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brogans.”
    â€œGotcha.” Seth saluted and squared his shoulders.
    â€œThey’d made a cute couple, don’t you think, Mel? Rubens and Voska?” Hank grinned at Seth’s foolishness.
    â€œThere’ll be no more double dates.” Bryan looked at Melanie and smiled. He squeezed her arm, then pushed her forward. “Show Seth that badge of honor you won.”
    â€œYou mean my necklace?” Melanie pulled it from under her sweater. “Madame Leona gave it to me, Seth. She said all her girls wear one—the girls in the ballet, I assume she meant.”
    â€œShe did.” Hank pulled hers from her purse. “I only wear mine when I go to rehearsal. It’s too heavy.”
    Seth took a medallion into each hand. His face was suddenly serious. Pulling his bottom lip into his teeth, he studied them.
    â€œThis is quite a piece of hardware, Mel. Yours too, Hank. They look old. You say each girl in the troupe has one?”
    â€œI haven’t seen them on the other dancers.” Melanie turned the silver disc over.
    Hank flipped hers over. “I have. The back of each one is different. A different animal. Melanie has a panther, while I’m a lioness.” Hank growled. She seemed to be trying to lighten the conversation again.
    â€œYou think there’s any relationship to the girl and the animal?” Bryan asked, half serious.
    â€œOf course not, Bryan.” Melanie shrugged. “Remember that this was Paulie’s. It was the only one left.”
    â€œThese are old.” Seth kept turning the necklaces over and over. “And I’d say valuable. Your stone is alexandrite, Mel. That’s very expensive if it’s real. And my guess is that it is. Where would she get—how many?”
    â€œSeven.” Hank supplied the number.
    â€œSeven of these that are alike, or matching?”
    â€œWho knows?” Melanie pulled her medallion back and ran her hands over it. “But she owns that antique store. She came across them someplace, then liked the idea of giving them to the troupe. She’ll want them back after the recital.”
    â€œI’m just realizing Leona must have asked for Pauline’s back after she—after the accident.” Hank slipped her necklace back into her tote bag.
    â€œOr when Paulie fought with her and quit,” Melanie said.
    The subject had finally come up. It was as if they’d done everything to avoid it, but now it lay before them, heavy and unavoidable.
    Melanie looked at Bryan with an unspoken question. He understood what she meant and nodded. He liked Hank, and maybe she could be of some help. She glanced at Seth. His vote was yes.
    Melanie took Hank’s hand. “Hank, I hope I can trust you. I think I can.”
    Hank stared at Melanie, then Bryan, and Seth, a question on her face. “Hey, this sounds serious. What’s going on, guys?”
    â€œI didn’t try out for the troupe today just to further my dance career.” Melanie started to explain. “In fact, when Paulie said she was quitting, I’d decided to do the same. I hadn’t gotten up the nerve to tell my mother.”
    Seth continued. “Mel’s mother is ambitious to the max.”
    Melanie ignored Seth’s remark about her mother, since it was right on target. “I lied to you at the studio, Hank. I did know I was taking Paulie’s place. Pauline McMasters was my best friend.”
    â€œAnd to make a long story short,” Seth said, “Mel doesn’t think Paulie’s fatal car crash was an accident.”
    For a moment, the bubbly Hank seemed speechless. “You—you mean, she—you all think Paulie was—was—”
    â€œMel has convinced us that someone tampered with her car.” Bryan said the word that hung over them unspoken. “We all think Paulie was murdered.”

four
    â€œM URDERED ?” H ANK GASPED . Her face got as white as the sugar on