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T he Abbots had a lovely home made of wood with cream shutters and a metal roof.

It was hard not to notice how well-kept it was.

Their house appeared nearly as old as Twilight Oaks, and it too seemed to have gone through a few renovations over the years.

A maroon Buick was parked in the driveaway to my left.

Another car was beside it, concealed with a gray covering.

I took the rocky footpath that led to their front door.

The stairs of the porch creaked with my weight.

Wind chimes let off a gentle tinkle as I gave the wide porch a once-over.

Two wooden rocking chairs, potted flowers, random ceramic figurines that never made any sense to me.

Why did people need gnomes, frogs, and angels around the outside of their houses?

To each their own, but I just never understood it.

I ignored the thought and stepped on their welcome mat, giving the doorbell a ring.

There were a few thuds, rapid footsteps, a pause, and then the locks on the door clinked.

The door opened halfway to reveal a petite woman with weathered brown skin and gray, shoulder-length curls.

She wore a sky-blue dress with tiny black flowers on it and a pair of house slippers with winking eyes.

Her hands shook as she pulled the door open a bit wider.

“Can I help you?” she asked. Her voice wavered but was also meek, like she was the shyest person on the planet.

“Hi, Mrs. Abbot. I was just at Eddie’s house next door. He told me your name. I’m Rose Gibson. I was just wondering if I could ask you a few questions.”

She glanced past me, blinking her glassy eyes a few times before asking, “What kind of questions?”

“I just want to know if you’ve seen a certain person recently. She was staying in the rental across the lake.”

She stared at me.

I shifted on my feet.

“I can show you a picture,” I offered, breaking the silence. “Of the person I’m looking for.”

She seemed to hesitate, but then nodded and opened the door a little wider. I pulled out my phone once again to show her the image I’d just shown Eddie.

She grabbed her glasses hanging from a string around her neck and placed them on the bridge of her nose. “Oh, yes.” She smiled and her whole face seemed to light up. “I saw her a few days ago. She was a really nice girl.”

“You did?” My heart raced a bit faster. “Do you know how many days exactly since you’ve seen her?”

“I saw her Thursday morning,” she said, nodding. “Thursday, September fifth.”

I made a mental note that was the day before she stopped answering her phone.

“I remember because I grocery shop on that day every week. She helped me pick up my groceries when I dropped one of the bags.”

That sounded like Eve. She could be selfish, but she was also attentive. She cared for others but had a weird way of showing it sometimes. One thing I knew about Eve was that she respected her elders the same way I did.

“Why are you looking for her?” the woman asked, eyes sliding up to mine.

“Because I haven’t seen her in a few days. I’m going around to gather information so I can figure out where she is.”

The woman studied me a beat before looking past me again. What was she looking for?

“You can come in for a cup of tea. I’ll try and answer any questions you have but we’ll have to be quick. Okay?”

“Of course, yeah. Thank you.”

I wanted to ask why we had to be so quick, but judging by the way she kept peering past me, like she expected trouble, I figured it was best not to. The last thing I wanted was to get mixed up in the crossfire of someone else’s drama. The faster this happened, the better.