Maiden Rock Read Online Free Page A

that was the case, Meg would be grounded for a good long while. But Claire felt more comfortable about this escapade.
    Over the rolling farmland, golden light seeped out from the east, a hazy orange-pink glow. She loved how the sky painted complex and ephemeral colors hard to name in this hour before sunrise.
    The Lunds lived down a road that was named after them. The county designated dead-ends for the last family that lived at the end of the road, thus
Lund Lane.
She turned down the dirt road and rolled up in front of the red-roofed farm house.
    The house looked quiet. An old golden dog raised up on his front legs and gave a low, sleepy bark, then flopped back down again. Claire hated to wake up the family. She hesitated, sat in the car for a few minutes, and then saw the door of the farmhouse open. A young girl stepped out and walked toward the squad car. She was wearing a pink chenille bathrobe with rubber boots on her feet.
    As she came closer, Claire recognized Sally Lund. She had grown up over the summer, gone from being a tow-headed tomboy to a lanky teen-aged girl with lovely long blonde hair. Claire was pretty sure Sally was a year younger than Meg, but she looked older and was certainly taller.
    “Hi, Mrs. Watkins,” Sally said as she approached the car. “What’re you doing here?”
    “I’m looking for Meg, Krista and Curt. You know where they went after the party?”
    Sally shivered in her bathrobe. “They left when everyone did. I guess I thought they were all going home.”
    “Anything odd happen at the party?”
    Sally cocked her head. “Not really, except at the end.”
    “What happened then?”
    “They had a fight.”
    “Who? What kind of fight?”
    “I’m not really sure. I think it was about Curt. I think Meg and Krista were fighting over him.”
    “I can hardly believe that. They were fighting over Curt?” She had a hard time imaging her daughter fighting, especially over a boy. “Hitting each other?”
    “No, just arguing. But loud. I think it was over Curt. I didn’t pay too much attention. It happened right as everyone was leaving. Some other guys showed up and then everyone left.”
    “What other guys?”
    “I didn’t know them. One was a lot older than us. Not in high school, that’s for sure. I think they were trying to crash the party. But then it was over. My parents made everyone leave.”
    “You don’t know where they went?”
    Sally shook her head. “I didn’t really watch what happened. I was tired and went back in the house.”
    “What’re you doing up so early?”
    Sally smiled. “I have to go to work. I work down at the gas station. I gotta be there by six. What’re you going to do to her when you find her?”
    “That’s a good question.”
    ***
5:20 a.m.
    The phone hadn’t rung in over an hour, the night nearly over. Amy Schroeder couldn’t hear any noise coming from the jail and hoped all the inmates were asleep. She stared at the clock, because at least the hands moved. It was something to watch. She couldn’t see outside from where she worked and had no idea of the weather.
    She was lowest on the totem pole so she had to work the late shift on Halloween, which had been a little more exciting than usual. Friday nights tended to be busy. Someone had called in when a gang of kids toilet-papered the trees around their house in Durand, three people had been hauled in for DWIs, and there was a report of juvenile girls dancing around a vehicle parked in the street in Pepin.
    All that had happened earlier. She didn’t expect the phone to ring again before her shift ended.
    Amy stood and stretched. Somehow she had expected her job with the sheriff’s department to be more physical. When she trained in law enforcement, they had emphasized physical fitness, but she had been on the job for three months and had gained five pounds. All the guys brought in junk food—Cheetos, candy bars, sunflower seeds. Maybe she’d go for a run this morning before she went to