“I don’t think it’s going to come to that. We’ve been through it twice now. Thing is—” He stopped, shifting his weight to ease his hip. “I don’t like loose ends. The more we look into this thing, the more we find. It’s hard to tie up ends that’ve been dangling for ten years.”

Was this a social call or an official one? she wondered, trying not to be annoyed. Maggie could remember how embarrassed he’d been when he’d asked for her autograph. At the moment, she didn’t need a fan. “Lieutenant, is there something I can do?”

“I wondered if you’d had anyone coming around, someone you know, maybe someone you don’t know.”

“Coming around?”

“The murder happened here, Miss Fitzgerald, and the more we dig, the more people we find who had reason to kill Morgan. A lot of them still live in town.”

She folded her arms under her breasts. “If you’re trying to make me uneasy, Lieutenant, you’re doing a good job.”

“I don’t want to do that, but I don’t want to keep you in the dark, either.” He hesitated, then decided to go with his instincts. “We discovered that Morgan withdrew twenty-five thousand cash from his bank account on the day he disappeared. His car was found, now his body’s been found, but the money’s never showed up.”

“Twenty-five thousand,” Maggie murmured. A tidy sum, even tidier ten years ago. “You’re telling me you think the money was the motive for murder?”

“Money’s always a motive for murder, and it’s a loose end. We’re checking a lot of people out, but it takes time. So far, nobody around here’s ever flashed that kind of money.” He started to reach for another cigarette, then apparently changed his mind. “I’ve got a couple of theories …”

She might’ve smiled if her head wasn’t beginning to ache. “And you’d like to tell me?”

“Whoever killed Morgan was smart enough to cover his tracks. He might’ve been smart enough to know that coming up with twenty-five thousand dollars wouldn’t go unnoticed in a town like this. Maybe, just maybe, he panicked and got rid of the money. Or maybe he hid it so he could wait a good long time, until any rumors about Morgan had died down; then it’d just be waiting for him.”

“Ten years is a very long time, Lieutenant.”

“Some people’re more patient than others.” He shrugged. “It’s just a theory.”

But it made her think. The attic, and the trunk and the handprint. “The other night—” she began, then stopped.

“Something happen the other night?” he prompted.