“I’ll look forward to it,” I told her. And I thought maybe I sort ofwould. “And it was nothing about this issue with… missingpeople?"
Principal Turner rolled her eyes. “God, no. But I forgot! You were at the meeting the other day, weren't you?” I nodded and she shook her head slowly. “I have neverseenmy brothers as livid as they were when they heard what Karen had done. Dare and Mitch were both ready to spit. And I heard Silaswas…”
“Irate?” I suggested. “Oh, yeah.” I hadn’t known he was capable of anger likethat.
After he’d mostly quieted the crowd in the diner enough for them to hear him speak, he’d reminded all of us that there was no evidence of a crime concerning the camper, and if there was a public safety concern, Mitch would be the one to tell us. “The worst thing we can do right now is stir up more rumors. Everyone needs to sit tight and let us do our jobs,” he’dinsisted.
It had almost seemed to work, in the moment. But for the past two days, the only thinganyonewas talking about atFanaille,or in the staff room, or at the hardware store, was what had happened to John Carpenter and Elliot Marks, The Missing Camper and The MissingRanger.
She sighed. “Dare’s taking it really hard. Elliot Marks has worked with him foryears. The guy called in sick Monday, then Dare didn’t hear from him at all Tuesday. Went to check up on him Wednesday, and Elliot’s landlady said he hadn’t been back since Sunday night.” Her mouth twisted. “Now Dare’s thinking if only he’d followed upsooner.”
I shook my head. “That’scrazy.”
“Yep. But guilt usually is.” She shrugged. “Anyway, we definitely won’t be talking to the kids aboutanyof that. Today’s assembly was just a drug resistancetalk.”
“Huh.” I rubbed at my chin, noticing the stubble that was already back after just a few hours. “Drugs? I wouldn’t have thought that would be a problem here,” I told her. “I mean, O’Leary’s so isolated, and everyone seems so…wholesome.”
She looked at me pityingly. “Ev, honey, just because there’s no decent Thai restaurant for miles doesn’t mean we get a pass on crime. And it’s not just the newcomers to town, either, no matter whatKarenMitchener-Martinsays. Sometimes the very fact that we’re so tight-knit makes it harder tospot."
“I can see that," I agreed. "I was just telling…um,someone… recently that when you’ve known a person their whole life, you might tend to be a littleblind.”
“That’s for sure. Anyway, you get back to your meditation. Staff meetingWednesday?”
“I’ll be there,” I said as she walked out and I returned to the sink and the brushes. My meditative mood was gone, though. All I could think about now was the idea of staying, listing all the logical reasons why a permanent place in O’Leary would probably drive me insane, and trying to push down all the reasons why my gut said insanity wastempting.
“Ev?” Si said, hesitant andcautious.
Now that was a voice that would never have to say my name more than once to get my attention. My stomach flipped as I turned myhead.
“Hey. What are you doinghere?”
“I was at the school for the drug presentation. But, uh… if you mean here in this room? I dunno. I just wanted to see you,mostly.”
Damn if that didn’t warm my shriveled, angry littleheart.
Silas lookedtired.Don’t get me wrong, he also looked every bit as good as he always did. His tight black uniform pants bulged around thick thighs, his red O’Leary PD polo shirt pulled tight across his shoulders and displayed the forearms I’d drooled over like an idiot, and his wide black belt held a variety of implements, like handcuffs and a badge, that should not have been sexy, butwere. His eyes were dull, though, and his shoulders slumped. I wanted to give him ahug.
I turned back to the sink. “How’s itgoing?”
Silas and I hadn’t spoken at all since his attempt at apologizing the other night had gotten so thoroughly derailed by Karen’s interruption, and I’d been in this weird state of suspended animation ever since. I was still hurt by what he’d said last Sunday, andyeah,a half-apology didn’t change that. But seeing him like this, worn and worried, melted away a good part of myanger.
Okay, fine, almost all of my anger. I was mostly justsad.
“It’s been busy,” he sighed, and by the scrape of the metal chair on the linoleum floor, it sounded like he’d sat down. “Exhausting.”
“Any word on the missingpeople?”
“None.” He exhaled, a sound of frustration, and the words started pouring out of him. “Of course, that means jack shit. You can’t prove a negative. I mean, these guys could be in Syracuse eating ice cream right now. Or one could be in Nepal and the other at the bottom of aravine.”
I shut off the water and turned around, drying the brushes with a towel. “But you don’t think that, doyou?”
“A smart guy recently told me that where there’s smoke there’s fire,” Si said with a whisper of a smile. “My gut says they're connected. But I’ll be damned if we know what’s happened to them, or what the connectionis.”
“Besides the woods, obviously.” I lifted a brow when his blue eyes met mine. “I mean, they’d both been in the woods. A ranger and ahiker.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed a hand over his forehead. “But if that’s the connection, I’m connected too. So are you, Daniel, Dare, Grace, Carmen, Mitch, Frank, Julian, Shane, Jamie, and my own father,” he counted on his fingers. “And dozens more we can't even know about. Plus, both of the missing men had been in Goode’s Diner andFanailleand Hardison’s Drug store in the last two weeks, and they drive the same kind ofcar.”
“Wow,” I said. “Youhavebeenbusy.”
