Page 12 of Family Jewels

“Me?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah.” He gave me a look that suggested I was naïve and then some. “My grandmother died a few years ago,” he said, “and since I’m the oldest grandchild, I got some of her jewelry.”

“What kind of jewelry are you talkin’ about?” Neely Kate asked. She’d pulled out a small, pink, glittery spiral-bound notebook and was taking notes with a sparkly pink pen with a pink pom-pom at the tip.

“A sapphire ring. A ruby pin.”

“Like a brooch?” Neely Kate asked.

He made a face and gestured to his chest. “The kind of thing you wear on your chest. It was shaped like an owl, and the eyes were rubies. There were a couple of necklaces too. One of those is missing.”

“Which one?” I asked. “What’s it look like?”

“Here’s the thing,” he said, leaning closer. “I thought the necklace was costume jewelry, so I didn’t think much of it.”

“So it’s gaudy?” I asked.

“Yeah. Some big stones—they look like diamonds, but I thought they were crystals. Anyway, I let my lady wear them and didn’t think much of it.”

“But then she kicked you out?” Neely Kate asked, narrowing her gaze. “Cause you were sleeping with Hilda Ratner.”

Raddy lifted his hands in defense and took a step backward. “Now, hold on a cotton-pickin’ minute. I wasn’t sleepin’ with Hilda.”

“No? Then how come you were seen coming out of a room with her at the Easy Breezy Motel?”

A sheepish grin twisted his mouth. “We weren’tsleepin’. . .”

“No kiddin’,” Neely Kate groaned, looking at her notepad. “So Rayna kicked you out and tossed your clothes in the yard and lit a big ol’ bonfire.”

“Well, there’s no need to get intothat. . .”

“And then you broke into the house two days later and took a chainsaw toherclothes.”

“An eye for an eye, the Good Book says.”

Neely Kate put a hand on her hip and gave him the stink eye. “And I’m pretty sure the Good Book says something about fornicatin’ and adultery too.”

He waved his hands. “Okay, okay. So I’ve made a mistake or two.”

“So Rayna’s holding your grandmother’s jewelry hostage?” I asked.

“When Rayna kicked me out, Momma went over and demanded Rayna give her all the jewelry.”

“And how’d that go?” I asked, pretty sure that accounted for domestic disturbance number three.

He grimaced. “Let’s just say that Momma and Rayna have never gotten along, so there was a bit of a disagreement. But Momma walked away with the jewelry. Well . . . everything but the one necklace.”

“I take it that it’s not costume jewelry after all,” I said.

“No. The stones in the necklace are white sapphires. It’s worth some big bucks.”

“Did Rayna know it was real?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No.Ididn’t find out until after Momma went to get it.”

“So ask Rayna to give it back to you,” I said. “Or ask for it in the divorce.”

He looked surprised. “We ain’t gettin’ divorced.”

---