Blue Twilight by MAGGIE SHAYNE Page B

heat.”
    â€œHe probably had a hot pack tucked in his pocket.”
    She got in the front passenger side. Jason got in the back, shaking his head. “Just as suspicious as you always were, aren’t you, Maxie?”
    â€œNot as suspicious as I am,” Lou said as he got behind the wheel. “What were you thinking in there?”
    â€œExcuse me?” Jason looked confused.
    â€œWhy did you agree with that cop that Delia probably just ran off?” He turned in his seat as he spoke.
    â€œWhy wouldn’t I agree with him? It’s possible, isn’t it?”
    â€œYou aren’t going to get any help from him if he thinks she’s a runaway. And I don’t think you’d be out here looking for her, much less that you would have dragged private detectives down here to look for her, if you really believed that,” Lou said.
    â€œHe’s upset, that’s all, Lou. Go easy on him. His sister’s missing.” Max sent Jason a reassuring smile, then faced Lou again. “Shouldn’t we insist on an Amber Alert or something?”
    Lou shook his head. “Delia and Janie don’t meet the requirements. You have to know for sure a child’s beenabducted, and you need a description of the perp or at least his vehicle.”
    â€œThat’s asinine.”
    â€œThat keeps kids who are lost or who’ve run away from clogging up the system—so the ones who really need help get it faster.”
    â€œAnd what about the ones who slip through the cracks?”
    He shrugged. “I didn’t say it was perfect. I happen to think it’s the best system it can possibly be, flaws and all.” Then he shrugged. “Besides, officially, she’s not even missing.”
    She could have growled at him but didn’t.
    Lou looked at her. “Where to, Max? This is your game, your call.”
    Hell, he was the one with all the cop-sense, not to mention experience. His giving her the upper hand was a means to placate her, to skirt around her irritation with him for his treatment of Jason, and she knew it. But she would take it all the same.
    Sighing, she said, “I want to check around town, like we discussed. The gas stations, diners, convenience stores. But I really want to check on Stormy first. Let’s grab some take-out and head back. I don’t like this town. I don’t like that pimply-faced kid at the Bates Motel back there, either.”
    â€œIf we do all that first, that will make it heading for sundown by the time we get to the visitor center,” Lou said.
    She nodded. “Yeah. That’s another reason. I want to see what goes on around this place after the sun goes down. Just what is it that creepy cop doesn’t want us to see?”
    â€œOh, don’t even start with the paranormal theories, Max. You’ve got no basis—”
    â€œDon’t start. We both know you’re too skeptical to be objective.” She sighed and changed the subject. “Did we bring flashlights?”
    â€œJust one,” Lou said. “I think I saw a hardware store up here just…right there.” He pointed to it just before pulling the car into the tiny square of parking lot in front of the store. The place was no bigger than a shack, but the sign on the door read Open.
    Max got out of the car and hurried into the store at Lou’s side.
    For a small place, it held a lot of goods. The shelves were set close together, making narrow aisles. Not a shopping cart in sight. Every shelf was stacked with goods clear to the ceiling. Tools everywhere, a row for plumbing supplies, another for electrical, two rows devoted to gardening needs, with everything from soil, fertilizer and seeds, to hoes, rakes and shovels. A silver-haired woman was picking through the mesh sacks of flower bulbs when Max and Lou walked past her. She looked up, met their eyes and held them for an elastic moment, her own utterly blank, before finally