Free The Summer Experiment by Cathie Pelletier

through the hay piled there. A couple times before, Marilee and I had gone up there just to lie on our backs and smell the sweet smell.
    Marilee Julia Evans was nowhere to be found.
    By the time Mom, Johnny, and I got back home, I was exhausted and heartbroken. Was my best friend okay? Sure, we have no serial killers this far north, but there’s a first time for everything. And then, what if she headed south? What had she told me that night on Peterson’s Mountain? Do you think if I ran away, maybe downstate somewhere, that they would get back together? I hated the thought of it. No one wants to tattle on their friend. But I knew that if Marilee didn’t turn up soon, I’d have to tell my mom what I suspected.
    Before we could go inside the house, Catherine’s car pulled into the drive, followed by a second car. I felt my heart rise up with hope. Marilee’s dad was driving the second car and a brunette was in the passenger seat. But I soon saw that Marilee was in neither car. Catherine got out first and there was panic on her face. My mom hurried over to give her a hug.
    â€œShe’s still missing,” Catherine said. “I hoped she might have come back to Allagash. I thought if we drove back here, we might see her walking along the roadside. But there was no sign of her.”
    In the country, twenty miles of road is nothing when you’re driving. Folks in Allagash are in Fort Kent almost every day, shopping or working their jobs. But if you’re a kid who has run away, it’s a good stretch. It’s all two-lane road too, and easy to spot a pedestrian. So if Marilee was trying to walk back to Allagash—she wouldn’t dare hitch a ride—she was obviously good at sneaking around and hiding out. The Air Force uses the word “stealth” for this kind of action.
    â€œWe’ll find her, Cath,” my mom said. “She’ll turn up any minute.”
    Catherine looked straight at me.
    â€œRoberta, do you have any idea where Marilee is?” she asked. Behind her shoulder, Mr. Evans appeared. With him was a very pretty woman dressed in blue jeans and a denim jacket . She .
    â€œOr where we might still look?” asked Mr. Evans. He seemed on the verge of panic too. But you could tell he was holding it together for everyone’s sake.
    â€œSorry,” I said. “I wish I did.” It was the truth, really. I had no idea where she was. Only why she might have run away. And everyone must have figured that out by now.
    That’s when Deputy Hopkins turned into our driveway, the tires screeching on his police car. It was a wonder he didn’t have the blue light swirling and the siren blaring. Everyone in town knows that our deputy gets all excited if a skunk so much as raises its tail as it crosses the road. The door opened fast and out lurched Deputy Hopkins. Harold. Except, I forgot. It was now Sheriff Harold Hopkins, given that Stanley Mallory had resigned. But thank God it was only temporary. If Mr. Mallory never came back, surely the town would vote in someone more qualified than Harold. Mr. Finley’s dog, Mutt, would be a better candidate.
    â€œI’ve had no luck, Mr. Evans,” Harold said. He must have gotten up before dawn and polished his new sheriff’s badge. With the sun hitting it, it shone like a silver beacon. “My men and I have scoured this town, every picnic area, every parking lot, every rental cabin, you name it. If she left Fort Kent, she didn’t come to Allagash.”
    Johnny caught my eye and shot me a “What an idiot” look. It almost made me smile. Even fearing for Marilee’s safety, it was hard not to have fun with Harold. And then he went and said something really stupid, something Sheriff Mallory never would have said.
    â€œI don’t want to alarm you city folks,” said Temporary Sheriff Harold Hopkins. “But there’ve been a lot of UFO sightings in this area. As a