One advantage of moving back home, Amy told herself, was the chance to rekindle friendships. Back in high school, they'd been an inseparable foursome: Amy, Sue, Donna and Beth. Only one of them, Donna, didn't live locally. And so, when Donna returned for a weekend visit and the visit coincided with Beth's birthday, the four old friends found themselves in Beth's living room, laughing and gossiping and, of course, giving Beth presents.
"Mystere perfume," Beth exclaimed as she unwrapped the box from Amy. "Just in time. I'm almost halfway through my last bottle." They all laughed, marveling at how so little had changed in their lives.
"What did Uncle Bertie send?" asked Amy. Beth's uncle, a jeweler, had always provided extravagant gifts. Beth opened a red velvet case and watched her friends "ooh" jealously over the tennis bracelet, yellow diamonds in a modern gold setting.
"I love it," Beth said unconvincingly. "I tried wearing it with my new pashmina top, but the darned settings catch on everything."
Beth piled the gifts on the fireplace hearth. She returned the bracelet and case to her room, then fetched a tattered game of "Clue" and a nearly antique "Dream Date", their two favorite pastimes from middle school. They spent the rest of the evening wandering back and forth between the kitchen and living room, baking brownies, playing games and doing each other's hair and make-up.
Amy and Sue left around two a.m. They were still lingering on Beth's front walk when Donna threw open the door and waved at them. "Good, you're still here," she said breathlessly. "Beth's tennis bracelet is missing." Amy and Sue reentered the house and followed Donna up the stairs "Beth got me settled in the guest room, then went into her bedroom. Before undressing, she opened the case to check on the bracelet. It was gone."
Beth was standing at her bedroom bureau, gazing dumbfounded into the empty red velvet case. "I put it here right after showing it off. I'm positive."
"Could it have fallen out somehow?" asked Sue.
The women searched the bedroom, then the rest of the small, cozy home. Donna didn't object when they searched her suitcase and the drawers and closets of the guest room.
"Completely vanished," Beth whispered as they wandered back into her bedroom.
Amy stood in front of the bureau, staring at the objects laid out on top.
"Are you expecting things to speak to you?" Sue asked. Sue had always been skeptical of Amy's deductive powers. Some would say jealous.
"In a way," Amy answered. "Someone was obviously in this room after Beth left the case and before she checked it again. That much is clear."
