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    â€œWhat did he want?” Hayley asked, steadying her and then bending down to pick up the car keys Bessie dropped during the scuffle.
    â€œWolf’s just being Wolf, that’s all. Nothing to worry about. He still harbors a lot of resentment from the breakup. I broke the poor sucker’s heart.”
    Hayley didn’t quite believe what Bessie was saying. There seemed to be more to it than that. It had been a few years. She watched Bessie traipse off to her car and wondered what the real story was between Bessie and Wolf.

Chapter 10
    â€œDear God in heaven, they’re leaving the island!” Hayley screamed as she sat wedged between Mona and Liddy in the front seat of Mona’s pickup truck. They were tailgating a red Honda Accord as it cruised over the Trenton Bridge, which connected Mount Desert Island to the mainland.
    â€œFaster, Mona, we’re going to lose them,” Liddy squealed.
    â€œIf I go any faster, I’ll rear-end them,” Mona barked. Her hands were gripping the steering wheel as they closed in on the Accord.
    â€œI almost don’t even want to know where they’re going,” Hayley wailed.
    Hayley’s worst fears were becoming a reality. She was coming to suspect that Gemma’s withdrawal and her moodiness were far more serious than a failing grade or boy trouble. At this moment her only daughter was in the backseat of a car with a gang of local thugs and druggies. She was probably on her way to a meth lab operated out of a trailer in the woods outside of Bangor.
    Or worse.
    Hayley had heard all the stories: How one day your kid starts acting differently. No longer the bright, happy child who draws you a homemade Mother’s Day card. Suddenly she’s become a self-absorbed, rebellious, vicious troublemaker who no longer listens to anything you say. Now she misses her curfew, pals around with a seedy gang, smokes pot or heroin, forever lost to the dark side.
    Okay, maybe she was being a little dramatic, but it was impossible not to allow her mind to go there.
    Hayley yearned for the days when Gemma excitedly filled her in on even the tiniest details of her life. Now it was a Herculean task just getting her to offer more than a sullen look and a dismissive shrug.
    Â 
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    Just twenty minutes earlier, Gemma grabbed her coat and was halfway out the back door before Hayley managed to stop her.
    â€œDon’t you think it’s appropriate for me to know where you are going, Gemma?”
    â€œI’m seventeen, Mom!” Gemma groaned.
    â€œExactly my point. You’re still a year away from being of legal age, and until then I expect to know what you are doing, who you are with, and what time I can expect you home.”
    Gemma stomped her foot and sighed. “Fine! It’s Tina Staples’s birthday. Her parents are throwing her a surprise party, and I’m going with some friends. I’ll be home by eleven. Happy now?”
    Hayley breathed a sigh of relief. Tina was the daughter of Reverend Staples, the most trusted man in town. With the good reverend and his demure, soft-spoken wife, Edie, chaperoning, there would be no shenanigans going on. Hayley wouldn’t need to worry about anything untoward occurring.
    Hayley opened her mouth once again to try and find out what was bugging Gemma so much. Just then, though, a pair of headlights turned into the driveway.
    â€œMy ride’s here,” Gemma said, bolting out the door.
    â€œWait, you didn’t tell me which friends!”
    Hayley peered out the door to see Gemma jumping into the back of a Honda Accord. She didn’t recognize any of the kids in the car when the interior lights snapped on. Especially troubling was the strapping boy behind the wheel. He was big and imposing, with a sly grin; his neck was craned around so he could look Gemma up and down with lustful eyes.
    Well, Hayley couldn’t see his eyes, but she knew in her bones they were probably full