Storm Warning. Linda Hall

to her mannerisms. “Selena, come, sweetie, and have look at the pictures of Daphne and Rachel.”

      The way she said Daphne and Rachel cheered Nori. It was like she was referring to old friends, kids already a part of the community. This would be a good place for her girls, she was sure of it.

      But Selena didn’t come over. Instead, she kept her back turned to her mother and put a new coffee filter into the commercial coffeemaker.

      Marlene’s face was blank as she watched her daughter for a moment. Nori didn’t know what she would do if one of her daughters blatantly ignored her like that, but Marlene simply turned back to Nori and said quietly, “I try to excuse Selena. The kids here have all been through a bit of a bad patch.”

      “What happened?” Nori asked.

      Marlene lowered her voice.

      “About a year ago one of the very popular girls went missing. It’s been hard on all of them. Especially Selena. She and Heather were close.”

      “Went missing?” Nori took a sip of her coffee. “What do you mean?”

      “Disappeared. Gone. Heather was a sweet girl. She was quite active in the church youth group. Poor Heather, as sometimes happens, she got in with the wrong crowd. Phyllis, that’s Heather’s mother, and I used to have long talks. Anyway, she got herself some boyfriend from Bangor and the two disappeared. No one’s seen or heard from them since. Phyllis has never lost hope that her daughter is alive somewhere, but I think Alec—” she lowered her voice to practically a whisper “—believes they both came to foul play.” She paused, letting her words sink in.

      Nori said. “That’s horrible! Both of them?” She had no idea that something like this could happen in so lovely a place.

      Marlene nodded, then glanced back at Selena’s stiff back.

      The bell over the door at Marlene’s Café jingled as a few more customers entered.

      “Well,” Marlene said, raising her bulk out of the chair. “Duty calls. That’s why I try to give Selena the benefit of the doubt every now and then.”

      A few minutes later, Nori closed her laptop and got up to leave. As she exited the café she glanced up at Selena, who was leaning into the counter. “Have a nice day, Selena,” she said.

      But the girl merely hugged a stack of menus into her chest and looked at Nori with dark and frightened eyes as if she was hiding some deep and dreadful secret.