"I remember," said Helen and told herself to call Jenna and remind her of her promise. There was no way she'd let Nicky become disappointed if she could help it. "Where are your brothers?" she demanded, craning her neck to see around the corner.

She heard footsteps on the stairs, heavier this time, and Matt reappeared, his freckles standing out against his pale face. "I found this on Brad's bed," he said, quietly holding out a note.

Helen scanned it and felt her heart stop. "Oh, Lord God. Your brother's run away."

Wednesday, October 5, 6:00 P.M.

It got dark too damn early. Well, technically it got dark the same time as it had the night before, Steven thought, but the night before they hadn't mobilized twenty cops, forty-odd volunteers, and a canine cadaver unit to search for what in all likelihood was a very dead teenaged girl.

"There's two hundred acres of wooded land inside the circle you drew," said the local sheriff, a big burly man named Rogers. Rogers tapped the map they'd laid out across the hood of Steven's car. "It'll take us three days to cover that much ground, even with the dogs. You sure you boys can't narrow the field a little bit?"

"We could call the killer and say pretty please, can you give us better directions," Harry said sarcastically. Sheriff Rogers glared and opened his mouth to say something uplifting, no doubt.

"Harry," Steven cautioned.

Harry made a face. "I'm sorry. I interviewed sex perverts all day and I'm no company for decent people."

Sheriff Rogers relaxed. "Who said I was decent people?" he asked kindly. "It would help if you boys could get a chopper in here. You could see the clearings, assumin' that's where he's put her."

"That's where he put the last one, and where he probably intended to put this one last Friday," Harry said. "Except he was interrupted by the old man's dog." He looked over at Kent who was staring at the map. "How is the dog, by the way?"

Kent looked up and pushed his glasses up his nose. "He'll pull through."

"You've been keeping tabs on the dog?" Steven asked, surprised.

"He's been keeping tabs on the lady vet that sewed up the dog," Harry corrected with a smirk and Steven watched Kent's cheeks redden. "Cute little thing, she is," Harry added with a sly wink and Kent's cheeks went even darker.

"Back off, Harry," Steven said mildly, although the tone of his voice belied the turbulence inside him. Harry's careless comment sent his brain flying to the mental picture of Jenna he couldn't erase from his mind. Was she okay? He'd planned to call her this evening, to see if he could stop by and discuss the night before… Heat spread through him despite the chill in the air. Just as heat had spread through him each time he thought her name. This was ridiculous.

So why couldn't he make it stop and concentrate? On his job? On Brad? On anything other than the kaleidoscope of emotions she made him feel? From undeniable want to a guilt that gnawed at him every time he remembered the hurt look on her face when he walked away last night.

He had to fix that. Make her bewildered hurt look go away. His mind flashed to the belligerent contempt he'd seen in Brad's eyes this morning. He had to make that go away, too.

Dammit, he had to fix something in his life.

He forced himself to focus on the map spread out on the hood of his car. Rogers was indeed correct. There was no way they'd search the entire area on foot in anything less than three days. "I'll call in a chopper at first light tomorrow morning," Steven said. "For now"-he pointed at the lower left corner of the circle on the map-"we keep searching here. Everybody's got flashlights. I've got a spotlight in my trunk, so when we find her, we can light up the area. We can at least keep the animals away until morning." He set his jaw. "If she's here, we need to find her."

"Before every wild animal in the forest does," Kent said.

Harry grimaced. "I-"

Steven's cell phone jangled and he pulled it from his pocket and checked the caller ID, motioning Harry toward the woods at the same time. "Check on those volunteers, Harry. I don't want them trampling anything important." He put the phone to his ear. "Hey, Helen. This really isn't a good time. Can I call you back later?"

"No, Steven," Helen said, her voice shaking. "This is important."

Dread had him standing straighten "What? What's happened?"

"Brad's run away."

Steven sagged back against his car. "How do you know?"

"He left a note."

Like mother, like son. Another goddamned note. "Did he say where he was going?"

"No, no he didn't." Her voice wobbled and he knew she was crying. "Steven, I need you here."

He looked around and made a decision. Harry was ready for an increase in responsibility. And even if Harry wasn't, he'd have to become ready pretty damn quick. "I'll be home in half an hour."

Wednesday, October 5, 6:30 P.M.

Wednesday was meat loaf night at the Llewellyn house. Allison's meat loaf recipe had belonged to her mother. The dear, departed Mrs. Llewellyn must have been a god-awful cook too.

Jenna looked down at the generous helping of meat loaf topped with ketchup and felt her stomach roll. It looked a little too much like… dead possum readkill. She swallowed hard and heard a snicker to her right.

Charlie nudged her. "Possum pie," she whispered with a grin.

Jenna swallowed again and frowned. "How do you know about that?"

"I heard about it from kids at school." She lifted a shoulder philosophically. "You know how gossip is. It was all the talk in the cafeteria." She grinned again, wider this time, the light from the chandelier glinting off her braces. "Especially since today the cafeteria ladies made goulash."

Jenna grimaced and pushed her plate away. "That's it. I'm done."

Allison frowned from across the table. "You haven't even started yet."

"I'm sorry, Allison. I just don't have a lot of appetite today." Jenna nudged Charlie less than gently when the little girl snickered again. "Shut up, Charlie," she gritted through clenched teeth.

Allison looked from Jenna to her daughter suspiciously, then set into her own meat loaf with fervor. "I suppose that's understandable, under the circumstances."

Jenna looked at Charlie who shook her head and shrugged. "What circumstances?"

"Well, Saturday, of course," said Allison impatiently, then true horror flooded her face when Jenna made no show of understanding. "You've forgotten about Adam? Jenna, how could you?"

Saturday. October eighth. The day of Adam's "passing." Jenna closed her eyes as guilt layered over all the other emotions churning in her gut. How could she, indeed'' But somehow between the revulsion at the gift left swinging from her ceiling, frustration at all the antics of Rudy and his friends and Blackman's unwillingness to stop them, combined with a healthy shot of sexual frustration over Steven… she'd forgotten.

She heard the sound of Allison's fork clattering against her plate.

"I think it's just disgraceful," Allison said, anger tightening her voice.

"Allie," Seth started, but Allison cut him off.

"Disgraceful, Dad," Allison repeated with disgust. "Let-ting that man… that policeman she's only known a week- not even a week! Coming to her apartment, staying until midnight last night. She's let him make her forget about the man she was supposed to marry! I call that disgraceful."