To Darkness and to Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming

antlers. It didn’t take much detective work to figure out where van der Hoeven’s sympathies lay. “Or could it be that she’s been sucked in by some radical environmentalists? Gotten in over her head? Could that have anything to do with her disappearance?”
    Eugene nodded thoughtfully. “I did hear a car, early this morning. Before I discovered Millie wasn’t in the house.”
    Russ smoothed the surprise off his face. He hadn’t expected to get anything from his fishing expedition. He just liked to tie off any loose ends.
    “You didn’t mention a car to the search team,” Clare said.
    Their host quarter-turned to her, just enough to be polite, still keeping his good side toward her. He did it more with Clare than with the men in his house, Russ noticed. He wanted to say,
Don’t worry about it, buddy. She’ll take you as she finds you
.
    “I didn’t think it signified.” Eugene gestured toward Russ’s camo and blaze orange. “On a Saturday in hunting season, it’s not unusual to have cars or trucks drive in here by mistake. Hunters looking for one of the access roads.”
    “Do you have any reason to think Millie might have been involved with the PLA?” Russ asked.
    “If she was, she certainly didn’t tell me. She’s hooked up with the local chapter of this Adirondack Conservancy Corporation.” Eugene’s face was still expressive enough to register what he thought of them. “A bunch of old ladies and newcomers from New York City. She had them up here just this past week. Do you think they… ?”
    “Are a front for the PLA? No. I, um, know the president of that group pretty well. They’re more into… passive resistance.”
    Clare looked at him, one eyebrow quirked.
Mom
, he mouthed. “Any other organizations she’s gotten involved with?” he asked van der Hoeven. “Meetings she didn’t tell you about? Absences she didn’t explain?”
    “She is seeing someone from town,” van der Hoeven said slowly. “Romantically, I mean. At least, that’s what she told me. I have to say, that’s unusual for her. She doesn’t have much of a track record with men.”
    “Maybe she prefers women,” Clare said, her face bland.
    Eugene dropped the coy sideways glance and stared her straight in the face. “Certainly not.” Russ could see him reassessing the priest in light of her scandalous statement.
    “What made you think she didn’t go with her boyfriend last night?” Russ asked.
    “She’s always told me before. That she’d be away.”
    “How long has she been seeing this guy?”
    “Almost since she got here. At least since early September.”
    “That’s fast work for someone who doesn’t have much of a track record with men.”
    “She’s twenty-six,” Clare pointed out. “You fall madly in love overnight when you’re that age.”
    “That’s true,” Russ said. “It’s also true that the presence of a boyfriend, real or not, can cover up all sorts of activities.” He turned to van der Hoeven. “Have you met this guy? Has she had him over to the house here?”
    “No.” He said it slowly, as if considering for the first time that there might be more to his sister’s nocturnal activities than young love’s first bloom. He looked down at the letter in his hand. “Do you really think—is there a chance she might really be in danger?”
    Russ made a noncommittal noise. “We might all be blowing smoke at this point, but I think it’ll be worthwhile to track down this friend of hers. What’s his name?”
    “Um…” Van der Hoeven tilted his head back, thinking. “Michael. Michael McWhorter.”
    “And when did you hear the car in the drive?”
    “Before I was up. So it must have been around four, four-thirty.”
    “You told us her bed hadn’t been slept in,” Clare said, “but she could have made it up before leaving.”
    “Of course. I just never considered Millie might be… sneaking off without telling me.”
    Russ raised his hands. “Let’s not get ahead of