Page 123 of The Case of the Missing Love Stone

He shrugs. “It happens.”

We move into the dining room, where a wide front window overlooks the porch. Callum opens the curtain several inches, angling it so we can see the porch at a slant without standing directly in front of the glass.

Deputies have set up a folding table just off the porch steps, positioned within clear view of the window but beyond the marked perimeter. A county evidence technician arranges sealed collection kits beneath a portable light, the beam cutting through the gray morning.

Dr. Cole joins a secure video call on Tom’s tablet, where we’re all watching a live feed of the porch. Pepper is visible beside her on another screen, surrounded by photographs and comparison samples.

Scarlet looks toward Pepper. “You got pulled into this too?”

“Apparently identifying the dock plants and Earl’s roadside materials earned me another morning with Dr. Cole,” Pepper says.

“She has been useful,” Dr. Cole says.

Pepper points toward the screen. “Write that down. Tom will deny it later.”

Tom ignores Pepper’s comment and places the tablet where Scarlet can see the evidence table outside while Pepper and Dr. Cole follow the technician through the secure video feed. Pepper leans closer to her screen as the plant material comes into view, while Dr. Cole directs the testing.

The technician photographs the box, swabs the exterior, and removes the white ribbon with forceps. He cuts through the tape while Tom narrates each step for the recording.

White tissue fills the top. Beneath it lie three dried marigold heads, a swamp lily, a loop of white thread, and a cheap stone charm.

Honey’s hand finds Callum’s.

Scarlet reaches backward, and Wes takes her hand before she has to search. I settle beside her and place my palm at the base of her spine. She shifts until her shoulder touches my chest and her hip rests against Wes.

The evidence technician lifts a photocopied page from the box.

Scarlet’s grandmother’s handwriting crosses it, visible on the tablet Tom has propped for us on the dining table. It’s the same phrase from Scarlet’s bundle. A pale rectangle interrupts the center of the paper. Four darkened corners surround the blank area, with a faint green stain near the lower edge.

Scarlet leans closer to the tablet. “That is where an attachment used to be.”

Dr. Cole enlarges the photograph on the screen. Pepper studies the image from her side of the call.

“What kind?” Tom asks.

“My grandmother mounted field material on her notes. Pressed flowers, pieces of bark, old maps if the route differed from county records. Sometimes she added vellum diagrams over the writing.”

Pepper magnifies the green residue. “It could be dried plant matter, but the photocopy has lost too much color to identify it from here.”

“The shape is too square for a loose flower,” Scarlet says. “Whatever it was had backing.”

Wes looks at her. “Do you have the originals?”

“I have field boxes she left me. Some came with her house. Others were packed away after she died.” Scarlet exhales through her nose. “I haven’t cataloged all of them.”

Honey turns from the window. “Did anyone outside your family know about the boxes?”

“The historical society knew we kept private records. Tom knows. Half the town assumes I inherited every strange scrap my grandmother ever touched.” I study the copied page from where I stand, close enough to make out the missing section’s outline and the faint green stain, but not the finer grain of the paper itself. “The sender may only have an archive copy made after the attachment disappeared.”

“Or someone removed it from the original,” Wes says.

Scarlet rubs her thumb on his hand. “Either way, they believe the missing piece changes how the rest is understood.”

The technician seals the page and moves to the stone charm. Dr. Cole directs the swab collection. A rapid screening strip changes color.

“Presumptive positive for the carrier family,” she says. “The ribbon and inner tissue need separate laboratory testing. Seal and send all of it.”

Callum’s alpha scent sharpens before he reins it back.