Free Secrets Come Home by Samantha Price

attention.
    “Your friend said you wanted to see me urgently?”
    Ettie told Crowley everything about Horace and Agatha and then what had happened to her floor.
    “Wheeler was a known criminal. He was often arrested but we weren’t able to make any of the charges stick. I helped work on one of his arrests, but I’d only just joined the force, so I was only shuffling papers on the case. We were going after Wheeler and another criminal, Settler. They were adversaries. The two of them hated each other, that was well known.”
    Ettie handed him the small envelope. He tipped the key into his hand.
    “This is what my great nephew found when he was nailing my floorboards back. He’s a builder, you see, and he’s Elsa-May’s grandson.”
    He held the key up. “This is a safe deposit box key.”
    “Good. And what’s that?” Ettie asked.
    “If someone wants to keep something safe, they can lease a box from the bank. Many people keep important paperwork or private things in their boxes.”
    “Jewelry?”
    “Certainly. Coins, jewelry, gold, all those kinds of things.” He turned the envelope over. “With any luck, the number on this envelope will correspond with the number of the box. They don’t normally have the number on the key.”
    “You’ve seen these keys before?” Ettie asked.
    Crowley nodded. “They’re all usually square like this, with these flat grooved edges.” He ran his finger along the key to show Ettie what he meant.
    “I think the person who destroyed my house was looking for this key.”
    “You mentioned Terence Wheeler before – what did Detective Kelly say about him?”
    “He asked if we’d heard his name. We said no, and that’s all that was said.”
    “We?” Crowley asked.
    “Ava was with me. Ava lives in the grossdaddi haus attached to this place. It’s like a small apartment. Anyway, Ava and I went to the library to look up Terence Wheeler and we found out that he might have been involved in a big robbery.”
    Crowley nodded. “Yes, the one involving the English couple who were robbed at their hotel.”
    “Do you think this might be Terence Wheeler’s key? Maybe Horace knew something and was killed because of it.”
    “Did Horace know Terence Wheeler?”
    “I don’t know; Detective Kelly didn’t say. All he said was that his name had come up in his investigations around Horace.”
    “You said the key was taped to one of the boards?”
    Ettie nodded. “So it was unlikely that it was dropped – it was hidden deliberately.”
    “It seems so, Ettie.”
    “Why would Wheeler hide the key under my house?”
    “He could’ve been coming back to get it. He died not long after his arrest, and from what you’ve said that corresponds with the time that Horace went missing.”
    “Do you think Wheeler killed Horace?”
    Crowley shook his head. “From what you’ve told me so far, there’s not enough evidence to say anything of the sort.”
    “Tell me more about these boxes. If someone loses the key can’t they just go to the bank and say they’ve lost it? And the bank opens it for them?”
    “It’s not as easy as that. The person would need to sign a stack of paperwork; it would take about two weeks before the bank could arrange to have the box drilled open. Not the best way for someone to hide stolen jewelry.”
    “He’s dead now, so no one will be getting into his box, I guess. Not without the key.”
    “Sometimes a bank will shut down someone’s box when they know someone’s died. It’s hard for relatives to get the contents out; there’s a lot of red tape involved.”
    “How can one tell which bank the key belongs to?” Ettie asked.
    “You can’t. Detective Kelly would have to get a warrant and start with the local banks. Not all banks have safe deposit boxes. I’m certain only one in town does.” Crowley looked down at the key. “I’m guessing it’s too late to bother with prints?” He looked across at Ettie.
    “I’m afraid so. I’m sorry, but we