Free The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright

her bike. She fairly flew down the driveway, steadying the shopping bag that was crammed into the bike basket, and swung out onto the street. Houses streaked by, blurred by her tears.
    Right now, she had Aunt Clare to go to. But Aunt Clare didn’t want to stay in Claiborne; she could hardly wait to get back to Chicago.
    What’ll I do then?
Amy wondered.
When she leaves, where will I run?

11
.
“I Saw a Light in the Dollhouse”
    The smell of hot caramel met Amy when she opened the back door. Aunt Clare was at the kitchen table, gently stirring a huge batch of popcorn to coat it with syrup.
    â€œSoup and salad for supper tonight,” she announced when she saw Amy. “We have more important things to do than cook dinner.”
    Amy helped herself to a handful of caramel corn. It was good to see a smile after the painful scene at home.
    â€œThis tastes marvelous. Ellen will go crazy—caramel corn is her favorite thing in the whole world. What else are we going to have?”
    â€œFudge,” Aunt Clare said. “Tons of fudge. That’s
my
favorite. Not that I’m going to hang around the party and make a pest of myself—I do remember what it’s like to have adults watching every move you make. But we’llcook a double batch, and then tomorrow night I’ll go off to my room after you’ve eaten, and I’ll take along a whole plateful, just for me. And how about egg rolls? I have the most marvelous recipe for egg rolls—”
    â€œWith pizza?” Amy giggled. Her aunt’s enthusiasm was irresistible.
    â€œYou’re right. A terrible idea! But I bought a huge box of potato chips on the way home, and the makings for a very special dip. How does that sound?”
    â€œTerrific!” Amy was feeling better by the minute. “I’ll run upstairs with the stuff I brought from home—oh, my mother said Dad will drop off the cake tomorrow afternoon. He’s going out of town, and he’ll bring it on the way.”
    â€œThat’ll be fine.” Aunt Clare covered the bowl of popcorn with foil and set it at the end of the table. “How did it go at home?” she asked. “Everything back to normal?”
    Amy didn’t want to talk about home. “It was okay,” she said. “I wasn’t there very long.”
    â€œHow’s Louann getting along with the sitter?”
    â€œAll right, I guess. They make things.” Amy changed the subject. “Shall I get out the sugar and butter for the fudge?”
    Aunt Clare nodded. “It’s perfectly obvious Louann needs other people in her life. It isn’t fair to expect her family to carry the whole burden. I know I’ve offended your mother by saying that, but I couldn’t help speaking up the first night I had dinner at your house.”
    So that was it. That was why Amy’s mother turnedcool and quiet every time Aunt Clare was mentioned.
    â€œAnyway,” Aunt Clare continued, “we have work to do at the moment, right? Do we have enough chocolate for a double batch of fudge? Let me check. And you can open a can of soup—whatever you like.”
    By the time they had eaten, set the fudge to cool, and mixed up the dip—which turned out to have fourteen ingredients—it was after nine.
    â€œThere’s one more thing we ought to do this evening,” Aunt Clare said. “You mentioned you’d like Ellen to stay overnight, didn’t you?” Amy nodded. “Then we must get out an extra blanket and air it. There’s a chest in the attic packed full of blankets and comforters. They’re in good shape, even after all this time—but definitely musty. You run up and pick out one for Ellen. I’ll hang it on the clothesline to air tomorrow, before I start cleaning.”
    Amy’s stomach did a sharp flip-flop. She wasn’t ready to go up to the attic. Not for a while.
    â€œThe nights aren’t very cool