Surely he would have said something if he suspected she had taken her own life. Or maybe the thought was too painful for him to face. She hated to bring it up to him. Obviously, the memory of Susan’s death was still a difficult one. If she—
“Annie!”
Annie turned to see Mary Beth hurrying toward her. “Hi!”
“Do you have your cell phone with you today?”
Annie wrinkled her forehead. “In my purse. Why?”
“I got those new screws for my cabinets, and Tom Maxwell’s at the shop putting them in right now. He should be busy for the rest of the day, but I want to make sure I can call you if he leaves for some reason.”
Annie grinned and grabbed her phone. “OK. It’s charged and turned on. I’m going to run out and talk to Sandy Maxwell, if she’ll let me. But you’ve absolutely got to let me know if Tom leaves the shop—deal?”
“Deal. Are you sure you shouldn’t take Alice with you? Or Ian?”
“As long as you keep an eye on Tom, I’ll be fine. Besides, if I wait to get Alice in on this, I might miss my opportunity.”
“OK. You keep your phone on and with you, and I’ll watch things here. And you call me when you’re on the way back.”
Mary Beth shook a cautioning finger at her, and Annie couldn’t hold back a smile.
“I promise. Now you’d better let me get going before Tom decides he needs a monkey wrench or something from home.”
“Scoot, then. I should get back before he wonders where I am.”
“Kate’s there, isn’t she?”
“Yes, but I don’t like to leave her there alone.” There was reluctant concern in Mary Beth’s eyes. “Just in case.”
“We’d better both get going.” Annie got into her car and started the engine. “I’ll let you know how it goes. Do you want me to drop you back at the shop?”
“Better not. If he sees you, he might think something suspicious is going on. It’s just a few doors down. Hurry up now.”
The bank was on the corner of Main and Elm, so all Annie had to do was drive around the corner and head straight to the Maxwells’ home. A few minutes later she had the house in sight, and she was in luck. Sandy was out front getting a package and some letters from the mailbox.
When she saw Annie, she glanced back toward the house as if she was deciding whether or not she could disappear into it. But Annie was quick to pull up beside her.
“Hello there. I hope you’ll forgive me for dropping by again, but we never really did get a chance to talk. Do you have a few minutes?”
Sandy glanced toward the house again. “I shouldn’t really—”
“Just for a minute.” Annie smiled encouragingly. “I promise I don’t bite.”
She could feel the wind whip through the trees and noticed Sandy pulling her jacket closer to her neck.
“I bet it’s warmer in the house than it is out here.”
“Yeah.” Sandy’s expression softened just the tiniest bit. “You’d better come in.”
Annie pulled up in the drive and got out of the car. “Brr. It wasn’t bad outside just a little while ago, but now I’m wondering if we’re going to get some more snow.”
“Maybe you’d better not stay long if the weather is getting bad.”
Annie scurried into the house behind her reluctant hostess. “I won’t.”
Sandy showed her into the small sitting room at the front of the house. It was cozy, warmed with a bright fire in the hearth and furnishings from the early 1800s. Annie smiled as she ran her hand over the old school desk that stood in one corner.
“This looks just like one my friend used to have when she lived here.” Looking closer, she saw that the letters EWB were carved into the top. “This is the same one. I’m sure of it. Susan and I used to try to figure out what the initials stood for.”
Sandy perched on the edge of a ladder-back chair that looked to be of an age with the desk. “That’s not surprising. Most of this stuff was in the house when we bought it. I’d guess that the previous owners bought it furnished too.”
“You’re probably right. Susan wouldn’t have needed a houseful of furniture.”
“Not where she was going.”
Annie turned to look at her. “Where she was going?”
“I—my husband said he’s heard people talking in town, asking about your friend and saying she went off to marry a rich man. I guess she wouldn’t have wanted stuff like this in some fancy family mansion.”
“Probably not.”
“It seems like it all should be here anyway.” There was again something tentative in Sandy’s smile. “It belongs with the house.”