Page 103 of Hell Hath No Fury

“So we’re all good.” She turned toward him. “We are,right?”

“We’re fine. Like I said, Fergusson’s fishing, but we’re not taking his bait.” Matthias brushed aside his thoughts of proving their whereabouts for the night and settled on the next big question. “I was all but certain that Winslow killed Jones.”

Emma appeared to think about it. “He still might have. Either way, who killed Winslow?”

“That’s exactly what I want to know.” And what he intended to find out.

ChapterThirty-One

Once the conversation lagged, Emma went back to inspecting the items she’d retrieved from under her seat. The sky was much brighter, the sun nearly up, making it easier to see the odds and ends. A skeleton key. A hoof pick. Emma rolled it over in her hand, remembering cleaning out their horses’ feet. She set it down and picked up the silver ring.

She gave it a closer look. Initially she’d believed it was a cheap piece of junk jewelry, but on closer inspection, she reconsidered. She buffed it with her thumb. “Huh.”

“What is it?” Matthias asked.

“I’m not sure yet.” Emma held it up to the window to catch some of the dawn’s light. Words were scratched on the inside of the ring, but she couldn’t quite make them out. She twisted and reached into the rear seat, coming back with her purse.

She rummaged through the handbag for the packet of wet wipes she kept to clean off sticky restaurant tables, a habit she’d picked up from her mother. After ripping one open, she used the towelette to scrub the silver band inside and out. She squinted at the words, still unable to read them. After tossing the purse intothe backseat again, she retrieved her phone from her pocket and turned on the flashlight. Using its beam, she scrutinized the inscription, which was now clearly visible. Emma let out a long, “Ohhhh…”

“You’re making me crazy,” Matthias snapped. “What is it?”

“I thought it was a piece of junk jewelry or maybe a silver ring, but the closer I look, the more convinced I am that it’s platinum. And,” she said, glancing at him, “it’s engraved.”

“What’s it say?”

Emma aimed the phone’s flashlight on the inside of the band, turning the ring as she read. “From Sonny, with love.”

Matthias echoed the inscription back to her, and she could tell his mind was racing, same as hers. “Whose ring is it?” he asked.

“Doesn’t say. I can’t see anything else written on it, but I’d love to take a look under magnification.”

“So would I.”

“I mean, you’d think it was Ashley’s, but what on earth was it doing on my farm?”

He appeared to consider the possibility. “Maybe Fran was metal detecting on other properties that same day. Your junk might’ve gotten mixed up with someone else’s.”

“Maybe.” Emma’s swirling thoughts came to rest on one earlier assumption. One that scared her half to death.

“What are you thinking?”

“Nothing.”

“Emma?”

She lowered her head, shielding her eyes from him, and looked at the items in her hands. “I just had an idea, and I don’t like it.”

“Tell me.”

She hesitated before speaking again. Once she shared her assumption with Matthias, there was no stuffing it back into the recesses of her mind. But she knew him too well. He wouldn’t letit go until she came clean. In a voice that was little more than a whisper, she said, “When I first saw this ring the day Fran turned it over to us, I’d been thinking it was Nell’s. That Zeke had given it to her, and she lost it out there.” Emma lifted her face, turning toward Matthias. “What if I was half right?”

She didn’t need to say the rest. Matthias put the pieces together. “You think Nell… and Sonny Jones?”

“She has a history of getting involved with the wrong men.” Emma tried to conjure a mental picture of her sister with Sonny. It wouldn’t quite mesh. “But that can’t be the case here. She loved Zeke. She wouldn’t have two-timed him.” Would she have?

* * *

Matthias didn’t contradict Emma on that last part, but he’d seen the kind of men Nell had been involved with in the past. “I don’t suppose there’s a date stamped on the ring, is there?”