Page 21 of The Summer Guests

“Colin!” his mother snapped. “This isn’t helping. Please, let’s all go inside. We need to talk about this in private.”

Maggie waited until the family retreated into the house, then turned to Jo.

“You said the phone last pinged around noon yesterday?”

“Yes.”

“And there’s been nothing since?”

“No. Either it’s turned off or it’s been damaged.”

Maggie’s gaze shifted to Maiden Pond, its surface shimmering under the midday sun.Or it’s underwater,she thought. Without a word, she headed down the sloping lawn, past a pair of canoes resting in the shade of a pine tree, past a trio of white Adirondack chairs. She stepped onto Moonview’s private dock and looked across the pond, at the far more modest camps on the opposite shore. In another month, all these houses would be occupied and people would be sunning on their decks and splashing in the water. But this was still early in the season, and most of the homes stood vacant. No one had been here to see the girl climb out of Luther’s truck. To witness what happened to her next.

She heard boards creak as Jo stepped onto the dock to join her.

“So it was an abduction,” said Maggie.

“It certainly looks like it now,” said Jo. “I thought maybe she’d gone off the rails like teenagers do. Ran away and hid out with a friend somewhere. Or maybe it was an accident. She jumped into the water and drowned, and we’re just waiting for the body to pop up. But the backpack, that changes everything.”

“You said it was found on Route One, southbound lane?”

“Yes. Probably tossed out a car window. The perp discarding the evidence.”

“From there, he could’ve taken her to Portland, Boston. Or beyond.”

“Where we’ll never find her.”

“Luther didn’t do this, Jo.”

“I know that’s what you believe.”

“He has a granddaughter. You’ve seen how much he adores Callie. The idea he’d hurt any girl Callie’s age—”

“I know it’s unlikely, but I have to consider him a suspect. The Conovers certainly do.”

“They don’t know him.”

“They know he had the girl in his truck. They know he’s the last person who saw her alive. And Jesus,lookat the man! He’s like somehairy old Bigfoot who just walked out of the woods. To people like them, he’sexactlywhat a killer might look like.”

“‘People like them’? What does that mean?”

“You can see they have money. And they probably think we’re just country idiots, so they’re going to second-guess every decision I make.”

Maggie turned to look at Moonview, and she glimpsed movement in the top window. A face stared down at them. Not one of the family members she’d seen earlier, but a shaggy-haired young man. “Who’s the boy?” she asked.

Jo turned to the house, and the boy in the window quickly ducked out of sight. “That’s the grandson, Kit. Colin’s boy. Odd duck.”

“Meaning?”

“Hardly said a word to me last night. Like he’s mute or something. His mother did all the talking for him.”

“Maybe you scared him.”

Jo glanced down at herself. “I’mscary?”

“Not you, but your uniform. Maybe he’s had a bad experience with the police. Something worth checking out, don’t you think?” Maggie turned back to the pond, where a rising wind raked the surface into ripples. “Keep us in the loop, Jo.”

“Have you heard a word I said? I don’t wantanyof you involved in this.”

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