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shoes no one else can fil .”
    If his stepsister knew the truth, she wouldn’t admire him half as much. As a matter of fact, she’d never be able to forgive him. It was al so complicated. If Madeline ever learned what really happened, she’d lose more than her relationship with him, his mother, Grace, even their youngest sister, Mol y, who lived in New York City.
    “She sounds as if she’s finished with Kirk,” he mused, changing the subject.
    “And you’re disappointed.”
    He twisted to look up at her. “You’re not?”
    She gave him a wry smile. “I like Kirk, too. But we need to stay out of it. Madeline has to do what she thinks is best.”
    “How do you know Kirk’s not what she needs? He’s a good man, a hard worker.”
    “Just because you like him doesn’t mean she should marry him. There’s no spark there or they would’ve married long ago. They act more like buddies than lovers.”
    But Kirk had been around for so many years, he’d already found his place in the family and was unlikely to disturb the delicate equilibrium of relationships. “She needs to do something. She’s thirty-six years old.”
    Al ie chuckled. “So are you. That’s hardly ancient.”
    “She’s stil talking about having a large family.”

    “She’l find the right man.”
    “Kirk’s the right man,” he insisted. “She should marry him, have a family and forget the past.” His mood darkened as he folded his arms. “Instead, she’s spending good money on a P.I.—a P.I. who could ruin her life.”
    “Guilt, responsibility and curiosity are al powerful motivators,” Al ie said. “You, of al people, should understand that.”
    “We’re not talking about me,” he grumbled.
    Her smile was back. “If you only knew what a good man you are.”
    He shoved the hair out of his eyes. It was getting long; he could use a cut. “It’s enough for me that you think I’m good.”
    “Maybe if Maddy stil had her mother, the situation would be different,” she said.
    “Of course it would. Then my mother wouldn’t have married Lee Barker. He had nothing nice to say about his first wife, but you know he never would’ve divorced her.
    That wouldn’t have reflected wel on him.” He heard the bitter note in his own voice. “He was al about appearances.”
    She bent over to kiss his cheek. “You’ve done your best with what you were given, done your best by Maddy. You love her just as much as your other sisters.”
    “But it’s probably not the same for her,” he said. “She belongs, and yet she’s the only one who doesn’t real y belong. That’s got to be hard.”
    “Not as hard as it could be if she ever finds out the truth.”
    Al ie walked over to get the phone. “So cal her.”
    “And say what? Hey, Maddy, take it from me—you don’t want to know what you think you want to know?”
    She tugged playful y on his hair. “ No. Tel her the case is too old, that this P.I. won’t uncover anything new, that it’l cost her a lot of money for nothing. And if that doesn’t work, just let her know you don’t approve.”
    “I can’t come on too strong,” he said.
    “Why not?”
    “Because it’s a miracle folks around here haven’t poisoned her against me.”
    “She’d never turn on you.”
    “She could if this P.I. comes to town.”
    “Which is why you have to convince her not to bring him here,” she pointed out.
    “I doubt that anything I say wil change her mind.”
    “It’s worth a try,” Al ie insisted and handed him the phone.

    The phone in Madeline’s office had been ringing al morning. It seemed as if everyone in Stil water had something to say about the discovery at the quarry, which came as no surprise to her. People in this town had been talking about her father’s disappearance for years, and the knowledge that his car had been found renewed public interest.
    Fortunately, most were wel -intentioned cal s, friends and acquaintances who, after hearing the latest, wanted to give