The Gingerbread Man by MAGGIE SHAYNE

walking?”
    “She left already. I couldn’t talk her out of it—I swear that girl can be so stubborn.”
    He nodded, tried not to look as exasperated as he felt. “I’ll go after her,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll see her safely home.” He thought about adding, “and don’t tell your brother-in-law,” but decided against it.
    Doris smiled, looking relieved. He might have suspected her of matchmaking, but there was something in her face. Something truly concerned. It was like a very dim reflection of Sara Prague’s face, looking at him from across his desk, asking him to find her children. And just like before, he promised he would make it okay. The realization made his stomach twist painfully. Damn, when was he going to learn?
    “Thank you, Vince,” Doris told him. “You’re a good man. I can tell.”

    H OLLY LEFT THE PARTY EARLIER THAN she’d expected. She had never done that before in the five years she and her mother had lived here. It wasn’t a part of the detailed plans she’d made for tonight. She’d had it all worked out. After all, annual events weren’t as easily controlled as daily ones. You could get into a habit, a routine, of doing certain things in a certain order every day, until it became second nature. But events that only happened once a year took more time. More effort. She was supposed to have spent a half hour catching up with Uncle Marty and Aunt Jen. She was supposed to have taken a minute to talk with Doc Graycloud. And she had planned to spend some time with Bethany, too, to start planning that Halloween costume, so she could go in search of a pattern on her Sunday shopping trip with Mom.
    But, no. No, her well-laid plan was destroyed, her carefully calculated outline of the evening’s activities, torn to bits. All because of Vince O’Mally.
    What interest could he possibly have in her past?
    She walked away from the lake, from the cars in the lot, from the cabins. She walked until the fire’s glow no longer reached her. The road was dark. No streetlights, not here. And no stars tonight, either. It was as if the sky matched her mood. Dark.
    That cop was up to something. Something involving her, and her past, and that book. That damned book. That damned, damned, damned book. It had triggered something, when she’d heard the title of the missing book. It had set things into motion in her mind, things she’d locked away and managed to keep contained for a long, long time.
    A little girl’s voice starting singing in her mind. Run, run, run, fast as you can—
    “No,” Holly whispered. But it came again. You can’t catch me-
    She pressed her hands to her ears, closed her eyes. “No, no, dammit, no!” She wasn’t going to think about it, she wasn’t. It was in the past, and that was where it belonged. But then she was gone, sinking into an abyss of memory, and suddenly she was small, and carrying a backpack as she walked. The gravel was replaced by a sidewalk, the night sky by daylight. And a little girl with dimples and blue eyes and golden blonde hair in braids skipped along beside her, clutching a copy of her favorite book in her hands ... and she was singing ...
    “Run, run, run, fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man. ”
    Ivy sang the words she’d memorized from her favorite story, as they walked home from school together. Holly used to walk home alone, but now that Ivy was in kindergarten, she had to walk with her. She was supposed to hold her little sister’s hand all the way, but she rarely did so until they got within sight of the house.
    “Ican’t believe you brought that book home, Ivy. It was supposed to be returned to the library before we came back from the lake!”
    “I wanted to keep it. ”
    Holly rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but it was on my library card. I only just got it this year. If you don’t return your books on time, they don’t let you take out any more. ”
    Ivy looked up at her sister, her huge eyes wide.