“I did.” Elsie exhaled. “I wasn’t thinking well. I should have buried her closer, but I knew that spot because I had been there before. It was where Bertram and I planned on meeting up a couple of days later. It was hidden and it was wooded. After we buried the body, I camped out in my car, walking to Pauline’s grave and saying a prayer. It was only a couple of miles from the spot where I was going to retrieve Bertram at our appointed time.”

“Once you got there, you never left?” asked McAdams.

“No, I did not.”

“Elsie,” Decker said, “we found your car in the woods.”

“Yes, I left it there.”

“How could your car be at the spot—in the woods next to the diner—if it was in the shop?”

“Because we didn’t bury her until the next evening. By then, we had two cars. Hers and mine.”

“What happened to Baer?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean if you didn’t bury her until the next day, did Baer stay with you the entire time? At your house?”

“Yes. I needed him to help me bury the body. I couldn’t do it by myself. He got the shovels and the bags and everything.”

“He just decided to stick around and help you bury her?” McAdams asked.

“I told him if he helped me, he could take Pauline’s car—and he did.” She shrugged. “I had to give him something. And maybe he wanted to help bury her. Together, I must say, we did a very nice job giving Pauline a proper resting place.”

A proper resting place. Decker hoped his face was flat. He said, “So Baer and you drove to the spot near the diner the next day and the two of you buried her.”

“Yes.”

“You in your car, and Baer in Pauline’s car with the body.”

“Yes. We were very lucky that no one stopped him. It was summer. The body had started to decompose and smell a little. But only a little. We kept ice on it. That was my idea.”

“Sounds like you planned for a lot of contingencies.”

“I was as thorough as I could be. If I was thinking more clearly, I would have done it closer to home. But …” She shrugged.

“What happened to Baer after you two buried Pauline?”

“He left.”

“In Pauline’s car.”

“Yes.”

“Did you two keep in contact?”

“No—well, not until the other day. But right after, no contact. This whole mess was a distraction from what I had to do.”

“Leaving with Bertram and Kathrine and taking them to Germany?” Decker asked.

“Yes.”

“If you left your car in the woods, how did you get to the airport to take them to Germany?”

“I had arranged an Uber. We took the back roads. I didn’t want any cameras picking us up. Then I rented a car and picked up Kathrine.”