John Stone allowed himself a wry smile. “Five words, huh? Well, Miss Neary, we picked up a lot of chatter—teenagers talking, you know. They may confiscate her computer, see what shows up on there.”
My mouth went dry. “What do you mean?”
“Computer records. We had a incident last year, a juvenile met someone online and was abducted. Picked her up down in Portsmouth.”
He shook his head. “Least she was alive. Me, I wouldn’t let my kids do that stuff. God knows who they meet up with. So you were at the Good Tern that night? Did you see her there?”
“No.”
Stone stared out the window again, brooding. “I talked to Toby Barrett yesterday evening, he said you’d been there with him and Gryffin here.”
He looked at Gryffin. “You were at the motel too, right? You and Miss Neary—you were in adjacent rooms? And Toby said you were at the Good Tern afterward. But Miss Neary, you said you only met him yesterday.”
I stared at John Stone. So did Gryffin.
“I forgot,” I said at last. “I mean—I saw him at the motel. I bumped into him.”
“Really bumped into me,” said Gryffin. “Outside my room.”
“What does this have to do with MacKenzie Libby?” I said. “Because my father’s an attorney, and if you’re going to do any kind of questioning, I’m going to call him right now.”
John Stone lifted a placating hand. “No, no—Merrill Libby said he hadn’t seen the two of you together when you checked in. He said he always rents those two rooms out in the winter, something about the heat. We just—he’s obviously concerned about the young lady. MacKenzie. He says she’s a good kid. A good girl.”
He sighed. “These kids … I got a grandson that age, you don’t want to think of what can happen to them. Right now they’ve got the Game Warden searching for her.”
“Game warden?” I broke in. “An old lady dies of natural causes and you send out a homicide detective, but this kid disappears and she gets a freaking game warden? Like she’s a dog?”
John Stone looked taken aback. “Well, it’s standard procedure. They’re starting to organize people to search for her. Merrill Libby, he’ll mobilize the whole town. But I’ll you the truth, Miss Neary—you wander off into the woods, you’re a lot better off having the warden service look for you with trained dogs. He knows those woods better’n anybody.”
“But you just said she might have taken off with someone. Not that she’s lost in the woods.”
John Stone shrugged. “Well, probably that’s all that happened. Probably she got ticked at her dad and run off. Then it got cold, it got dark, she started back but she got disorientated and she’s out there now. I just hope she didn’t take a fall somewhere, like if she went down to that pier at Burnt Harbor.”
He made a grim face. “Probably not cold enough for someone to freeze to death, long as she didn’t go in the water, not a young person in good health, anyway.”
He turned to where Hakkala was putting away his phone. “Well, I think that’s about it. Time to go find Everett, take me back over. You think of anything else about Merrill Libby’s girl, you let me know, okay?”
“Kenzie,” I said, but John Stone didn’t hear. He set down his clipboard and headed into the next room. Gryffin went with him.
I looked at the table. Stone’s ballpoint was lying on top of the papers he’d filled out. It was a nice pen, dark blue with gold lettering on the barrel. I picked it up and read paswegas county police department: proud to serve. I glanced to where Stone and Gryffin were talking, their backs to me, then slid the pen into my jacket pocket.
“Sorry again for your loss,” the sheriff said. He shook hands with Gryffin, stepped over to have a word with Hakkala. Gryffin walked back to me.
“Well,” he said.
“I better get going too.” I shoved my hands in my pockets and stared at my feet. “Look, I—”
“Stop.” He turned to the window, blinking away tears, then glanced back at me. “How’re you getting back to Burnt Harbor?”
“Toby, I guess. If he’ll take me.”
“Oh, he’ll take you. If you can find him. Know where he lives?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
I stared at him, that green-shot eye, and, inexplicably, thought of Christine. Grief took me, the irrevocable knowledge that I was seeing him for the last time and I would never, ever be able to make it right.
I looked away. “I better go get my things. Will they let me go upstairs?”
“I already brought them down.”
He ducked into the next room, and I had a flash of panic, recalling the turtle shell with my film in it. Before I could say anything, he’d returned.
“Here.” I tried to look grateful as he handed me my bag and camera. “Hope you get home okay.”
“Yeah, me too. Gryffin—I’m really sorry.”
I turned to go. He stopped me and drew me to him. For just an instant he held me, his chin grazing the top of my head. Then he pulled away and walked into the next room.
I zipped my jacket, grateful I still had Toby’s sweater, slung my bag over my shoulder then looked up to see Hakkala watching me.
“You’re leaving?”
“Unless you need me for something.”
“Is there a way to contact you—cell phone, local number?”
“I don’t have a cell phone. I’m going to Burnt Harbor to get my car and drive back to New York. You have my number there.”
He nodded. “Thanks for your assistance,” he said and rejoined the others.
And that was it. As abruptly as Aphrodite had dismissed me during our aborted interview, I’d been cut loose. I really was free to go.
The realization should have been a relief. Instead I felt a stab of hopelessness that not even speed could blunt. I took a deep breath, went outside and started walking, stooped against the frigid wind. I’d buy another bottle of Jack Daniel’s and then find Toby. As I headed through the evergreens I scanned the trees, looking for signs of the animal I’d seen earlier. But there was nothing there.
19
There was a little crowd inside the Island Store when I arrived. Five young guys in Carhart jackets stood by the beer cooler, talking. As the door slammed behind me they glanced up. One of them was Robert.
“Hey,” Suze called as I approached the counter. “What’s going on up there? I heard Gryffin’s mother died.”
“Yeah, n’she probably killed her,” muttered Robert.
Suze glared at him. “It’s Sunday! No beer till twelve!”
“Isn’t that one underage?” I cocked my thumb at Robert.
“What, just because he’s still in high school?” She shook her blond dreadlocks then lowered her voice so the others couldn’t hear. “They’re looking for trouble. Actually, they’re looking for you. So stick around here after they leave, okay? You guys ready?” she yelled.
They shuffled over. They were all built like Robert, heavyset and leaning toward muscle, with cold, challenging eyes. They bought cigarettes and Slim Jims and a couple bottles of Mountain Dew, took their change and left, brushing past me as they headed for the door. After they’d gone, Suze’s big black dog ambled out from behind the counter, tail sweeping the floor in a lazy wave, and snuffed at me.
I scratched his ear and looked at Suze. She wore a lime green hooded sweatshirt and baggy cargo pants, earcuffs shaped like silver lizards.
“So you heard,” I said. “She died in the night, I guess. Gryffin found her when he got up. It looks like she fell and hit her head.”
“Poor Gryffin. I never really knew her. She didn’t come in much, and she wasn’t real friendly when she did. Like I said, a bitch. Want some coffee?” She filled a Styrofoam cup. “Here. You look like you could use it.”