Rose remembered what Daniel had said about getting murdered by someone you knew. But if the police chief was convinced otherwise, why worry? She wished she could talk to Daniel about it. She wished they could just be alone together, away from school and Gregory and Company. Wallace Romola had been cleared. He had an airtight alibi for the night Nancy disappeared. He hadn’t wanted to tell about it because it was so private. But after he spent the night in jail, Martha Mackey, the former police chiefs sister, came to get him out. She said that on the night of Nancy’s disappearance, Wallace had been at her house, having a little supper and staying overnight, as he often did. There was no questioning her integrity. Besides, Miss Mackey had been Wallace’s schoolteacher and was twenty years older than him.

“So, that’s the friend!” Mom exclaimed. “Martha Mackey always did have a soft spot for strays.” “If it’s true, why didn’t he say so in the first place instead of keeping it a big secret?” Dad said.

“You mean, you think she’s lying?” Rose asked. “Well, no, I guess not,” he said. “Anyway, nobody believed Wallace was guilty, so what difference does it make?”

“I never would have thought Miss Mackey would take in the likes of him,” Mom said. “She keeps such a clean house.”

Mom didn’t really want Rose to walk to the mall, but she knew better than to forbid it. She made Rose agree to call so they could be picked up when they were ready to come home.

Grace wanted to buy Gregory Paschek a plaid wool shirt.

“What for?” Rose asked.

“For Christmas, what else?”

“I mean, why give him a present? He hardly talks to you.”

“It’s better to give than to receive,” Grace said primly.

“Come on, that’s not the reason.”

Grace’s cheeks flushed. “You know the reason perfectly well, Rose. Stop hassling me.”

Rose trailed along after her into the men’s shop. “It’s just that I think it’s wrong,” she tried to explain. “You throwing yourself at him. I know you say you do it for a joke, but underneath it isn’t a joke at all, is it?”

Grace refused to answer. She got busy looking at the plaid shirts.

“I mean, I think it’s nice to be honest, show your feelings and all, but don’t you think this is going too far?” Rose looked at the price tags. “Like forty-nine dollars too far? An expensive gift will embarrass him.”

Grace stopped fingering the shirts. “Do you really think so?”

“Of course. He’ll be mortified to get a gift like this. Not only expensive but personal.”

Grace looked doubtful. “It’s only a shirt, not a pair of underpants.”

“But it goes next to his body. It’s a sort of, I don’t know, a motherly sort of gift.”