It was foolish not to tell him, to feel as though, if she did, she would be forging another link in the chain that bound her to everything that had happened. He was, after all, in charge of the investigation. “Well, it seems someone broke in and took something out of a trunk in the attic. I didn’t realize it until days later; then I reported it to Sheriff Agee.”

“That was the thing to do.” His gaze lifted to the dormer window. “He come up with anything?”

“Not really. He did find a key. That is, his wife found one somewhere. He came back and opened the trunk, but it was empty.”

“Would you mind if I had a look myself?”

She wanted it over, yet it seemed every step she took brought her in deeper. “No, I don’t mind.” Resigned, Maggie turned to lead him into the house. “It seems odd that anyone would hide money in the attic, then wait until someone was living here to claim it.”

“You bought the place almost as soon as the sign was posted,” Reiker reminded her.

“But it was nearly a month before I’d moved in.”

“I heard Mrs. Agee kept quiet about the sale. Her husband didn’t like the idea.”

“You hear a lot of things, Lieutenant.”

He gave her the slow, half-embarrassed smile he’d given her when he’d asked for her autograph. “I’m supposed to.”

Maggie lapsed into silence until they reached the second floor. “The attic’s up here. For what it’s worth, I haven’t found anything missing in the house.”

“How’d they get in?” he asked as he began to climb the steeper, more narrow staircase.

“I don’t know,” she mumbled. “I wasn’t locking my doors.”

“But you are now?” He looked back over his shoulder.

“Yes, I’m locking them.”

“Good.” He went directly to the trunk, and, crouching down, studied the lock. The handprint had faded back to dust. “You say Mrs. Agee had the key?”

“Yes, or one of them. It seems this trunk belonged to the last people who rented the house, an old couple. The woman left it here after her husband died. Apparently there were at least two keys, but Joyce could only find one of them.”

“Hmm.” Reiker opened the now-unlocked trunk and peered inside, much as he’d peered into the gully. And it, Maggie thought, was just as empty now.

“Lieutenant, you don’t really think there’s a connection between this and—what you’re investigating?”

“I don’t like coincidences,” he muttered, echoing Cliff’s earlier statement. “You say the sheriff’s looking into it?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll talk to him before I head back. Twenty-five thousand doesn’t take up much room,” he said. “It’s a big trunk.”

“I don’t understand why anyone would let it sit in one for ten years.”