Page 66 of Little Buried Secrets

“A couple of weeks ago. Before that, I was here for Thanksgiving. Stayed through the weekend before heading back to school.”

“Did you see Margot either of those times?”

“Once. I was having lunch with a friend in town. She walked in to pick up some food she’d ordered.”

“Did you talk to her?”

“Nope. She waved, and I acted like I didn’t see her.”

He glanced to the side and went quiet, like he was thinking back on it.

“I shouldn’t have acted the way I did,” he said. “How was I supposed to know it was the last time we’d see each other?”

“When was that?”

“Don’t remember.”

“This visit or your last visit?”

“Last visit.”

“Margot went missing on Monday,” I said. “Where were you that night?”

“Here, with my mom. I wasn’t feeling well. Flu or something. Didn’t leave the house for a few days.”

From the moment I’d stepped foot in the basement, I’d noticed an object that stood out among all the rest in the room. I was drawn to it—its color, its shape, what it was made from.

It looked … familiar.

Clarity found its way to me at the start of our conversation, and I’d sent a text message when I’d told Isaac I was taking notes—a text message that was about to pay off.

As the doorbell sounded upstairs, Isaac’s eyes narrowed.

“Who could that be?” he asked. “We didn’t invite anyone over.”

“You didn’t. I did.”

“Why?”

I lifted a finger, pointing at the object sitting on one of the shelves of a bookcase. “Where did you get that?”

He turned, staring at the object in question.

“None of your business,” he said.

“Except it is my business, because it sure as hell looks to me like a piece of brown wicker—wicker I believe is a piece of the basket from Margot’s Beach Cruiser.”

CHAPTER 25

The basement door opened, and I turned. Donna walked in, followed by Whitlock. She rubbed her eyes, blinking a few times like the unexpected visitor had roused her from sleep.

“The detective says he’s here to ask you a few questions, Isaac,” she said.

“You need to quit letting everyone in the house, Mom,” Isaac said. “You know you don’t have to, right? They’re not allowed inside unless they have a warrant.”

Speaking of warrants … I looked at Whitlock and said, “Did you get it?”

He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and said, “I sure did.”

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