“If she tries that, you let us know,” cried Jane angrily, “and we’ll bring our parents right over here!”
“All right, I will.” Elsie seemed to find some relief in the promise.
“Elsie,” said Mary Louise very seriously, “tell me who you really think did steal the money.”
The girl considered the problem carefully.
“I believe it was somebody in Aunt Grace’s family,” she replied slowly. “Because they used to be rich, and now they are poor. And I think that if a burglar had entered the house, somebody, probably Aunt Mattie, would have wakened up.”
“Couldn’t he have entered before your aunt went to bed?” suggested Mary Louise.
“Maybe. But Aunt Mattie was on the front porch all evening, and she’d probably have heard him.”
“All right, then,” agreed Mary Louise. “Let’s drop the idea of the burglar for the time being. Let’s hear about the family—your aunt Grace’s family, I mean.”
She reached into her pocket and took out a pencil and notebook, which she had provided for the purpose of writing down any items of clothing that Elsie might particularly want. Instead of that, she would list the possible suspects, the way her father usually did when he was working on a murder case.
“Go ahead,” she said. “I’m ready now. Tell me how many brothers and sisters your aunt Mattie had, and everything else you can.”