Dani shook her head. “They did a computer search for all those things, and came up empty. No record for any of it. They figure he just went on a road trip someplace, and paid cash everywhere. And his car never turned up, so … no one even knows which direction he went. It’s like he drove out of Ashland and right off the face of the Earth.”

Sam’s mind was already far away from the conversation. It was back in his house, across the subdivision. Pierce’s house. He envisioned it a year ago, empty, waiting for its owner to come back.

“After about six months they declared him officially dead,” Dani said. “His relatives put the house up for sale. But like you said, no one wanted it. I guess the whole situation weirded people out.”

She’d been staring off as she spoke. Now she met Sam’s eyes, and a flicker of concern crossed her face, like she’d just remembered that Sam lived in the house she was talking about.

“But that’s stupid,” she said quickly. “Whatever happened to the guy, the house wasn’t part of it.”

“Yeah,” Sam said. He didn’t think he sounded convinced of that fact, though.

“Change of subject,” Dani said. “Do you like riddles?”

The question caught Sam off guard. He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. Why?”

“I’ve got one for you. A hard one. And there’s a reason I’m asking it, but you won’t understand that until you’ve figured out the answer.”

He wondered where she was going with this. It sounded like a game, but she also looked pretty serious about it.

“Let’s hear it,” Sam said.

Dani shook her head. She planted her feet and stood up from the swing.

“It’s not something I can tell you,” she said. “I have to show it to you. If you’re up for a bike ride.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

They rode out of the park—its entry drive came in from the curved subdivision street—and then Dani led the way to the nearby two-lane road that ran north and south into the countryside—Truman Avenue, according to the street sign.

Truman was tightrope straight in both directions as far as Sam could see. Half a mile to the north it cut through a long band of forest that ran east to west. To the south, Truman went straight through the heart of downtown Ashland, and beyond into the wide-open farmlands.