Free Lie in Plain Sight by Maggie Barbieri Page A

try to keep kids off the streets and off drugs.”
    Heather’s face flashed in front of Maeve’s eyes. “And do business owners sell booze to minors?”
    He chuckled. “Oh, yeah. There’s not a kid in this town who can’t get a six-pack when they want it. A lot of the shopkeepers around here have what I call loose standards when it comes to selling booze.”
    â€œGood to know,” Maeve said. She pulled a piece of cake from the refrigerator. “Chocolate cake? It’s your favorite.”
    He thought for a minute. “What the heck. I’m already turning into a fat slob. Will probably have a heart attack. Might as well go happy.”
    â€œDon’t say that, Chris. About the heart attack.” She sliced off a piece of her chocolate cake and put it on a plate, handing it to him. “Milk?”
    â€œNo, thanks,” he said, taking a big bite. “Actually, yes, please,” he said around a mouthful of chocolate.
    â€œSo there’s nothing on Taylor’s disappearance? Nothing at all?” Maeve asked.
    He put his fork down, his appetite gone. “Nothing.” He poked at the crumbs with his finger. “County says there’s a missing person from a few towns up that they wonder about. A connection.”
    â€œSame kind of thing?” she asked.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œDid I hear about it?”
    â€œI don’t know. Maybe? It was last year.” He picked his fork up again. “Sounds like a runaway to me and everyone else. Girls leave small towns and then…”
    â€œThen what?” she asked when he didn’t elaborate.
    â€œThey disappear. They never come back.”
    â€œThat’s horrible,” she said.
    He ate his cake in silence. She could see a sliver of a love handle pushing out the side of his shirt. He was right; he was putting on weight, but for some reason, it made her happy.
    â€œYou’ll find her, right?” Maeve asked.
    â€œThat’s my job.”
    But he didn’t sound certain, and Maeve wasn’t sure either of them believed he would get the job done. After he left, she turned on her computer and poked around, looking for the story about the case of the other missing girl.
    Caroline Jerman, seventeen years old. Worked at the Rite Aid on Route 3, disappeared after work one night. No leads, no sightings.
    It was as if she had vanished into thin air.
    No mention of a father. Her mother had worked at Farringville Stone and Granite until it had shut down several years earlier. The former owner, Charles Connors, had offered a ten-thousand-dollar reward for any information leading to Caroline being reunited with her mother and sister.
    Charles Connors. The name rang a bell. Maeve searched for him and found him, realizing that he had been at back-to-school night and had thanked her for her interest in his son’s mission in Mississippi. He had been the sole owner of Farringville Stone and Granite and had incurred the wrath of its workers when he closed it down and sold the land to a developer. Maeve had been aware vaguely of this happening years before but hadn’t paid too much attention, her focus on the girls and realizing her dream of becoming a business owner in her own right. The former stone yard was now home to a neighborhood of multimillion-dollar homes, contributing little in terms of taxes, ambience or respect for the town’s historical roots.
    Cal had accused her of being “checked out” to what happened in the village, and if this story was any indication, he was right. She didn’t pay attention to local politics, and anyway, Farringville Stone and Granite wasn’t technically in Farringville, being on the far edge of town, so what did it have to do with her? Not much. The people who had moved into the homes were mostly the type who didn’t eat cupcakes or brownies or quiches, spending their time at the gym and at the waterfront, running and biking and