Читать книгу Avalanche Of Trouble онлайн | страница 29

The courtliness of the gesture moved her. He looked tired, and there was a heaviness about his eyes that heightened her own sadness. “Did you get any sleep last night?” she asked.

“A little.” He accepted a cup of coffee from Paige, and pulled out the chair next to Maya. “I had a late call. Break-in at the high school.”

“Kids?” Paige asked.

“Maybe.” Gage sipped his coffee.

Maya thought of the students in her classes—a mixed bunch of good and bad. “I guess even little towns like this aren’t immune to that kind of thing,” she said.

“Kids get bored and in trouble everywhere,” he said. “Though we like to think in Eagle Mountain there’s a little less trouble for them to find. No gangs, anyway. Drugs are always a concern, but there’s not as much of it here. And people in smaller communities get involved—if they see a kid up to something, they don’t hesitate to call it in.”

“I guess being nosy has its upside,” Maya said.

“It can.” He helped himself to a muffin. “We can go whenever you’re ready.”

“Let me grab my backpack.”

She waited until they were on their way before she asked the question that had been foremost in her mind all morning. “Have you heard anything from the other searchers?” she asked.

“I’m sorry. No.” He glanced at her, then back at the road. “Have you thought about where Casey might have gone if she ran away? Let’s go with the theory that she saw what happened to her parents and ran, scared. Is there anything in particular that she’s attracted to? Is she drawn to water? Would she hide in a cave, or would she avoid that?”

“I think a cave would frighten her. I don’t think she cares about water, one way or another.” She frowned, trying to think past her exhaustion and fear. “I mean, she’s five years old. She’s a sweet, innocent girl who’s never known danger for a minute in her life. Seeing her parents killed—” She shook her head. “She must be terrified.”

“We haven’t found any indication that the people who killed your sister and her husband harmed Casey,” Gage said. “Hold on to that hope.”