Grave Endings

Tuesday, February 17. 11:40 a.m., Corner of Vermont Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. A robber approached the victim from behind and put a knife to her stomach. . . .Stabbings, even fatal ones, are not uncommon in Los Angeles. But the stabbing death of Aggie Lasher--a vibrant young woman dedicated to helping others and, it seemed, deeply loved by everyone who knew her--was especially tragic. For almost six years she has been obsessed by the mystery of her best friend's murder: If she had been with Aggie, would the killer have chosen another victim? Will the killer ever be caught?When Molly's LAPD pal Detective Andy Connors shows her a locket found on the body of a dead man, suddenly the case seems solved. Molly had given that locket to Aggie. Still coiled inside it is the red-thread good-luck charm that Molly had brought back years ago fromRachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, a thread with the reputed mystical power to protect its wearer.The presumed...