Free Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman

children, or why, or if they were just frightened off. But we think they were spotted over at the Hole-in-One. And we do have one very interesting piece of evidence.
    We have a shoe box."
    As soon as the shoe box is mentioned, Lucy sits up straight, her shoulders rigid as wire. That's when Julian Cash starts to watch her.
    "We found it buried over there." Walt Hannen points his cigarette at the ficus hedge. Julian notices that she knows exactly where to look, even though Walt is gesturing only toward the area of the pool. "It may be some kind of sign to us. Some kind of message from someone who wants to get caught. If the gold rings that were inside belonged to the victim, we may have a real lead."
    "What was inside?" Lucy says. She looks truly frantic now; Julian can almost see her bones rise to the surface of her skin. "There were rings?"
    "I don't want you to worry about this," Walt says.
    "All right," Lucy says flatly. She's much too calm.
    "Did you ever see the victim wearing two gold rings?" Walt asks.
    "No," Lucy says. "I didn't."
    Lucy's hair is cut short enough for Julian to see the back of her neck.
    Just looking at her he can feel the white edge of desire. The reason he's so attracted to her isn't simply that he can already imagine her in his bed. It's that she just lied, and she's going to do it again.
    "All we want is for you to let Julian go up to the boy's room and get what he needs so the dog can do her job tracking," Walt says as he helps Lucy to her feet. She stumbles once, and Walt has to catch her beneath her elbow. "Can you do that?"
    Lucy nods and starts for the entrance way. She moves like a sleepwalker, staring straight into the darkness. Before Julian can follow her, Walt takes him aside.
    "Just grab something and get the hell out of there before she freaks out again," Walt says.
    Lucy has stopped just outside the building, waiting for Julian. She reminds him of the merlins that nest in the cypress trees along his driveway, ready to take flight in an instant.
    "Be careful with her," Walt suggests. "Don't mention the goddamned alligator."
    "I won't talk to her," Julian says. "How's that?"
    He stands behind her in the elevator, aware that he's making her uncomfortable. When they get to her apartment and she opens the front door, Julian remains out in the hall.
    "Mud," he explains.
    The wall-to-wall carpeting is a pale gray, and Julian's boots have covered acres of marshland.
    That's why he prefers bare wood that can just be swept once a month.
    "Do you think I care about my carpet right now?" Lucy says. "Is that what you think?"
    "Why don't we just get this over with," Julian says. "All right?"
    Lucy opens her mouth as if she's going to argue with him, but nothing comes out. She's not going to sleep tonight and she knows it. She's not going to tell him the things she should. As Julian follows her through the apartment, he notices that it's the exact same layout as 8C. The same terracotta tiles in the kitchen and bathroom, the same acoustical tiles on the ceiling, the same hanging globe of light in the hall. Before Lucy opens the door to the boy's room, Julian can feel the discontent inside, a thick, blue cloud reaching from ceiling to floor. He walks past Lucy and stands in the middle of the rug, surveying the glow-inthe-dark stars on the ceiling. He can smell cigarette smoke and popcorn. He figures the window shades haven't let any light into this room for months.
    "Has he ever been in any kind of trouble?" Julian asks easily as he heads for the closet. He opens the closet door, waiting for an answer, but Lucy's not talking.
    "Your boy?" Julian asks. "Ever had any kind of trouble with him?"
    As he takes a denim jacket from a wire hanger, Julian manages a look at Lucy.
    "No," Lucy says. There's a pulse on the left side of her throat that flutters as she speaks.
    "No?" Julian says. He can feel the outline of a pack of matches in the pocket of the jacket.
    Inside the lining there's a slit in the material,