Rhoda later asks Christine if this is true, thus increasing Christine's suspicions. On another day, Leroy, wanting to frighten Rhoda, accuses her of killing Claude and tells her that blood traces cannot be washed off a murder weapon. Christine then remembers that Rhoda was bequeathed a beautiful trinket from an elderly woman who died falling down some stairs when Rhoda was alone with her. While questioning Rhoda about it, she remains impervious to her daughter's attempts to manipulate her with demonstrative affection. After Miss Fern and the Daigles leave, Christine discovers the medal hidden in Rhoda's treasure box. Daigle says the medal is missing, and wonders aloud about a moon-shaped injury to Claude's head and scratches on his hands. The conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Claude's parents. She says Rhoda repeatedly tried to snatch away Claude's medal and, because of her lack of fair play, is no longer welcome at the school. A few days later, Rhoda's teacher, Miss Fern, visits and tells Christine that Rhoda was the last to see Claude alive and was with him on the pier under which he drowned. Her lack of compassion is noticed by Leroy, the half-witted, neurotic apartment building janitor who has never been fooled by Rhoda's pretensions. While they are talking, a radio broadcast reports that Claude drowned in the bay during the picnic, and when Rhoda returns, she seems strangely unmoved by the tragedy. Intrigued, Monica, who is endlessly fascinated by psychology, convinces Christine to use "word association" to explore her feelings, causing Christine to recall that she always felt she was adopted, despite a happy childhood. Their conversation about female murderers makes Christine uncomfortable, until her interest is piqued by the name of serial killer Bessie Denker. While Rhoda attends a school picnic, Christine lunches with Monica, her brother Emory and mystery writer Reginald Tasker. Beguiled by Rhoda's quaintness and old-fashioned curtsies, childless Monica gives her many gifts, which Rhoda hoards in a "treasure box." Only Christine is aware of Rhoda's greediness, although Rhoda demonstrates it by turning angry and willful when another student, Claude Daigle, is awarded her private school's gold penmanship medal that she covets. When Kenneth, an Air Force colonel, is ordered to the Pentagon for several weeks, Christine and Rhoda stay behind, watched over by Monica Breedlove, their middle-aged landlady. To make her shoes last longer, she thoughtfully asked to have metal plates put on the soles, and she charms her happily married parents, Kenneth and Christine, with cloyingly sweet affection. An excellent student, she is extraordinarily well-mannered and never looks unkempt in the party dresses she always wears. Angelic Rhoda Penmark, an eight-year-old with blonde pigtails, seems the perfect child.
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