Sunshine and the Shadowmaster by Christine Rimmer Read Free Book Online Page A

for a sandwich or a cold drink and Heather would pump them for any information they could give her. But there simply wasn’t a clue. By the end of the day, the sheriff’s deputies had turned the town upside-down, interviewed everyone who lived there and looked through every unoccupied structure. They’d beat the bushes as far as the river on the west and Harleyville Diggins to the east, with three Forest Service helicopters circling out in a radius of twenty miles from the center of town. All to no avail.
    And the only responses to the all-points bulletin were from the news media, wanting to know more. By the end of the day, a half-dozen reporters from all over the state had come into Lily’s to ask questions about Lucas Drury’s missing son.
    So Heather went home tired, discouraged and sick at heart. Tawny stayed by the phone while Heather drew a bath. She soaked in it for a long time. The water helped ease her tiredness, but the heartsickness she felt was something that only Mark’s safe reappearance could wash away.
    After the bath, Heather tied up her hair in a ponytail, pulled on a big T-shirt and an old pair of shorts and went down to press a few dollars into Tawny’s hand and send her on home. She’d just opened the refrigerator and was staring at the brightness inside, trying to decide if she felt up to barbecuing some chicken, when the doorbell rang.
    She knew it would be Lucas. She ran into the front room and pulled back the door to find him standing there in the fading light of day.
    His clothes were different. He now wore faded jeans and a dark T-shirt, as well as sturdy lace-up hiking boots, the kind of clothing suitable for scouring the woods and fields in search of a missing ten-year-old boy.
    â€œIt’s getting dark,” he said. “So they suspended the search. We start in again tomorrow, at daybreak.”
    â€œAny news?”
    He shook his head. “Listen. I won’t keep you. I just came to ask if I could take those letters Mark wrote you. I’d like to read them, if you don’t mind.”
    Heather stared at him. He was acting so careful, so polite. It wasn’t his style at all. And it hurt, to see him this way. It deepened her feeling of heartsickness.
    She knew what this new behavior meant. He was careful. His son was missing. The world had spun out of his control. He had to tread carefully now.
    Heather forced a smile for him and tried her best to sound offhand and casual. “Don’t just stand there. Come on in.” She stepped back from the doorway.
    He didn’t move. “No. I have to get over to the motel. I want to see about getting a room.”
    In her mind, Heather pictured the lumpy beds and depressing decor of North Magdalene’s one motel. It seemed a very grim place to have to stay at an already difficult time.
    â€œSo if you could just get the letters...” Lucas went on.
    â€œNo way,” she said quietly.
    He looked at her, his jaw tightening. But he was a desperate man, desperate enough to ask in a rough whisper, “Please. I...haven’t handled any of this right with Mark. I’m beginning to see that now. And I need to read the letters he wrote. I need to understand what was in his mind and what he was feeling.”
    She realized he’d misunderstood her. “Oh, Lucas,” she said, her voice as torn as his. “I didn’t mean the letters. Of course you can read the letters.”
    â€œThen what?”
    â€œI meant no way are you staying at the motel.”
    â€œWhy?”
    She couldn’t believe he didn’t know. “You are family, Lucas. You grew up in this house. Do you honestly think I would let you stay anywhere else?”
    He looked at her very strangely, she thought. She wondered what in the world he might be thinking. But then all he said was what people always say when they’re trying to be polite. “I...really don’t want to put you