Read Online Sunshine and the Shadowmaster by Christine Rimmer - Free Book Online

I go, Mark had said.
    Jack went on. “Lucas says you gave Mark a knife like it.”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œIf it was the one you gave Mark, could you identify it?”
    â€œYes, I could.”
    â€œCome down to the station then, all right? And try not to let anyone follow you.”
    â€œRight,” she said. “I’ll get that order to you as quick as I can.”

Chapter Five
    H eather studied the knife Jack had handed her. It was sealed inside a plastic bag. She looked for the tiny chipped place and found it.
    â€œIt’s the knife I gave Mark.”
    â€œAre you sure?” Jack asked.
    She nodded. “There’s a tiny chip missing right here, see?” She held up the bag and pointed. “Right where the little tweezers fit in. Jason Lee had that knife for years, and that little chip was always broken off.” Heather glanced from Jack to Lucas, who was sitting, very silent, in a corner of the small interviewing room. “Where did you find it?”
    â€œIn a big drainpipe,” Jack said. “At the base of Sweetbriar Summit. Over in Sweetbriar Park.”
    â€œ When did you find it?”
    â€œAbout an hour ago.”
    â€œDid you find anything else?”
    Jack shrugged. “A few footprints and not much else. It’s been a dry year, so we couldn’t follow his trail much more than a few hundred yards from the pipe. Our guess is he slept there.”
    â€œIn the pipe?”
    â€œRight. For that first night after he left your place—or maybe even last night. Maybe both. We can’t say. We’ll keep a close watch on the area now, though, in case he returns to it.”
    Heather cast about for any small thread of hope to hang on to. “So that means he didn’t take off hitchhiking. That he’s somewhere reasonably nearby, at least.”
    â€œNot necessarily,” Jack said. “You say he owned that knife. And we believe the footprints we found were his. They’re the right size and the right sole pattern—we think. So the chances are he was in that pipe at some point. And that’s all we can say right now.”
    Heather stared at the knife in her hands. “It isn’t much, Uncle Jack.”
    â€œI know, Sunshine.” Jack’s voice was gentler. “Believe me. I know.”
    She looked up. “Which way did his footprints lead?”
    â€œAround the base of Sweetbriar Summit in a southerly direction, more or less parallel with the river. We’re following up on them. But so far...”
    â€œIt’s okay. I get the picture.” Heather held up the bag that contained the knife. “I take it you want to keep this?”
    â€œFor a while,” Jack said.
    In the corner, Lucas shifted in his chair. It seemed to Heather that she could feel the frustration and despair radiating off him.
    â€œOkay.” Heather handed the knife to Jack and got up from the plastic chair her uncle had offered her when she first came in. “Is that all, then?”
    â€œYeah. Thanks, Sunshine,” Jack said.
    â€œAnytime. You know that.” She turned for the door that lead to the reception area of the small sheriff’s station. But before she went out, she stopped.
    She sought Lucas’s eyes. “Walk out with me.”
    Without a word he rose to his feet and moved to her side, reaching around in front of her to open the door. She went out ahead of him. When they passed through the reception area, she waved a friendly greeting at Don Brown, who was manning the front desk.
    She didn’t turn to Lucas until they were out the door and standing on the station’s steps. And when she did stop to face him, she had to stifle a gasp. In the bright light of day, he looked terrible, his skin gray, his eyes lined and haunted.
    â€œWhat do you want, Heather?”
    Her heart went out to him. She wanted to help him, to alleviate his suffering somehow. But all she could think of to offer was the