“I can’t understand. He must have left for the house just as soon as he went out of my room here in the hotel—”
“Exactly,” Bertha said. “That means he’d planned to do it quite a bit earlier.”
“How much earlier?”
“I don’t know. Sometime on the trip out here. Sometime after leaving Los Angeles.”
“Why?”
“There’s only one reason. It was something you said to him, something that made it important for him to get into your house. There are only two things I can think of.”
“What?”
“The flowers and the music box.”
“Oh, I hope nothing’s happened to my music box.”
“I think it’s all right. Did you tell Bollman about your pet bat?”