Page 158 of Trust No One

“Not in the evening.”

“What about Edith? Maybe Maria?”

“No, they agitated Mom.” I hesitated. “But Amy left her alone.”

“Amy was highly influenced by you,” he said.

“I know. But I never worried about it. I even gave her some of my clothes.”

“Did she take anything from you or this house?”

“I noticed things missing. But I was just glad to have some freedom. She could have had it all if it meant I could be free of the house.”

He pulled an image up on his phone. “She wore this often.”

The picture was of a small heart on a gold chain. “When it went missing, I didn’t care. But it mattered to her. Maybe she had it all this time,” I said.

“Or she found it when she returned to the house,” Judson offered.

Scorched wood in the attic as well as the coffee in the cabinets marked someone’s visits. “She was here a lot.”

“I think so. I bet if we search the house, we’ll find traces of her. She had to hole up somewhere.”

I knew Amy had brought Molly here. But lurking in a room or basement room was unsettling. “I’ll search the house.”

“Why did Maria and Edith agitate your mother?” he asked.

The question caught me off guard. “Edith took over. She stopped checking in with Mom on decisions. Edith started treating Mom like an afterthought. Mom sensed it.”

“And Maria?”

“Maria’s mom and mine had a bad falling-out after my dad died. I spent a lot of time with Maria and Eloise, but the sisters-in-law went from being close to not speaking.”

“What did you and Maria quarrel over?”

“She wanted me to sell some land. I told her I couldn’t until I turned thirty-five. She insisted I try to break the trust. I explained the unbreakable structure, but she wouldn’t listen. Kept pressing. When I asked how she’d spent the money I’d just given her, she refused to tell me.”

“And yet she gave you custody of Molly.”

“She set that up years ago. I guess she never got around to changing it.”

His gaze sharpened. “I’d like to exhume your mother’s body.”

The air left me. “I didn’t see that coming,” I said.

“Her death was suspicious.”

“She had dementia.”

“But she was physically healthy. She escaped the house and died in the woods in the creek bed. I think there’s more to the story.”

“Think she was poisoned?”

“Maybe someone thought they were doing you a favor.”

“That’s sick.”

Unfazed, he added, “Amy, Maria, and Gabe believed this land owed them something. You and your mother stood in their way.”