He chuckled but then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Would she have taken pictures of their friends?”
“Like Dr. Schuh and his wife? I don’t remember.” There were an awful lot of photographs in that box, she realized. “Do we have to go through them?”
He looked about as enthusiastic as she felt. “Maybe. Let’s set it aside for now. I’m hoping you can tell me who your parents’ friends were.” He frowned. “Although, I meant to ask. This Dr. Schuh and his wife. Have they stayed friends with your dad?”
She drew a complete blank. “I have no idea. I should, shouldn’t I? But…things were so unsettled after Mom vanished. Nothing would have been the same. And really, what social life they had would have been at Mom’s instigation. I mean, if the Schuhs invited him over for dinner, he’d have gone, but would it have occurred to him that he was supposed to reciprocate?” She couldn’t imagine. “I suspect most friends tried to be supportive and finally drifted away.”
“Yeah, it’s a little hard to picture—” He gave her a chagrined glance. “Sorry.”
“No, that’s okay.”
There were only a couple more boxes that she’d identified as probably Mom’s stuff. There might be others that Matt or Emily hadn’t mentioned—especially Emily, who might have thought she could spirit something away without either her sister or brother noticing. Heavens—she might very well have done that. They’d all gone back and forth so often, Beth wouldn’t have noticed Emily slipping out to her car.
Should she say something to Tony? She sneaked a look at him just as he set down the next box. He’d worn cargo pants today—the gloves had come out of a pocket on his right thigh—and a navy blue T-shirt. Seeing muscles flexing in his arms, she forgot why she’d looked at him in the first place. He wasn’t muscle-bound, like guys who spent too much time at the gym. He was…just right. Sexy.
And suddenly her face felt hot. Please don’t let him notice.
Of course, he said, “You okay?” His voice was a little raspier than usual.
She didn’t raise her gaze from the latest box. “I’m fine. You know, I forgot to plug in the fans. Are you getting hot?”
He cleared his throat. “Let’s hold off.”
How many million times had he said that?
Beth groaned when she saw the jewelry box. Tony lifted his eyebrows.
“I should have taken that home. It’s such a mess, though.” She raised the lid. “Everything is tangled up. Do you know how hard it is to unknot delicate chains?”
Tony poked at the top tray. “That’s a really big diamond.”
“If it is a diamond. I noticed it. I didn’t look to see if the other earring is there.”
“I don’t know. A couple of my sisters have diamond engagement rings. This looks real to me.” His dark eyes met hers. “You don’t sound as if you remember it. Them.”
“I…don’t.” Beth frowned. “I was only fifteen, though. And not girly.”
One side of his mouth twitched. “Right. You didn’t like pink, and you didn’t like jewelry?”
“I hated pink,” she said with more heat than she’d intended. “Jewelry… I like it okay now—” she touched a fingertip to the small gold post in one of her lobes “—but then, I was at an awkward age, and I sort of kept my head down and hoped not to be noticed.” Oh, good—tell him how pathetic you were. She added hastily, “I’m sure Mom never said anything about having diamond earrings, which you’d think she would have. If only to say something like Now remember, girls, these are worth quite a bit.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, “you’d think she would’ve.” He picked up the diamond—or fake diamond—stud and lifted it to the light. “Would she buy something like this on her own?”
“I don’t know,” Beth had to say, again. “Emily might have a better idea. Mom and I weren’t talking that much then.” Belatedly, it occurred to her that was a stupid thing to tell the police detective investigating her mom’s murder. Had he considered her a suspect? She’d been big enough to overpower her mother…