Blue Twilight by MAGGIE SHAYNE

dislike and distrust seemed to be growing with every minute he spent in Jason’s presence. She couldn’t do anything about that right now, so she kept her focus on the matter at hand. The only cop in Endover. “If it wasn’t daylight outside, I’d peg him for a vamp, no question. And I don’t mean the good kind. Lily-white skin just hanging off his bones like sheets on a clothesline. Nothing underneath. No fat or muscle or…soul. And those eyes.”
    â€œVamp?” Jason stared at her, his eyes widening.
    â€œAs in vampire, ” Max whispered.
    Lou glanced toward the door through which the cop had gone. The only thing visible back there were file boxes stacked high.
    â€œYou don’t suppose he’s found some way to overcome the natural aversion to daylight, do you?” Maxie whispered.
    â€œJesus, Max, you don’t actually believe in that sort of thing. Do you?” Jason asked.
    Maxie and Lou both looked at him. Max said, “You’ve missed a lot since you’ve been gone, pal.”
    â€œI hope you’re planning to fill me in.”
    Lou jumped in before Max could answer, steering her back to their conversation. “You’re jumping to conclusions, Max. You’ve got no evidence that Fieldner’s a vamp. You’re just wrought up about Stormy begging off the way she did.”
    Max had to look away, because he was dead right on that score. Stormy, claiming to be tired and wanting to hang out in her motel room and maybe take a nap—that was totally off. “It’s not like her to admit to needing a rest—even when she does.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œYou’re worried about her, too, then?”
    Lou nodded.
    Jason said, “Do you…have some reason to worry?” When they both looked at him, he went on. “She told me about the shooting. Is she really all right?”
    â€œThat’s what the doctors keep telling us,” Max said.
    â€œBut you don’t believe it?”
    Chief Fieldner came back into the room, moving on legs that seemed too thin to carry a normal-size torso around. Yet despite his gauntness, he seemed strong. Almost unnaturally so. He had a map in his hand and was unfolding it even as he worked his way across the room to the desk, to lay it out.
    â€œHere we go,” he said. A skinny finger with a cracked, chipped nail pointed to the map. “This is a map of the entire town. Here’s that visitor center you were asking about.” He lifted his dead, pale blue gaze to each of theirs in turn—they lingered longest on Jason’s face. “You have some basis for being curious about that particular spot?”
    Yeah, Max thought. Stormy got an odd feeling about it. She hadn’t said so, but Max had seen her reaction. It wasn’t something she was willing to ignore. But she kept all of that to herself. Lou would think it was foolish, and it wasn’t anything the others needed to know.
    â€œJust seemed a likely place to start,” Lou said.
    â€œIt’s closed, you know. Been closed for years.”
    Lou nodded. “We passed it on the way into town. Wouldn’t have known it was closed to look at it. Maybe the girls didn’t, either.”
    The chief sighed and returned his attention to the map. “Well, there’s not much out there. Parkin’ lot. Woods out back. You can see, those woods spread out some. Run right down to the coast. But I did a walk through myself, last night. Didn’t find a thing.”
    â€œYou searched the woods?” Lou sounded surprised.
    â€œWell, sure. I took a look around after this young fellow told me about his sister and her friend vanishing like they did. I couldn’t do anything official, them bein’ gone only a matter of hours at the time. No sign of foul play. No basis for a case. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to help out if I could.”
    Lou sent Max a look, almost as if he