She jumps up from the couch and starts pacing, holding her arms across her chest. “I don’t know how this could’ve happened, Detective, so close. We didn’t hear a thing. They’re sure she disappeared the night of the Fourth?”

“Yes.”

Mrs. Bradley is shaking, and her nose is running, which she doesn’t seem to notice. She’s got that wild-eyed look that sometimes precedes hysteria. She stops walking and stands still as a pointer.

“Is the media here?” she asks.

“I don’t think so. Not yet, anyway, but I expect some will be here soon. At least from Manchester, to start.”

This seems to break her. She wraps her hand over her mouth and sinks down on the couch.

“You okay?” I ask. Chase sits by her side and pats her shoulder.

“I need to go home. I need to get out of here before they get here,” she pleads, eyes on Chase, her hand squeezing his arm.

But he looks to me. She’s in no shape to drive. “Okay, maybe we can have Detective Fuller drive you and Alice back to Graybridge in your car. Would that be okay?”

She nods, sending tears tumbling down her cheeks. “Can we go now, please?”

“Yeah. Give us a minute.”

I motion Chase to follow me into the hall. “You mind?” I ask. “Can you drive her car back? I don’t think she should be on the road. Call the station and have one of the guys pick you up from her house. Will that work?”

“Yeah. Sure. You don’t need me here?”

“I’ll catch you up when I get back. When you get to the station, you can fill the chief in, and you and the team can work on what we’ve got.”

I peek around the corner, where Mrs. Bradley is pacing again and wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “See if you can get something out of her on the drive.”

“She’s really freaked out,” Chase says. “But I guess that’s normal given there’s a body in her yard.”

Yeah, I think, but there’s something more here. Something else going on with Mrs. Bradley. I can feel it.

CHAPTER 35 - Molly

CHAPTER 35

Molly

I’M FINALLY HOME. RELIEF SPILLED OFF MY SHOULDERS AS I WALKED through the front door. I don’t ever want to see the mountain house again.

Detective Fuller dropped Alice off first, and now he’s waiting for Corrine to show up before he leaves for the station. I’ve switched on all the lights and turned on my laptop to check my security cameras. I can’t seem to settle. At least we beat the media. We passed a white satellite truck going toward the mountain house as we left, and I breathed a sigh of relief that we’d missed it.