The Dark Place — Mildred Davis

It was visitors' day at the asylum, and a careless nurse forgot to lock the corridor door. Thus Laura escaped. She walked out with the visitors and hitched rides all day. In the evening she reached her brother.

She would have to go back, he told her. "They wouldn't let you stay here. Remember the little girl...? That's why we had to send you away."

But Laura had it all planned.... And so it was that the small community got new neighbors. One -- her name was Beverly Urey -- seemed very kind and very obliging. She loved children and considered it a favor when she was allowed to babysit.

Peggy, who lived across the road, didn't like her at all. Some of the other neighbors thought Miss Urey a bit peculiar too. But they had other, more important things to think about: the body of an unidentified woman had been found in the woods....