Chapter Seventy One
Linda and Irene were among the last to disembark. The waiting SUV’s had whisked the other passengers to the registration desk while the two of them shouldered flight-bags and, with Irene leading the way, they made the ten-minute walk to Hobbit House. When they rounded the last turn and the enchanting fairy-book cabana came into view, Irene smiled. Home. And everything was just as she remembered, except for one detail: Ditz wasn’t there to greet her.
“Maybe she’s working her shift,” Linda offered.
“Maybe,” Irene said, looking past her roommate’s bedroom door, “but all her cosmetics are gone.”
“Her clothes?” Linda wanted to know.
“Some of her stuff is here but things are missing. Including the suitcase she keeps in the bottom of her closet.”
“She’s gone?”
“So it ap
