“Mrs. Ridgway…”

“Molly.”

Jefferson cleared his throat. “Mrs. Ridgway. Please. When’s the last time you seen your husband?”

“Well I think it was on Friday night,” she crooned. “Caleb had a couple friends over for dinner. Let’s see, it was Fred Coomer, and Mayor Larry, and that new couple with the antique store. The Yoders. Mr. Yoder said he had something big he wanted to show the boys, but I don’t know what it was.”

Jethro and Bonnie Yoder moved to Lake Derry almost two months ago, and Jefferson had yet to meet them in person. Whenever he’d come around the trinket shop they ran together, they had just closed up for a few minutes; he assumed it was bad timing but the whole thing was rather odd.

He glanced at Ralph to make sure the transcription noted this. Ralph was still gaping at the woman, his face as blank as the sheet of paper in front of him.

“Mrs. Ridgway, is that all you can tell me?”

“Yeah, Caleb slipped out early the next morning and left me a note that he had gone to Brent. That’s all I know.”