And they were definitely in a pinch.

She heard someone climbing the ladder, slowly, cautiously. Candy shrank back into the shadows as far as she could go, her gaze riveted on the opening in the floor not six feet from her.

A shaggy head popped up. “Is someone up here?” a nervous male voice asked.

For a moment there was no answer. Then Maggie said in disbelief, from the other side of the room, “Cameron? Is that you?”

“Mrs. Tremont?” He was halfway up the ladder. Only his head and shoulders emerged through the opening, but it was enough.

Maggie stepped from her hiding place and gasped. “It is you! I can’t believe it! What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” Instead of sounding surprised, his tone was accusatory.

“What do you think we’re doing? We’re snooping around.”

“We? Who else…?” His head swiveled around and he saw Candy. A dark look came to his eyes. “Who said you could do that?”

“We’re trying to find out who murdered Sapphire,” Candy said, sounding apologetic.

“I didn’t do it!”

“No one said you did.”

“Then why are you…?”

But before he could finish, Maggie cut in. “Are you sleeping here?” she demanded to know, pointing to the bed.

At first he seemed surprised by the question, but then his face grew hard. “What if I am?”

“Cameron…” Candy set the tripod down and took a step toward him. “We’re just trying to find out what’s going on here.”

“Well I don’t know,” he said stubbornly.

“But your things are here. Your clothes.”

“Were you and Sapphire Vine having an affair?” Maggie asked hotly.

“What?”

“You heard me, mister! Answer my question. Were you and Sapphire fooling around?”

His head shook furiously and he glared at her. “You’re crazy!”

“Don’t you talk to me in that kind of voice, young man.”

“I can talk to you any way I want! You’re not my mother.”

“Cameron, I want some answers and I want them now!”

“I’m leaving!”

“Don’t you dare…”

But it was too late. Cameron had dropped back down the ladder. Candy could hear his footsteps retreating back across the bedroom, out into the hall, and down the stairs.

“Cameron! Wait!” Maggie dashed to the opening and started down after him. “Don’t you run away from me!”

Candy heard him shout something back at her, but the words were muffled. A few moments later the back door opened again. Maggie’s shouts could be heard as she ran out into the backyard after him.

“Oh boy. What a mess.” Candy shook her head in disbelief, knowing the neighbors might have heard all the commotion. “Time to get out of here.”

She started toward the trap door but turned back, her mind working furiously. She didn’t want to leave anything here that might incriminate them. She spotted her tote bag sitting on the floor near the desk, right where she had left it. She crossed to it, picked it up along with her flashlight and gloves, and started to leave.

But she turned back again. She looked at the files on the desk. She should put them back into the filing cabinet, she thought, just in case someone else found this place. She could try to get a look at them later.

But immediately she reconsidered that. Who knew when she would have a chance to sneak in here again? And who knew if the files would be here if she made it back?

Better, she thought, just to take them with her. No one knew they were here anyway, she rationalized. No one would ever know they were missing.

She tried not to think about the consequences of removing evidence from the scene of a crime. Before she changed her mind again, she stepped back to the desk, picked up Jock’s and Herr Georg’s files, and stuffed them into the tote bag. Then she added others-files for Amanda and Cameron, Mrs. Pruitt and Hobbins, and tall, handsome Ben. They fit snugly, but she got them all in.

Her gaze darted across the desk. She grabbed the address book too and tucked the Rolodex under her arm.

Before she left, she spotted one more thing she decided she wanted to take with her-the photo album with Susan Jane Vincent’s name on it.

That was all she could carry. After a last look around, she quickly dropped down the ladder, pulling the trap door closed after her, and dashed down the stairs. She pulled on her shoes by the back door and ducked out under the police tape. Then, pushing the lock button on the door knob and shutting the back door tightly behind her, she raced out into the dark backyard.

TWENTY-FIVE

The phone rang at just after eight in the morning. Jolted out of a deep sleep, Candy groaned as she reached over and blindly grabbed for the receiver. “Hello?”

“Good morning, liebchen!”

“Herr Georg?”

“Yes, Candy, it’s me. How are you today? I hope I didn’t wake you. Were you asleep?”

“Um, no, well, actually I was just getting up.”

“Oh dear. Should I call back?”

“No, no, that’s okay.” Rubbing her eyes, she sat up, threw her legs over the side of the bed, and pushed her hair back from her forehead. “What’s going on?”

“I have a favor to ask. Rosemary, my regular girl, can’t make it in today. She’s out sick, or so she says, though I doubt that. It’s a suspiciously nice day. Still, she won’t be in, and I need counter help for a few hours while I’m in the kitchen. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to come in and help out?”

Candy squinted at the clock. “What time do you need me?”

“Around nine?”

“I’ll be there.”

“My liebchen, you are an angel!”

“I’m glad to help out.” She didn’t mention she was secretly relieved he had called. She had been trying to figure out how to approach him about what she had seen in his file the night before.

“Fine, fine. See you in an hour. Thank you so much!”

She started to say more but held back. She decided it would be best to wait until she could talk to him face-to-face to ask him the questions she really didn’t want to ask.

But as difficult as she knew it was going to be, she had to confront him about the documents she found the night before-or, to be accurate, the ones Sapphire had found. Though many of the faded, yellowed documents were in German, which she couldn’t read, she had a good idea of what they said, and they greatly disturbed her. They raised more questions than they answered-and led her to conclusions she refused to accept.

Ever since she first heard about the violent death of Sapphire Vine, Candy had been trying to fit the pieces together, to unravel the mystery of not only who murdered Sapphire (for Candy was now more convinced than ever that Ray had not done it) but also why she was murdered.

Now she had at least one possible answer-but she didn’t like it at all.

As much as she hated to admit it, Herr Georg seemed to be the one with the most to gain by Sapphire’s death. That troubled Candy more than she could say. It actually made her heart ache, for she couldn’t imagine Herr Georg doing anything so destructive.

But she had seen the e-mails, documents, and newspaper clippings herself. They were all there in the file, which still sat on her kitchen table, evidence of a hidden past that just possibly was a motive for murder.

Following her adventure with Maggie at Sapphire’s house the night before, she had arrived back home at some time after one in the morning. She had been dead-flat exhausted and upset with herself over how the whole thing ended.

By the time she had dashed out the back door of Sapphire’s house and into the yard, Cameron was long gone. She finally found Maggie wandering around blindly in the dark woods, desperately searching for the teenager. But it soon became evident he wouldn’t be found that night, so reluctantly they gave up the search. They had found what they came for and decided it was time to disappear into the night before anyone else stumbled upon their questionable activities.