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A platinum-blond looked at her, wide-eyed. “Susie White. Was Amy in that car?”
“No, the body belonged to a male. But Amy’s disappearance may be connected to his death somehow. Sergeant Benton said she cleaned houses for y’all.” Ellie decided to omit information about the bones in the shed until they knew more and released that news to the press.
Susie nodded. “She cleaned for me for a while. Then just left without saying goodbye.”
“She was a sweet, quiet young woman,” Ina said. “I was a chef back then and needed help with the house. She came once a week and worked hard. She always brought her little girl with her.”
“She told me she couldn’t afford a babysitter,” Gayle said. “My goodness, I thought she just moved away. I hope nothing bad happened to her.”
Susie leaned forward. “She was kind of fidgety. Like she was nervous about something. When I asked her if something was wrong, she clammed up.”
“She did seem paranoid about something,” Ina whispered. “Figured she’d had a bad experience with a guy or something.”
“Why would you say that?” Ellie asked.
“Well,” Ina said. “She said she never dated.Never.”
“When I asked about Paisley’s daddy, she looked panicky,” Susie added.
“Did she mention his name?” Ellie asked.
The women shook their heads in unison.
Gayle’s eyes widened in horror. “Oh, my word, that precious little girl wasn’t in the car, was she?”
“So far, we haven’t found any signs of her. What else can you tell me about Amy?”
“She seemed lonely,” Gayle added. “And really protective of Paisley. Told me she didn’t date because she didn’t trust anyone with her child.”
“Was there anyone in particular she was concerned about? Maybe another student or a guy in her apartment complex?”
Ina took a sip of her white wine. “She didn’t say.”
“But one day, shortly before she disappeared, she was really flustered,” Susie chimed in. “Admitted some guy got mad when she turned him down for a date. That after that, she felt like someone was watching her.”
Ellie’s pulse jumped. “Did she tell you his name?”
Gayle shook her head. “No, but she said she might move so it could have been someone from the complex where she lived.”
Ina made a low sound in her throat. “You know, that year some weird stuff was happening at the college. There was talk about some cult.”
Ellie went still. “What kind of cult?”
“All I heard was there were some guys into death rituals,” Gayle said. “About the same time, the news reported that a girl named Darla Loben was attacked by spiders in the apartment building where Amy lived.”
“Does Darla still live in the area?” Ellie asked.
Ina nodded. “Yeah, heard she lives with her mama, Monica, in the cove at Robin’s Nest.”
“I heard Darla had a breakdown,” Gayle murmured. “That she had to go away for a while and never finished college.”
Ellie wondered exactly what had happened to Darla.
THIRTY-NINE
ROBIN’S NEST
Ellie filled Derrick in on what she’d heard from the ladies as she parked at Robin’s Nest, a cove a few miles north of Widow Lake.
