Page 34 of Nightshade

“Uh, no. I didn’t think to—”

“He might be on the run. Go back up there and look around the house. Ask about his things. See if he packed a bag.”

“But why would he do that and not tell his wife?”

“I don’t know if he would, but on Friday I gave him until Wednesday—tomorrow—to come in and talk about the buffalo mutilation. He could’ve gotten scared and rabbited. Or he could actually be missing—as in forcibly missing.”

“Oh, wow.”

“Yeah. So you do that and I’ll go check out the cart barn.”

“Roger that.”

She got up and left the bullpen. Stilwell turned and saw Mercy at her desk.

“Mercy, anything on the socials about Leigh-Anne Moss?” he asked.

“I found her on Instagram,” Mercy said. “Her profile hasn’t been updated in a while. Do you want me to send it to you?”

“I don’t have Instagram. Can you print it out?”

“I think so. Might take me a bit.”

“Fine. I’m going over to the desal district to check the cart barn.”

Once he was in the Gator and heading to where Gaston worked, he called Tash.

“Tash, something came up and I can’t make it for a while,” he said. “But I did order the food. Can you go pick it up?”

“Uh, I can’t leave right now,” Tash said. “I’ll see if Heidi can go over there.”

Heidi Allen was a secretary in the harbormaster’s office. She was also the mayor’s aunt, which caused Tash some concern. She worried that the mayor had placed Heidi there so he’d have eyes on the internal operation of one of Avalon’s most important and visible public services.

“Sorry about this,” Stilwell said. “I’ll come by to look at the cams as soon as I get free of this other thing.”

“What’s happening?” Tash asked.

“A missing person. I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Okay. I’ll keep your lunch warm.”

He was already up high and cresting the mountain on Wrigley Road. The air was crisp and clear, and the view across the bay was marred only by the hazy layer of smog that hung over the mainland like a warning. Stilwell often drove up here to contemplate his surroundings and think about what he had left behind in the dirty air over there. It always seemed to reinforce the idea that sometimes you don’t know what you’re looking for until you’ve found it.

He had found good things on Catalina. He had found Tash and he had found meaning in his work. He had initially objected to his transfer but now knew that he never wanted to go back. That he was home.

At the cart barn, the garage door was down and there was no sign of activity. Stilwell got out of the Gator and went up to the pedestrian door to the right of the garage. It was locked, so he knocked. He waited and then knocked again. There was a camera over the door. He looked up at it and guessed that there was someone inside watching him. He stared unblinking at the lens for a few moments before turning.

As he walked back to the cart, he heard the door open behind him. He turned to see Oscar Terranova standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

“You scared away my mechanic, Stilwell,” he said. “Now I have to find a new one.”

“Iscared him away?” Stilwell said. “Or was it you?”

Terranova didn’t answer. Stilwell walked up the drive and over to him. He stood close enough to make Terranova drop his relaxed position and take half a step back.

“I don’t care where you stashed him or what you did with him,” Stilwell said. “It’s not going to stop anything. This doesn’t end here.”

“We’ll just have to see,” Terranova said.

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