Ellen slowed as she made the turn out of the Plyms’ street, made sure the child on the too-big bike wasn’t going to fall off in front of her and eased the car forward. ‘You haven’t said a word since we left. What’s bothering you?’
‘It’s more like what’s not.’
‘Would you care to explain?’
‘There are too many odd little things and they’re all pointing in different directions. I can’t figure out what matters and what doesn’t.’
‘Like?’
‘Like that motion detector.’
‘That seemed pretty straightforward. They could go home and go to bed and still know if Miss Emilie got up and went outside. What’s wrong with that?’
‘Besides the fact she was all alone up there? What if she’d fallen? Or gotten scared in the night?’ She shook her head, thinking how no machine could take the place of nurturing care, but that was no longer a concern. Why she left the house the night she died was.
Ellen came to a full stop at a yellow light, much to the disgust of the man behind her. He let her know his displeasure by honking loudly.
She twisted in her seat to stare at her aunt. ‘We know the detectors were off that night. We also know Cassandra took sleeping pills and Richard slept with his door closed. We also know Emilie went looking for her toy dog and someone saw her and went after her. What else?’
‘We don’t know any of those things. We surmise. Caleb says he turned off the detectors, Cassandra says she took sleeping pills and that Richard closed his door. Someone could have gone into Miss Emilie’s room, got her up, told her they were going to look for her dog and taken her to the church hall.’
‘And made up her bed before they left? Why?’
‘That someone came and got her, or who made her bed?’
‘Both.’
The light turned green. Ellen eased the car forward, evidently not fast enough for the man behind her. He pulled around her and headed down the street.
‘That man needs a ticket,’ Mary observed. ‘This is all about the money. It has to be. Miss Emilie might have gone back to the church hall looking for Willis, but I think whoever killed her was looking for the money.’
Ellen turned the corner onto Mary’s street, then into her driveway. She shut off the motor and clicked off her seat belt before turning to face her aunt. ‘If that’s so, then the killer didn’t take her money.’
‘Maybe no one took her money.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Maybe she hid it.’
Ellen was momentarily speechless. ‘How could she … the note … she wouldn’t have known when the first of the month was … someone had to have helped her. You don’t think that person took her money?’
‘I don’t know, but someone’s looking for it, and it can’t be the same person who robbed her.’
Ellen stared at her aunt. ‘That’s true. If someone took her money, they’d know where it was. So, why kill her? But, if you didn’t know where it was and thought she may have hidden it … only, who?’
‘I wish I knew.’ Mary undid her seat belt and opened the door. ‘Go do whatever you’re going to do for Richard and Cassandra. Millie and I aren’t going to do one more thing today.’
‘Good. It’s been a rough couple of days and you’ve got the rummage sale later this week. Do you need anything?’
Mary smiled and shook her head. She held the door for Millie, who jumped out and headed for the back gate. She closed the car door and stood in the driveway, watching Ellen back out, then opened the gate, waited for Millie to go through and closed it behind them.