"Does it look to you like there"s a house on it?"
"Can"t tell from here. You have binoculars?"
"Not on me."
"h.e.l.l of a P.I. you are. You aren"t supposed to leave home without "em."
"So yank my license" She squinted harder but couldn"t see any better. "Why haven"t we noticed it from Endover?"
"Probably there"s a bend in the sh.o.r.eline, maybe some woods or a hill that blocks it from view. Or something."
"Yeah. It"s the "or something" part that worries me."
Chapter 13.
Look over there, " Lou said when they pulled the VW into a parking s.p.a.ce at the motel late that afternoon.
Max looked where he indicated. A little boy was stationed outside Lou"s motel room as if he were standing sentry duty.
"It"s Sid. Wonder why he"s outside?" She frowned. "You think Storm and Jay took off?"
"Jason"s Jeep is still here."
They got out of the Bug and started across the parking lot. As they did, a car pulled in and moved in their direction, and suddenly Lou snapped his arm around Max"s waist and propelled her quickly off the pavement as he kept a wary eye on the vehicle.
They stopped on the sidewalk that ran past the room doors. She put a hand over his on her waist, so he wouldn"t take it away too soon, and looked up at him. "What was that about?"
"Just being careful."
She smiled a little, her heart going warm and gooey. The car, meanwhile, pulled harmlessly into a parking spot. "I like you this way. All protective and watchful."
"Someone made a try for you last night. We can"t be sure he won"t try again."
"A vampire made a try for me last night, " she reminded him. "He won"t try again during broad daylight."
Lou shrugged and averted his eyes. "I"m just making sure he doesn"t get the chance."
"Because you care about me."
"Of course I care, Max. You"re one of my best friends. Maybe the very best, you know?"
"I know." She held his gaze, wishing he could see that there was a lot more than friendship flowing back and forth between them. But he knew that. He might deny it, but he knew. He had to know.
She could see the knowledge right now, in his eyes. "Hey, mister."
Lou jerked his gaze from hers, and Max felt lonely without it. But she turned with him to face the little boy who stood near Lou"s door.
"Hi, Sid." Lou glanced at his watch. "Sorry I"m late." "It"s okay. I waited."
"I see you did. Why didn"t you go inside?"
The boy frowned. "You said meet you here. At the door."
Lou nodded, as if that made perfect sense. "That"s right, I did, didn"t I? Well, I"m here now, so you can come on inside." The boy looked a bit hesitant. Max said, "Normally, you shouldn"t talk to strangers, of course. But Mr.
Malone is a policeman. A real one. So it"s okay this one time."
Sid looked up at her and smiled his crooked-toothed smile. "It"s okay. I know who"s good and who"s not."
"You do?"
"Uh-huh"
"And how do you know that?"
"By the colors. You have orange, red and yellow. And you"re blue and green, " he told Lou.
Lou frowned, looking down at his clothes as if in search of the alleged colors.
"I think he"s talking about auras."
"Nope. Jus" colors, " the boy said.
She smiled at him and tapped on the door. Footsteps crossed the room, then Stormy tugged it open.
"You"re back, " she said.
"And I"m beat. How about you?"
"Exhausted. Found some interesting stuff, though." She smiled down at the boy. "Good to see you again, Sid. You want some junk food?"
He frowned.
"Chips, dip, soda, cheesy poofs?"
"Yeah!"
"Help yourself, " she said, stepping aside and pointing to the table, where open bags and crumbs reigned supreme. The boy raced inside and dug in.
Max sank into a chair and leaned her head back against it. Lou went straight to the bathroom and came back with a pair of tablets in his palm, grabbing a diet cola from the ice bucket as he pa.s.sed. He handed both to Max. "For the head."
"I"m fine."
"Take "em, anyway. Humor me, huh?"
She nodded and took the pain reliever, washing it down with the soft drink. She thanked him with her eyes, then turned to Stormy. "We talked to people and put posters up in the next towns in three directions, then plastered Endover with them. Funny thing is, around here, no one is the least bit interested in knowing what we"re doing or why. They don"t ask. And when you tell them, they really don"t seem to care." Stormy nodded thoughtfully.
"The ones who responded at all mostly said the same thing. "Stop poking around, go home and wait.
