Page 44 of 44.1644° North

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Page 44 of 44.1644° North

“Maybe. Or maybe because the implications for these local sons terrified the people of Woodlark.”

Rory put his fork down. Picked up his coffee cup. “I mean, it’s an interesting theory. I’ll give you that.”

“I’ve been trying for years to get the names of the boys.” I shook my head. “It’s like hitting a wall. I know there were supposed to be three in the car and that they were college age. Maybe they worked at the lodge. Maybe they were just up there skiing. Maybe they were on their way home. Ormaybethey were on their way to a party.”

“There are a whole lot of maybes in there.”

“I know. And yet someonereallydidn’t like me speculating about any of that.”

He made a sound of acknowledgement. “If they existed at all, it shouldn’t be that hard to pin down who they were.”

“I agree. Which is why I’m here.” I made a face. “Getting nowhere fast.”

“You think there’s a conspiracy of silence?”

“I can’t say, but it sure feels that way. People around here are willing to discuss all kinds of things about Deirdre’s disappearance. But they won’t talk about Rusty Bailey—which I think is understandable, given the way he was remorselessly hounded by the media—and they play dumb if you bring up the rumor about the boys from Loon Mountain.”

“Hm.” Rory contemplatively chewed his salmon. “Because they don’t know what the hell you’re talking about?”

I let that pass.

“Something else that may or may not be relevant. Before there was theWoodlark Weekly, there was theHastings Howler, which was owned and managed by Shiloh Overhiser. Simon’s father. Unfortunately, there’s no way to access theHowler’s archives because a fire destroyed all the back issues before they could be digitized.”

Rory put a hand to the back of his neck as though he was experiencing whiplash. “Okay. Sorry. I don’t see the significance.”

“Control the flow of information?”

“What about it?”

“Maybe the Overhisers had a particular and personal reason to control the flow of information, especially regarding anything to do with Deirdre.”

“I can see you think this is leading somewhere.”

I swallowed my impatience. “You don’t remember that one of the non-age-related deaths in theWeekly’s obituaries was for Simon’s brother Milo?”

Rory’s brows knotted. “I remember. But we were looking for names connected to Deirdre. Where’s the connection?”

“There isn’t one.”

He crossed his eyes.

Which made me laugh. “No, you’re right. I don’t know there’s a connection. I made a mental note because of Milo’s age and the fact that there seemed to be some question about whether his death was accidental. He drove off a bridge ten years ago.”

Rory said slowly, “Which is when Hastings PD believed they’d identified their suspect in the case.”

“Yes. Exactly! Ten years ago. And no, there’s no known connection to Deirdre, but Milo was in his thirties when he died, which means he’d have been in his twenties at the time Deirdre went missing. And his obit mentioned he was an avid skier.”

Rory was silent.

“What do you think?”

He said, “It’s all circumstantial. You know that.”

“I know.”

“Highlycircumstantial.”

“Yep. But?”