Free Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman

New York State laws on controlled substances—I make my way around the perimeter of the circle until I’ve reached Sally. I crouch down next to her.
    “Having fun?” I ask.
    She rolls her eyes at me, but I notice there’s a pink flush in her cheeks I haven’t seen in a while. “I thought you wanted me to make new friends here, so when Clyde came and asked me to come out to the bonfire I knew you wouldn’t mind.”
    “Clyde Bollinger,” the boy says extending a hand to shake mine. I don’t know whether to be impressed by his manners or suspicious of his desire to ingratiate himself with me, but I take his hand. “I’m in your folklore class, Ms. Rosenthal. I hope it’s okay that Sally’s here. I didn’t want her to miss the first festival of the school year, so I came by Fleur-de-Lis to invite you both. Did you find the note we left on Sally’s laptop?”
    So the note was hidden in plain sight behind the Orion Nebula.Leave it to a teenager to find some perfectly obvious-to-them place to leave a note where no parent would ever think of looking.
    “No, but I ran into Sheriff Reade in the woods and he said you’d probably be here.”
    Sally and her new friend Clyde exchange a look, the meaning of which is unclear to me. She’s known this boy for a couple of hours at best and already they’re trading tacit signals like an old married couple.
    “I hope you’ll let Sally stay, Ms. Rosenthal. First Night is the traditional beginning of the school year and sort of the unofficial initiation into Arcadia. She’ll really feel more a part of the community if she stays. You’re welcome, too, of course.” He finishes with such a charming smile that I almost miss the half-heartedness of the invitation. But it would be hard to miss the look of alarm in Sally’s eyes. She certainly doesn’t want her mother hanging out with her new friends.
    “Well, it’s just that Sally doesn’t know her way around the campus yet—”
    “I’ll walk her back,” Clyde offers. The ghost of a smile flits across Sally’s face, but then she purses her lips and glares at me, daring me to turn down Clyde’s perfectly polite and reasonable offer. We haven’t been here for a full day yet and already Sally’s figured out that it’s going to be tough for me to curtail her freedom on this campus.
    “That’s very nice of you, Clyde,” I say. And then, turning to Sally. “Better make it by eleven. Classes start early tomorrow and you wouldn’t want to keep Clyde up late.”
    Sally opens her mouth to object, but Clyde answers for her. “Sure thing. This breaks up pretty soon anyway. I’ll make sure that Sally’s home by eleven.”
    “Great,” I say, getting to my feet. I’ve made my point, but clearly I’ve also been dismissed. I move from the circle, instantly feeling the chill of the night away from the warmth of the fire. I turn to go—and find the police officer standing right behind me.
    “I see you found your daughter,” he says, nodding toward Sally, who’s laughing at something that Clyde is saying to her. “Everything okay?”
    “Everything’s fine.” I start to walk away from the bonfire. The lastthing I want is for Sally to think I’m talking to a police officer about her. The worst scene we had last year occurred after I called the police when she didn’t come home one night. “It was a misunderstanding. I just didn’t see the note she left. I’m going to go back now. She’ll be all right here … won’t she?”
    He shrugs—not exactly the gesture of reassurance I was looking for. “Probably. The whole thing’s pretty harmless … usually. I’m going to stay to make sure the bonfire’s put out after they’re done. If you’d like to keep me company …”
    I look from him to the bonfire to see if Sally is watching me, but she’s completely absorbed in Chloe, who’s holding up some kind of doll crudely made of corn sheaves and shaking it over her head.
    “She won’t even know you’re