I personally don't think she went anywhere near any of the houses. She had already refused help from one neighbor and she wouldn't be trying to hide alcohol by any of the houses. She either went into the woods or went up the road either by foot or vehicle.
Since it
appears Maura removed the liquor from the car post “crash” & didn’t consume or lose possession of the bottles beforehand, there are the following possibilities:
1) she removed the bottles to hide incriminating evidence. Where? Where would be the best place to hide it especially if you wanted to reclaim it later? Did LE even check the trash cans? And for this to be effective she would also need to remove herself for the night as she would likely fail the breath/sobriety test. But that would also need to assume she had been drinking.
2) she removed the bottles to keep with her (where she was hiding) until she could return to the vehicle.
There was rumour that she handed over multiple empty bottles to claim a couple of dollars at the liquor store on route, so surely she would want to hang on to the alcohol.
Anyway possibility 1 & 2 would mean that she needed to hide the alcohol one way or another be it locally or on her person.
But discounting that there are 2 other possibilities:
3) she removed the bottles to take with her on her journey be it foot or has already been offered a lift.
4) she removed the bottles to have her last drinks before committing suicide.
I like to cover every possibility so other possibilities are that BA or LE stole the alcohol which of course is unlikely but as I say I believe it is healthy to cover absolutely every eventuality.
My opinion is that at that point in time suicide was not on her cards given a number of contributory factors. Since BA claimed that she lied to him about service reception, etc., we are better to assume that she was thinking about her future wellbeing & as I stated it really does look like she removed the bottles to temporarily conceal evidence AND herself meaning she had every intention to return to her car/life but probably got lost hiding in the woods instead of accepting a ride (which was unlikely a willing car would be passing & be leaving (not returning home) the area at that time). But what benefit would there be waiting it out in freezing cold woods? The car & windscreen was damaged & would need time & money to fix it if it even was economically viable. A courtesy car may have been an option perhaps the next day, somehow? How would she report & collect it & did she she even have the correct roadside cover?
How long would she need to wait it out in the cold woods & with no reception to sort matters?
Maura should have also been aware that by abandoning the vehicle (especially how it was allegedly left), LE would likely tow it away so there would be little point waiting it out until whenever.
The point being that she either removed the liquor to hide it or maybe there was already a ride waiting. Waiting it out in the woods just wouldn’t have solved anything given the state of the vehicle.
So, if she was hiding in the woods having later came to her senses & feeling the cold, she would have had no other option than to return to the car & seek help, even if it meant her being in serious trouble with LE.
Given that possibility, the reasons she couldn’t return were that she’d got lost, died, fell asleep & died, was attacked by an animal/ person or went to commit suicide OR had already accepted a lift — BUT there is almost zero possibility that she decided to wittingly spend the night in the woods (after thinking it over) as how would that mend or guarantee that her car would be there the next morning, the same as if she’d have accepted a lift with the plans to stay over at a hotel (if she could afford it).