Then came the clincher: two days before the disappearance, the bank had issued notice of its intention to foreclose. The debt had spiraled out of control, no payments had been made in months, and the bank was coming to seize the property. Kevin had to admit he could see the logic behind Jack’s theory. Perhaps the young man had indeed skipped town. But there was a question niggling in Kevin’s head: What exactly were the horses doing in the forest? And why were there two of them?

“Well, would ya look at that. Still sittin’ here and you still haven’t touched your liquor.”

Kevin looked up from his notes. There she was again, the bartender, the same one who had already called on his table not so long ago trying to refill his glass. Except topping up his drink was probably the last thing on her mind. She had already seen his badge when he’d checked in. She knew that he was a cop. Kevin suspected what she really wanted was to fish for information about his reason for being in Seabrook.

“Guess I’m still not thirsty,” he replied.

“Fair enough, but if you leave it sitting there any longer like that I’ll be able to water my plants with it.” And in no time at all, her eyes drifted off the glass and landed on Kevin’s case file. “Doin’ some light reading, huh?”

Kevin closed the folder and smiled.

“I’m just spitballin’ here, but if you’re down here on police business—­which you are, right?—then it must be about young Ryan.”

“With all due respect,” Kevin said, trying not to sound too irate, “even if I was here in an official capacity, it’s obviously not something I can discuss. I’m sure you can appreciate that.”

“Yeah, I hear ya.” The bartender crouched down and tapped the top of his case folder as if to indicate she knew exactly what was hidden inside. “But it’s such a shame, what happened, don’t you think?”

“Look, I really can’t—”

“I knew Ryan, you know. He used to come in here once a month to restock those flyers of his. Spoke to him plenty. Lovely boy. Lots of people been talking, some of them got traps big enough to catch a grizzly, I swear. They all think he took off. Lots think he just snapped and left this place behind, but I don’t believe a word of it. He and his father, they’d been through a lot, but that boy was salt of the earth—he’d never do such a thing. Course, playin’ devil’s advocate, I do suppose this town got a history of people doin’ some crazy things. We once had a lighthouse keeper, a looney fellow named Theodore, and you wouldn’t believe—”