Her expression changed completely.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?” she asked.
“Ellie.”
The woman went perfectly still.
“Ellie?” she repeated.
Before I could ask why that surprised her, her telephone rang.
She glanced at the screen.
All the color drained from her face.
“I have to go,” she whispered.
She thanked us one last time and hurried toward the exit.
I watched her leave, puzzled by her strange reaction.
But Ellie was happy.
“We found the treasure’s owner, Grandma!”
“Yes, we did.”
We finished our shopping and went home.
I assumed we’d never see that woman again.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
***
At 7:15 the following morning, someone knocked loudly on my front door.
I was still wearing my old housecoat.
Ellie was asleep upstairs.
Through the living room window, I noticed a black SUV parked along the curb.
A tall man wearing an expensive dark suit stood on my porch.
