Secrets Come Home by Samantha Price

four of us who knew. You, me, Jeremiah, and Crowley – but then again, Detective Kelly did have us talking at the front of the police station.”
    “That’s true, and you said you found the key stuck to the boards. Anyone could have overheard it.”
    “There were the two officers behind the desk, and people coming and going. I don’t remember anyone in particular that seemed to be listening. Sadie knew of the existence of a key, she’d heard those rumors regarding Terence Wheeler, a key and Horace’s body. I wonder why she never told the police that before now.”
     

 
    Chapter 13.
     
    Ettie again spent the night with Ava in the grossdaddi haus. The next morning, Ava had left early to help her mother with some work at the farmers market. When Ettie heard a knock on the door, she looked out the window to see Crowley.
    “Come in,” she said as she opened the door.
    “Oh, good, you’re here.  The young lady who lives here told me where you were.”
    “I stayed here last night after everything that happened.” Ettie stepped back to allow Crowley to step through.
    As he walked in, he said, “I’ve got some good news. Kelly finally agreed to get a warrant. Mind you, I was with him most of the day trying to persuade him, and then he had me helping him go over all the evidence.”
    “Good. Have a seat.” Crowley and Ettie sat at the small kitchen table. “Then you would’ve been there when Sadie told Kelly all about the man with the gun?”
    Crowley frowned. “About what?”
    “I thought you would’ve heard.”
    “No, I’ve heard nothing. There was a man with a gun?”
    “Sadie came here yesterday, and while she was here a man came and pointed a gun at me. He demanded the key. Somehow he’d heard that I had it.”
    “Ettie, you should have called the police straight away.”
    “Sadie said she was going to go straight to the police station when she left here.”
    “Well, she didn’t. I was with Kelly most of the day and no mention was made of it.” Crowley sprang to his feet and whipped his cell out of his pocket. “I need to make a call.” Crowley strode outside.
    Ettie hadn’t had a chance to tell him the rest of her news.
    Crowley came back. “There was no report made by her at all.” Crowley rubbed his furrowed brow.
    “Is there some mistake? Perhaps she called instead of going there in person.”
    Crowley shook his head and placed his hands on his hips. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
    “I haven’t told you everything. Sit down.” When Crowley sat, Ettie said, “The man said he knew I had the key and Sadie stepped forward and said that I didn’t. He believed her and not me. I thought that odd.”
    Ettie saw by the detective’s face he didn’t think that it was particularly odd.
    “And, what’s more, she might have been hinting for the key, too, before the man got there. She asked if Horace had left anything at Agatha’s, saying she wanted something to remember him by. Then after the man with the gun ran away, she told me that someone told her that a man called Terence Wheeler said that he’d hidden a key with Horace’s body. She wouldn’t tell me who told her that.”
    Crowley groaned. “Kelly’s sending someone to talk to her now, then we’ll know more. Do you believe what she told you, Ettie?”
    Ettie blinked rapidly. “I have no reason to believe otherwise.” Ettie pulled her mouth to one side. “I wonder why she didn’t go to the police when she said she would. What about the young man who pointed a gun at me?”
    Crowley nodded. “I’m sure that Kelly will want you to have a look at some mug shots.”
    Ettie pulled a face, but when Crowley remained quiet, Ettie nodded. “I will if I have to, but I wouldn’t recognize him again. He just looked like any other young man, and all I was looking at was the gun.”
    “Why don’t you go back home with Elsa-May until all this is over with? It’s too much for you to stay here with everything that’s