Vanished in the Night by Eileen Carr Page A

liked any of these men back when they were boys, but he’d hated Pernell with a special intensity. He was the only other African-American kid in the group besides Max. George had hated Justin and his quiet Vietnamese parents, but he’d hated Pernell much, much more. “Kind of too late now, isn’t it, Ronnie?”
    “I know. I thought I’d ask anyway.” She should have been here years ago asking questions. She hadn’t been, though. She hadn’t asked because she’d hoped Max would come to her of his own will someday. She hadn’t wanted to hunt him down and force him to be her brother again. She’d wanted him to come back to her all of his own accord. “Did he? Did he contact any of you?”
    None of them spoke for a moment and Veronica held her breath.
    “What makes you think he would have come to us?” Jimmy asked, leaning against the door.
    “Well, the police think he must have come back here after he ran away from the Sierra School. He wouldn’t have had any money or a place to stay. He would have had to go to somebody for help.” Shelooked again from one face to another, hoping to see a glimmer of something.
    “Oh, I get it now,” Caleb said. He turned toward his friends. “My mom told me the cops were crawling all over old man Osborne’s place the other day. They must think he did it. They must think Max showed up to ask his old man for help.”
    “Max wasn’t that stupid,” Justin said. “No one’s that stupid.”
    “So none of you ever saw him? He didn’t come to any of you for help?” Veronica pressed.
    “Sorry, Ronnie. None of us ever saw him.” Jimmy turned to go back inside the house.
    Veronica turned and walked right into Zachary McKnight, who grabbed her by the arm. “What the hell are you doing here?”

8
In seconds, McKnight had her marching back to her car, his hand on her elbow. Rodriguez was talking to Max’s friends.
    “What the hell were you doing back there?” he demanded.
    “I thought one of them might have seen Max after he ran away from Sierra. What are you doing here?”
    His jaw tightened and he didn’t answer.
    She wrenched her arm away. “You’re here for the same reason? You were going to ask them if they’d seen my brother after he ran away?” Perhaps she hadn’t given Zachary McKnight enough credit.
    “Ms. Osborne,” he said, looming over her a little. “It is not your job to investigate what happened to your brother. The police department is doing that. Atworst, you’re going to get yourself hurt. At best, you’ll screw up this investigation and we’ll never be able to figure out what happened to your brother.”
    “So I’m supposed to sit around and not worry my pretty little head while you accuse my father of murdering my brother?” Part of her anger was from the adrenaline coursing through her system, but it didn’t make it any less righteous. Plus, if he thought he could intimidate her just by being taller than she was, then he had no idea what it was like to go through life at five foot three. It didn’t bother her one bit. She took a step toward him so they were toe-to-toe.
    “I wouldn’t have put it that way, but yes.” He threw his hands in the air. “No one is railroading anyone. Of course we’re looking at your father as a suspect. We always look at the family as a suspect. The fact that your father has a record, a drinking problem, and anger-management issues pushed him to the top of the list. His daughter saying that her daddy wouldn’t do such a thing is neither an alibi nor a reason not to investigate him. That does not mean, however, that we aren’t exploring all avenues. We are investigating this crime. Please stay out of our way and let us do our jobs.”
    Oh, crap, he was right. Suddenly all the fight went out of her. “Am I free to go?”
    “Of course.” McKnight stepped back.
    She clicked the button to unlock her car and McKnight opened the door for her. He leaned into the car after she got in. “Let us find out