CHAPTER 26:
AFTERNOON TEATIME
After her meeting with Claudia, Bella parked her car outside her house. She sat in her car a moment, pondering how on earth the necklace had ended up in Claudia’s bag. She had appeared nonchalant about the necklace and had surely lied about wanting to hand it in to the police. Any normal person would’ve acted surprised and mention to their companion how on earth a strange necklace would appear in her bag. But there had been none of that.
Bella brushed aside the thought and stepped outside. She spotted her neighbour, Beatrice, who was pruning roses in the front of her colonial-style home. Her rose bush flailed in the wind and with the force of Beatrice’s pruning, her eyes focused intently on it until Bella walked by.
“Perfect spring weather for pruning rose
