Regarding Anna Read Online Free PDF

I’ve done is collect ideas. So do tell, what were the rumors?”
    “I shouldn’t say. They were just rumors, and—”
    A ringing phone interrupted her. Minnie walked across the room to answer it. The conversation was brief.
    “Ginger, dear, I completely forgot about my hair appointment. They’re going to hold it for me, so I have to run.”
    “Can I give you a lift somewhere?”
    “I was going to call a taxi.”
    “Oh, don’t do that. I’ll give you a ride.”
    “Well, okay. It would be faster that way.”
    Minnie threw on a coat, and we walked to my car.
    “Where are we going?” I asked her.
    “Near your house—Six Corners.”
    Realizing there was now not much more time to get information from her, I got right to it. “So, Minnie, tell me more about the juicy rumors you heard about the people who used to live in your house. I love gossip.”
    “Well, I don’t really know exactly what went on there before I moved in, but don’t you think it strange that— Oh, look, there’s Mrs. Jedlecker! That old battle-ax. She stole my Sunday paper from me once, right off my sidewalk! I like her granddaughter though. Reminds me of...” Her voice trailed off.
    “Of who, Minnie?”
    “Muriel.”
    “Muriel?”
    “My little girl.”
    No matter how important it was to maintain my investigator role, I just couldn’t. The sadness in her voice was heartbreaking. “How old was she?”
    “Six.” She paused. “Just six years old. Her first day of school. September 9, 1942. The war was in full swing by then. Everyone was in it—it may have been easier to list the countries that weren’t in it. September 9...” The sound of her voice appeared to be coming from a different place. “Clarence drove her to school that day. He had the radio on, and when the newscaster said Japan had just dropped a bomb on us—not in Hawaii like Pearl Harbor, but in Oregon—he lost control of the car and ran into a tree.”
    “How awful.”
    “By the time I got to the hospital, Muriel was gone, and Clarence was hanging on by a thread. He told me what happened. I didn’t tell him about Muriel, but I’m sure he found out soon enough...when he passed over to the other side.”
    I was trying not to tear up, but it was hard not to. I didn’t know what to say, so I kept silent for the next couple of blocks. The rumors didn’t seem all that important then.
    Minnie broke the silence. “Don’t you think it strange that the woman didn’t close off the inside stairway to the second floor when she took in boarders? After all, those stairs were in her bedroom. There it is, dear. On the right. See the awning?”
    We’re there already?
    I pulled over, and before I’d come to a complete stop, Minnie had the door open. “Thank you for the lift, Ginger! Do keep in touch, dear!”
    It was all I could do to collect myself and drive away—first, the unexpected news about the house having had boarders; then, Minnie on the verge of telling me something provocative about Anna, followed by the tragic story of how she’d lost her husband and daughter. I wasn’t sure which of these bombshells was causing my stomach to swirl like it was.
    It was four o’clock, and I was just minutes from home. I decided to forego stopping in at the office before climbing up to my apartment. I needed to sort things out without distractions.
    I parked the car behind my building and walked through the alley to the front. I was almost past our office windows when I heard a rap on the glass and saw Elmer waving me in. He met me at the door.
    “You have a visitor.”
    Louise Fincutter, the mother of the missing teen, started talking before I’d even sat down. “I got a call from one of Erma’s friends who said she’d heard from her. Apparently, she left the house on the South Side where her two half-brothers live and hopped on a bus to Detroit looking for her father.”
    “How long ago was this?”
    “The call? This morning.”
    “Do you know how long ago she got