he knew her curiosity had been piqued also. “Can you tell us more about this particular picture? Where was it taken? Was anyone in the background?”
Pamela Larkins gave them a bewildered look, as if wondering why any of that mattered, but she answered anyway. “I remember we were at dinner at a restaurant in town, Shaggy’s. That’s the reason my grandmother wasn’t in the photo. She left for home right after graduation. The Evans’ had invited me to join them for Maria’s celebration dinner. It was so long ago, I don’t know if anyone was in the background or not. But I have a copy of that particular picture, if you’d like to see it.”
“That would be great,” Andrew said.
A few minutes later, Pamela returned and handed the photo to Toni. She and Andrew both looked at it. It was just as Pamela Larkins had said, Andrew thought. Both girls were wearing their caps and gowns, their diplomas in hand as they smiled brightly for the camera. The older couple, Morey and Constance Evans, were smiling brightly, as well. They were standing near a wall, and there wasn’t another soul in the background
“I feel like crying every time I see this photo,” Pamela Larkins said. Andrew could hear her voice breaking and figured it was time to leave.
“I can understand. I can see that you and Maria were happy that day,” Toni said. “I remember my own graduation and the photos taken.” She looked a little closer at the photo. “Wow! That is one gorgeous necklace Constance Evans is wearing. Simply breathtaking.”
Pamela smiled. “It is, isn’t it?
“I never saw anything like it before.”
“And you never will. It’s one of a kind, custom-made by the jeweler himself. Mr. Evans paid a lot for that necklace. He gave it as a wedding gift to Ms. Constance. She only wore it for special occasions, and she said our graduation was definitely one of them. That’s why Maria was so sad when it was stolen.”
Andrew glanced over at Pamela. “It was stolen?”
“Yes, during the home invasion that killed Maria’s mother and Mr. Evans. The robbers took off with a lot of stuff.”
Toni nodded. “Do you mind if I hang onto this photo for a while?” Toni asked.
Pamela frowned. “It’s my only copy. If anything were to happen to it...”
Andrew heard the panic in Pamela Larkins’s voice and was glad when Toni reassured her. “I will take good care of it, Pamela. I’ll make sure you get it back as soon as I can release it back to you.”
Pamela Larkins drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”
Once Andrew and Toni were back in the car, he turned to her and asked, “Are you wondering the same thing I am?”
She looked over at him. “How an expensive necklace once owned by Constance Evans, a necklace that was stolen six years ago during a home invasion with homicides is now a part of the Wizzin auction?”
Andrew nodded. “I suggest we grab lunch and then go pay Byron Nettles another visit.”
At that moment, a crackling sound came through on Andrew’s radio. He turned up the volume so Toni could hear, too. “Dispatch to Detectives Logan and Oliver. Do you copy?”
“This is Logan, we copy. What’s up, Joanie?”
“Officers at the scene of a one-car collision with one fatality. Helms and Duval Road. Driver of the vehicle was forced from the road and crashed into a tree. Driver dead on impact. Lieutenant McPherson advised that you be informed immediately.”
Andrew glanced over at Toni, then asked, “Have they ID’d the victim?”
“Male. Name of Byron Nettles.”
“SO, WHAT DO YOU think, Toni?”
She switched her gaze from all of the sticky notes on her desk to Drew. It was close to eight o’clock that night, and they were still at headquarters. Fred Tatters had been brought in for questioning regarding the death of Byron Nettles. Of course, he claimed innocence, but didn’t have an iron-clad alibi. He’d told them he’d been on his way to a business meeting on the other side of town. Traffic cameras of the intersections he would have passed through to get to his destination were being checked out to verify his story.
When Toni and Drew arrived at the crime scene, the skid marks and tire tracks indicated there had been a high-speed chase between two cars—Nettles’s vehicle and an unidentified one. Nettles lost control and hit a tree. Who had been the driver of the other car?
They’d had a chance to search Nettles’s house again today. His laptop