Search the Dark. Marta Perry

smoke screen, and everyone knows it.”

      “Must be nice to have a father like that.” His old man had meant every word of the things he’d said to him, most of it stuff he certainly couldn’t repeat to Meredith, of all people.

      As always, she saw behind his words to the meaning. Her hand moved tentatively, as if she wanted to reach out to him.

      “I’m sorry.” Her voice was soft.

      “Yeah. Well, it’s over and done with. I don’t suppose there were many people who thought Wally Randal was much of a loss when he died.”

      “You didn’t come back for the funeral,” she observed.

      “You were there?” That shocked him. He hadn’t known about it in time, but if he had, he still wouldn’t have come. But Meredith had gone. “Why?” Because of him?

      “I...thought I should attend.” She looked so uncomfortable that he let it go.

      “I heard about your dad’s passing.” Courtesy of Jeannette, who seemed convinced he wanted to hear every scrap of news about what had happened in Deer Run since he left. “I’m sorry.”

      “Thank you.” Her face was composed, but her eyes were shadowed. “It’s been a long time, but I still miss him.”

      Zach’s heart twisted. “I know you were close.” He’d admired John King’s devotion to his daughter, even though that devotion had once made him Zach’s enemy.

      Meredith stepped aside to let a woman carrying a shopping bag pass, nodding a greeting. She didn’t speak again until the woman was well out of earshot.

      “There was something I wanted to say to you, Zach.” Her brown eyes were candid, fixed on his face. “Maybe I’d better say it now, since I don’t suppose you’ll be in town long.”

      He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear whatever it was, but he nodded.

      Meredith hesitated, and for a moment he thought she looked more like the girl she’d been than the polished woman she was now. That glimpse kicked him right in the heart.

      “I want you to know how sorry I am for what my mother did to you.” She seemed to force the words out. “She thought she was protecting me, but that’s no excuse. She drove you away from your home, kept you from finishing high school...” Her voice trembled slightly. “And I hurt you, too. I can’t expect you to forgive me, but I wanted you to know how much I regret what happened.”

      She pressed her lips together, and he knew that it had cost her a lot to say what she had. How much easier it would be for her to pretend the past had never happened, to greet him politely and then avoid him until he disappeared again. But Meredith had never been one to take the easy way. He’d admired that quality years ago, and he still did.

      “It’s all right. I mean it. Getting out of Deer Run was the best thing that could have happened to me. Your mother didn’t intend to, but she did me a favor.”

      She managed a faint smile at that idea. “It’s good of you to take it that way. But I let you down, too, and I’m sorry.”

      He had to take the guilt from her face, even at the cost of a lie. “Forget letting me down. What did we know about life at seventeen? The way I see it, you kept both of us from making a big mistake, right?”

      Her face was immobile for a moment. Then her lips moved in a stiff smile.

      “Right.” She glanced around, as if to be sure no one was watching them. “I’d better get back to work. If I don’t see you again, have a safe trip back.”

      She turned and walked quickly away.

      * * *

      AS SHE HEADED up the steps to the wide front porch a few minutes later, Meredith couldn’t help hoping that her mother wasn’t back yet from her committee meeting. If the local rumor mill had already reported her conversation with Zach, she’d have to listen to her mother’s laments, lectures and warnings all over again.

      More importantly, Meredith didn’t want her mother’s sharp eyes zeroing in on how upset she was.

      Her luck was out—Mom sat in her favorite upholstered rocker in the living room, her low-heeled pumps propped on the small ottoman. “Meredith, you’re finally home. I was starting to worry about you.”

      What did she imagine could happen to Meredith in Deer Run in broad daylight? Maybe exactly what had happened—an encounter with Zach.

      “How was your meeting?” Meredith paused in the archway. She wanted nothing so much as to disappear into her bedroom or her office and close the door, but that would be inviting her mother to follow her with questions.

      “Fine, fine. We’re all ready for the sale tomorrow.” Her mother’s lips tightened, accentuating the fine lines. “Though why Jeannette imagines she’s in charge, I don’t know.”

      “You know how she is.” Meredith kept her tone soothing, fearing the subject of Jeannette would lead inevitably to Jeannette’s current guest. “She thinks nothing will go well if she doesn’t have her hand in it.”

      Her mother sniffed, not mollified. “She thinks she knows more than anyone else, too. She actually had the nerve to ask me if you’d talked to Zach Randal yet. Nosy woman. I can’t stand gossips.”

      If her father were here, he’d be exchanging a secret smile with Meredith about now. He’d known perfectly well that Margo was fully engaged in the silent, secret battle that went on among much of Deer Run’s female population to be the first to know what their neighbors were thinking and doing. Or thinking about doing.

      There didn’t seem to be any useful comment she could make. “I’m going to change clothes before I settle down to work.” She turned toward the stairs.

      “Wait.” Her mother straightened, moving her feet to the carpet. “You didn’t tell me where you’ve been.” There was a slightly sharper edge to her voice than her usual curiosity.

      “I was up at the Hammond place. I spoke with Victor.” Since she’d set up the bookkeeping system for the Hammond grocery stores, her mother wouldn’t be surprised. And she had spoken to Victor, after all.

      “Did you see Laura? How is she?” Mom, along with most of the village, was insatiably interested in Laura’s frequent visits to rehab.

      “She seemed fine.” That was really a whopper, wasn’t it? Laura was definitely not fine. “She showed me her roses, and they’re going to send some flowers for the stand in the morning.”

      A few more steps, and she’d be on the stairs.

      “Wait,” her mother said again. “There’s a bag inside the door. Something Rachel dropped off for you. That scrapbook you girls kept when you were little.”

      In other words, she’d checked the contents. Well, stopping her mother’s curiosity was about as likely as stopping the wind from blowing.

      “Thanks, I’ll take it up with me.” She slid the scrapbook out, handling it cautiously. The pages were browned and brittle after all these years.

      “I suppose this means you’re thinking about the Mast boy’s drowning again.” Her mother stood in the archway, one hand on the brass latch of the pocket door. “I don’t know what you think you’ll find out after all these years.”

      Meredith tried to mask her surprise. Was that just a general comment, or had her mother somehow learned what Sarah had asked of her?

      “I’d just like to hold on to the scrapbook.” She cradled it in her arms. “That’s all.”

      “You weren’t even here that night.” Her mother went on as if Meredith hadn’t spoken. “Spending the night with some of your cousins, as I recall. So you couldn’t know anything about what happened. Any more than your father could. He was out that night, too.”

      She’d