Harper shook her head, trying to clear it from that kind of thinking, and she knew she couldn’t spend the afternoon alone in the house.

She got out of the car and was headed toward Alex’s house when she spotted him in the backyard. Dark clouds were gathering overhead, looking almost black on the horizon, and Alex was staring up at them.

This wasn’t the first time Harper had caught Alex gazing up at the sky. He’d always been fascinated by the weather and the stars. In recent years, his fascination had turned into career aspirations.

He’d even started working with storm chasers this past spring, tracking thunderstorms, tornadoes, and even hurricanes, which Harper was actually surprised to learn. She’d always thought that Alex would prefer analyzing things from the comfort of his home, but apparently he didn’t mind danger as long as he was passionate about what he was chasing.

“What are you doing?” Harper asked when she walked up behind him.

“Oh, hey.” Alex turned around, looking surprised to see her, and gave her a half smile. A gust of wind came up, blowing his hair back. “I didn’t see you there.”

“I didn’t mean to sneak up on you,” she said. “I just came to see what you were up to this afternoon.”

Alex shrugged. “Not a whole lot.”

“It seems like a storm is coming,” Harper said, hugging her arms to her chest to shield herself from the chill of the wind.

“Yeah, but the worst is going to be farther west.” He pointed to the line of clouds. “We’ll get rain and wind, but I’m thinking there might be hail farther inland.”

“Are you gonna go out and chase it, or whatever it is you do?” Harper asked.

“Nah.” He shook his head. “Some of the people I’ve gone with before are out. They think there might even be a tornado, but I don’t think it’s likely.”

“So why aren’t you with them?” Harper asked. “I know you love that kinda thing.”

“I do,” he agreed. “It just doesn’t feel right. Not with Gemma still being gone.”

“Oh.” She let out a deep breath. “Have you heard anything new on that?”

“Not really,” he said, then corrected himself. “Nothing useful, anyway.”

“That sucks.”

“I went to the police today,” Alex admitted, sounding sheepish about it.

“Did you really?” Harper asked. “What for?”

“I just wanted to know what they were doing to find Gemma.”

“What are they doing?” Harper asked.

“Not a whole lot,” Alex said. “I mean, I can’t really blame them. They’re still looking into the murders of Luke and those other boys, and Gemma just ran away from home. She’s not exactly their top priority.”

“Yeah.” Harper hadn’t really expected any different, but she’d hoped for more than that. “Do they have any leads on the murders?”