They"ll turn up.""
Stormy nodded again. "Makes sense."
"How so?"
She reached for a stack of papers, and Max noticed the printer that sat on the table where none had been before. "You two have been busy, " she said.
"Yeah, Jason picked us up a printer, along with a full supply of snacks and c.o.ke." She handed the stack of pages to Max. Lou leaned close to read over her shoulder. "A lot of people seem to disappear while pa.s.sing through or near this place. Every one I"ve been able to check up on turned up safe and sound within a few days to a week later."
"I"ll tell you one thing, it was a huge load off my mind when Stormy told me that, " Jason said.
Max flipped through the printouts of news articles Stormy had apparently found online. "Where were they found?"
"Usually within a few miles of their homes. The odd thing is, none of them had any memory of where they"d been."
Max frowned. "Break it down for me, Storm."
"Women, between twenty-two and thirty-eight, not counting our two seventeen-year-olds. Attractive, as I said before. Those seem to be the only common denominators. Other than that, they"re all over the map. Married, single, professionals, blue-collar workers, some had kids, some didn"t, and they come from a wide range of locations."
"But they were all pa.s.sing through Endover?"
"Looks like."
"Did you lose somebody, too?" Sid asked.
Max had nearly forgotten the boy was in the room. She turned to look at him, sitting on the foot of the bed, a bowl of cheese curls in his lap, his lips coated in orange powder. Beside him was one of the posters she and Lou had run off at a print shop this morning. It had a photo of Delia and Janie on it.
She"d sprung for the extra bucks to have the posters done in color. Grainy black and white just wasn"t as effective.
Lou moved to the bed, sat down beside the boy. "That"s right, we did. Those girls there in the picture.
This one is Delia, " he said, putting a finger on Delia"s face. "And that"s her friend Janie."
The boy looked around the room, his gaze halting on Jason. "Don"t worry, " he said. "They"ll come back."
"How do you know that, Sid?" Lou asked. The boy shrugged. "I don" know. I jus" do"
"Sid, " Max said, moving closer. "Have other people come here looking for people they"ve lost?"
"Sure, " he said with a nod. "But they don"t find "em here."
"They don"t?"
"Nope. They find "em home." He looked again at Jason.
"You should go home. That"s where she"s gonna be."
"I"m not so sure about that, kid, " Jason said.
"Is that why you"re so spotty?"
"Spotty?"
"Are you talking about his colors, Sid?" Maxie asked. Sid nodded, and she looked at Jason. "You know I can"t see them, like you can."
"n.o.body can." He lowered his eyes, looking a little sad.
"What do Jason"s colors look like?"
"Not good, " he said. "Can"t even see the real colors-got a dark cloud over "em. Like everybody else around here. An" black spots, too."
"Everybody in this town has a dark cloud over their colors?" Max asked.
He looked at her, then at Lou. "My mama says it"s all in my head. Same as the night man."
"The night man?"
He nodded, his eyes big, searching, and fearful. Until Lou said, "I think I saw the night man, too, Sid. I saw him last night."
Sid blinked, looking as if he didn"t quite believe it. "Grown-ups never see him."
"Maybe some grown-ups can, " Lou said. "I sure saw someone. Someone with long dark hair. And he was in dark colors." Lou lifted his brows. "I mean, his clothes were dark-colored. I don"t know what his other colors were like."
"He don"t have any. I thought maybe "cause he wasn"t real, like Mama said." Sid lifted his gaze to Lou"s.
"But he does have long black hair and black clothes."
"And you"re the only one who"s ever seen him?" Lou asked.
"I don"t know. Maybe." "Do you know where he lives?"
Sid averted his eyes quickly, swiping them with the back of his hand.
Lou leaned closer. "Hey, it"s okay. Don"t be afraid."
"I"m not. It"s just-n.o.body ever believed me before." Max glimpsed a tenderness in Lou"s eyes she had never seen there. A moment later, he was hugging the boy close, patting his back.
"I believe you, " he said. "We all do. And I think your mama would, too, if the bad air wasn"t putting that dark cloud over her colors."
The boy"s arms locked around Lou"s neck, and he held on tight. When he finally released his grip, he sat back and looked up into Lou"s eyes.