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“No, only the break-in,” Ed said
Julia nodded “Someone wanted us to know that Gran was there, but they didn’t want us to knoho actually took the thing Or they don’t knoho took it, and this is a setup to frame Gran”
“She was filht the mummy was stolen”
“But one”
“That’s a stretch,” Ed said “But the recording is useless noay—it beca and can’t be used in court”
“More ta? Somebody definitely wanted Gran out of jail Maybe the sa to do with Alice’s disappearance” Julia had listened in while Joe spent theeveryone he could think of, to stir up the investigation into the n of her and nobody knehere to look
“What has Elle dug up about Alice?” Julia asked Joe, because he’d been the one to talk with her “Did she discover anything that can help us find Alice and the person behind all these weird things happening to Gran?”
Joe reached out to play with a lock of her hair, and Julia realised she’d relaxed back into the sofa beside hi it in her usual bun—all because she knew Joe liked it that way She was a fool She’d spent the better part of the night lying aorrying about as happening with the she’d done on waking was leave her hair loose for hi her mind
“Elle hasn’t been able to dig up anything,” Joe said “Alice’s credit cards haven’t been used and her passport hasn’t been scanned at any border”
There was silence Julia felt what Joe didn’t say It was a rock sitting in her stomach She took a shaky breath and said what everyone was thinking: “Either she’s dead or someone has her”
Ed leaned forward “I’?”
“Money,” Julia said “Alice is paranoid about carrying around a lot of cash If she hasn’t used her cards, then she doesn’t have money You need money to hide”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking,” her gran said as she strode into the room “There’s no way that woman has run off, no matter what the police tell you We’ve been friends since before we started school There have been tiet rid of her She’d never wander off on her o”
“Somebody must have her,” Julia said, because the alternative was just too horrible to conte to ransom her off, they would have contacted us by now”
“You alere too smart for the rest of us,” Patricia said with pride “Give her a puzzle and she’ll get to the bottoenius when it cos in patterns that no one else can see Never could get anything past her”