Page 152 of Passions in Death
Eve cast her mind back to the search the morning after the murder.
“A small red box, hinged lid. A few pieces of jewelry inside.”
“Yes, that’s right. High school stuff. Nothing I’ve worn since, really, but—”
“Sentimental,” Peabody finished after exchanging a look over Shauna’s head with Eve.
“Yeah.” She pushed through the other items in the drawer.
Gym clothes, Eve remembered, old sweats, and things you’d wear if you expected to get sweaty or dirty.
“I must’ve moved it. It’s just a few things Greg gave me back in our day. A sweet little ring, some earrings, a necklace. Birthdays, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, that kind of thing.”
She rose. “I must’ve put them somewhere else. Maybe the closet.”
“No, you didn’t. I saw them in that drawer the day after the murder.”
“I don’t understand.” Shauna went to the closet anyway. Rose on her toes to look at the top shelf. “I don’t know why Becca would’ve moved…”
Trailing off, she turned. Color poured into her face. “You think Becca—that’s ridiculous, and it’s awful. She would never, never hurt Erin. Plus, for fuck’s sake, she was onstage with me when… when it happened.”
“Tell me who knew where you kept those pieces?”
“Well, I…” She ran a hand over her hair. “I guess everybody could have. I bought the little box years ago, because sentimental. I probably said how I liked looking at them once in a while and remembering those days. I know I said Erin didn’t mind and I remember how Jon had. A lot. It was one of the reasons I knew we didn’t fit.”
As she spoke, she opened more drawers, pawed through.
“They’re not worth anything, not really, to anyone but me.”
“Peabody. Reo.”
“On that.” Peabody stepped out.
Her face set now, and with some color back in her cheeks, Shauna turned to Eve.
“You knew something would be missing, and there is. But I don’t understand why.”
“Shauna, I’m going to ask you some questions, but before I do, I need to trust you. Whatever we say here stays here. You can’t and won’t contact anyone, speak to anyone about what we say here.”
Those blue eyes went hot, went sharp. “You know who killed her. You know.” She gestured toward the bed in a gesture as hot and sharp as her eyes. “We slept there together. We didn’t just have sex, we slept there, woke there, laughed there, made plans there. On Saturday, we’d have put on the white dresses we bought together, hung in that closet, and we’d have made promises to each other.
“You can trust me, Lieutenant, to not do anything, anything that will stop you from locking up whoever took her from me.”
“I believe you. How did Greg react when you started dating Erin?”
Some of the fresh color faded from her cheeks. “You can’t possibly—”
“He gave you those pieces,” Eve pointed out. “He knew you kept them, correct?”
“Yes. Yes. I—I told him, God, I can’t remember when, that I kept Shaunbar in a pretty red box in my bottom drawer. He—he thought it was sweet.”
“And when you and Erin started dating, what did he think?”
She reached behind her until she felt the foot of the bed, then slowly sat. “He was surprised, and maybe a little… I don’t know, disappointed? You have to understand, his family is very set. Man, woman, husband, wife.” She chopped a hand in the air at each word. “They’re not mean about it, just set. So he was surprised and maybe disappointed. But—”
“Angry.”
Shauna rubbed a hand between her breasts. “I guess, a little. It was more like ‘What the hell,’ you know? He thought—at first, he thought—she was a kind of bad influence. I can’t remember exactly what he said, but we had a little fight about it.”
