“What else can you tell us about Noah?” Tomasetti says the words amicably, but his stare is intense.

“Alls I remember is he told me he wanted out. I gathered he wasn’t getting along with his folks. I offered to help him.” Stoltzfus shrugs. “Next thing I know, he’s missing.

“Were you surprised?”

“Not really. I figured he’d just done it on his own.”

“Do you know Annie King?” Tomasetti asks.

His eyes go wide, and he begins blinking. He looks at us as if realizing he’s wandered into a lion’s den and his only escape is now blocked. “You guys don’t think I had anything to do with that, do you?”

“Did you know her?” Tomasetti repeats.

“No.”

“Did you have any contact with her?”

“No!”

“She didn’t approach you? Ask you to help her?”

“Lookit, I never met her. Never talked to her. And that’s the truth.”

CHAPTER 9

“He’s either a damn good liar or he’s telling the truth,” Tomasetti says as he makes the turn onto the highway that will take us to the motel.

“I believe him,” I say. “At least with regard to Noah Mast.”

“Seemed kind of nervous.”

“You were snarling at him.”

“I wasn’t snarling.” But in the dim light of the dash, I see his mouth curve.

Feeling the drag of thirty-six hours without sleep, I look out the window. “No one seems like a good fit.”

“Until we find someone more viable, we’ve got to go through the motions.” He glances away from his driving. “You hungry? There’s a restaurant down the road from the motel.”

“I saw it. The Flying Buck.” Having not eaten since last night, I’m starving. “And it’s a bar, Tomasetti, not a restaurant.”

“Since our restaurant choices are limited, we could probably have a beer with a burger without breaking too many rules.”

“No shots, though.”

“Suits would probably frown upon that.”

It’s nearly ten o’clock when we pull into the gravel lot of the Flying Buck. Our headlights wash over a single vehicle, a nondescript Camry that looks as if it’s just been waxed. The building itself is actually a double-wide mobile home painted in green camo. A hunting mural depicts two Labradors bounding through water and two orange-vested hunters taking aim.