downtown, and I knew it would break her heart to lose it all.
I was just wondering how many of her smaller pieces she'd have to sell in order to recoup the loss of the