He smiled at her. “Wanna try it my way?”
Ruthie shrugged and sank down in the seat.
They drove out of the maze of houses that all looked the same and back to the main road. They passed a fire station, bank, pizza place, and grocery store. Soon the road was lined with shopping plazas on both sides. Ruthie was amazed by how busy they were—cars coming and going in and out of parking lots. Shouldn’t people be at work?
Buzz pulled into a Starbucks, then reached in the back for his messenger bag.
“Why are we stopping?” Fawn asked.
“He’s gonna search for them online. Like I probably should have let him do before we left home this morning.”
“Probably should have,” Buzz said cheerfully. “But it’s never too late. Come on, let’s get some coffee and hot chocolate.”
“Can you really do that?” Fawn asked as she followed Ruthie and Buzz out of the truck. “Just look a person up?”
“Sure,” Ruthie said. “I think you can find out just about anything if you know what you’re doing.”
“Wow,” Fawn said, her eyes big. “I wish we had a computer.”
For the millionth time, Ruthie cursed her parents for not allowing a computer in the house. They claimed that technology wasn’tsafe, that Big Brother was watching everything, monitoring every e-mail and Web search. Her mom also said wireless Internet and cell towers messed with your body’s electricity and could give you cancer. Ruthie had to go into school early and stay late to use the computers to work on reports and essays.
Fawn was only in first grade and hadn’t taken any classes in the computer lab yet. It was a magical, mythical realm to her.
Ruthie ordered coffees for her and Buzz and a hot chocolate for Fawn.
“Let it cool off before you take a sip, all right?” Ruthie warned.
“Mom puts milk in to cool it,” Fawn said. Ruthie nodded, and dumped in some half-and-half, testing it herself to make sure it wasn’t too hot before handing it back to Fawn.
They settled in around a table, and Buzz fired up his laptop, which was covered with stickers of aliens and UFO organizations. He typed for a minute and scowled at the screen. Fawn pulled her chair around for a closer look.
“Do you have games on there?” she asked.
“Tons,” Buzz said.
“Can you teach me to play one? Please?”
Buzz smiled. “Later. I promise.”
Fawn nodded excitedly and took a sip of hot chocolate, not taking her eyes off the screen. Buzz kept typing, fingers clicking on the keyboard.
“No listing for them in Woodhaven, but I get, like, a zillion hits for Thomas and Bridget O’Rourkes all over the country. We’ve got doctors, actors, you name it. Picking the two of them out from all these names would be like finding a needle in a haystack.” He took a sip of coffee, then typed some more. “But it just so happens that therearetwo O’Rourkes listed here in town, William and Candace. Don’t know if they’re related to our couple, but I got their addresses and phone numbers. At this point, I’d say they’re our best lead.”
“Let’s go,” Ruthie said, hopeful once more.
“I thought I was gonna try a computer game,” Fawn said, her face serious.
“When we get back to Vermont,” Buzz said. “Right now, we’re going to go check out these addresses.”
“Because maybe the people can help us find Mom?” Fawn said.
“That’s what we’re hoping,” Ruthie told her. “Slip your coat back on and grab your cocoa.”
Buzz jotted down the addresses and closed up his laptop, and they carried their drinks to the truck.
Back on Main Street, waiting at the next traffic light, Ruthie studied the landscape of stores and restaurants in a strip mall up ahead: Woodhaven Liquors, Donny’s New York Style Pizza, Pink Flamingo Gifts. There, at the end of the strip, was a closed business with boarded-up windows and aFOR RENTsign out front.
She blinked, bit her tongue to make sure she was awake and not dreaming.
