Chapter 9 Summary

It is spring and the strains of jazz float down from the roof, where musicians play. Violet has returned Dorcas's photo to Alice Manfred. The empty space on the mantle stares like an accusation. Violet sees a beautiful girl climbing up the stairs on Lenox Avenue, a record under one arm and a half-pound of stew meat under the other. The girl is Felice, Dorcas's best friend. Felice asks if they have a silver and black opal ring she lent Dorcas, but she learns Dorcas was buried wearing her ring.

The ring is special to Felice because it was a gift from her mother. Her parents worked in Tuxedo when Felice was little. Felice lived with her grandmother, and her parents only visited for two and a half days every two weeks. On one visit, Felice's mother took her to Tiffany's to pick...