just to feel what he wore that last night. So they let me sit at a table and go through them, and, Sheriff, that shell necklace wasn’t there. I asked the coroner if he had taken it off, and he said no, he had not. He said he never saw any necklace at all.”
“That’s very curious,” Ed said. “What was it strung with? Maybe it came off when he fell.”
“It was a single shell hung on a piece of rawhide that was just long enough to go over his head. It wasn’t loose and was tied in a knot. I just don’t see how it could’ve flung off.”
“I agree. Rawhide’s tough and makes a mean knot,” Ed said. “Why did he wear it all the time? Did somebody special make it for him? Give it to him?”
Patti Love sat silent, looking off to the side of the sheriff’s desk. She dreaded saying more because she’d never admitted that her son had been involved with marsh trash. Of course, there had been village rumors that Chase and the Marsh Girl had been involved for more than a year before his marriage. And Patti Love suspected even after, but when friends had asked about the stories, she’d always denied them. But now it was different. Now she had to speak out because she just knew that wench had something to do with his death.
“Yes, I know who made the necklace for Chase. It was that woman who boats around in that old rattletrap boat; has for years. She made it and gave it to him when they were seeing each other for a while.”
“You talking about the Marsh Girl?” the sheriff asked.
Joe spoke up. “You seen her lately? She’s not a girl anymore, probably mid-twenties and a real looker.”
“The Clark woman? Just trying to be clear,” Ed asked. Brows bunched.
Patti Love said, “I don’t know her name. Or even if she has one. People do call her the Marsh Girl. You know, she sold mussels to Jumpin’ for years.”
“Right. We’re talking about the same person. Go ahead.”
“Well, I was shocked when the coroner said Chase didn’t have on the necklace. And then it occurred to me that she’s the only one who’d have any interest in taking it. Chase had broken off their relationship and married Pearl. She couldn’t have him, so maybe she killed him and took the necklace from his neck.”
Patti Love trembled slightly, then caught her breath.
“I see. Well, this is very important, Patti Love, and worth pursuing. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Ed said. “You’re sure she gave it to him?”
“Yes, I’m sure. I know because Chase didn’t want to tell me, but he finally did.”
“Do you know anything else about the necklace or their relationship?”
“Not much at all. I don’t even know for sure how long they saw each other. Probably nobody does. He was very sneaky about it. Like I said, he didn’t tell me for months. Then after he told me, I never knew whether he was going out in his boat with his other friends or with her.”
“Well, we’ll look into it. I promise you that.”
“Thank you. I’m sure this is a clue.” She rose to leave, and Ed opened the door for her.
“Come back anytime you want to talk, Patti Love.”
“Bye, Ed, Joe.”
* * *
• • •
AFTER CLOSING THE DOOR, Ed sat again, and Joe asked, “Well, what d’ya think?”
“If somebody took the necklace off Chase at the tower, that would at least put them at the scene, and I can see somebody from the marsh being involved in this thing. They got their own laws. But I just don’t know if a woman could’ve pushed a big guy like Chase through that hole.”
“She coulda lured him up there, opened the grate before he got there, then when he came toward her in the dark, she coulda pushed him in before he even saw her,” Joe said.
“Seems possible. Not easy, but possible. It’s not much of a lead. The absence of a shell necklace,” the sheriff said.
“At this point it’s our only lead. ’Cept for the absence of prints and some mysterious red fibers.”
“Right.”
“But what I can’t figure,” Joe said, “is why she’d bother to take the necklace off him? Okay, as the woman wronged, she was hell-bent on killin’ him. Even that’s a stretch for motive, but why take the necklace when it could connect her smack-dab to the crime?”
“You know how it is. Seems like there’s something in every