Read Sunshine and the Shadowmaster for Free Online

Her chin was stuck out. She looked ready for a fight, if it came to that. But she didn’t have that pulled-in, cagey look that would have said she was hiding something. And she didn’t look the least bit nervous, either.
    No, the signs weren’t there. Not a one.
    Jack said, “All right, Marnie. Then do you have any idea of where Mark might have gone? Can you think of someone he might have asked to help him?”
    The little chin protruded further. “Yeah. Me. He could have asked me. But he didn’t.”
    â€œWhat about where he might have gone?”
    â€œFar away, prob’bly.” The words had escaped her lips before Marnie realized they would only bring on more questions. She ducked her head a little, like a turtle pulling into its shell.
    But Jack Roper didn’t allow her to retreat. “Why do you think he would go far away?”
    â€œDon’t know,” Marnie mumbled, as if by answering out of the side of her mouth, she could make the questions go away.
    â€œMarnie,” Regina Jones said softly.
    Marnie glanced up at her stepmother. “Aw, Gina.”
    â€œTell them all you know, honey.”
    Now Marnie shifted uncomfortably, lowering one sneakered foot to the floor and crossing the other one on her knee. She glanced back at her stepmother again. Regina nodded in encouragement.
    â€œIt’s just...what he said in his letters.”
    â€œWhat letters?” Lucas demanded. “You have letters from my son?”
    â€œLucas.” Jack gave a quick shake of his head.
    â€œSorry,” Lucas muttered.
    â€œAnswer the question,” Jack said to Marnie. “Do you have letters from Mark Drury?”
    Marnie looked rebellious, but she did nod.
    â€œWe need to see them,” Jack said.
    Marnie stuck her thumbnail in her mouth and chewed on the cuticle for a moment.
    â€œMarnie.” Regina made the name into a reprimand.
    â€œOh, all right. I’ll get them.” Marnie bounced to her feet and disappeared down a hallway.
    She returned a few minutes later carrying a stack of envelopes tied together with fishing line. Jack held out his hand.
    Marnie clutched the letters to her chest for a moment, then stuck them out. “I want ‘em back.”
    Jack smiled as he took them. “You’ll get them.”
    â€œWhen?”
    â€œMarnie.” Regina was shaking her head.
    â€œI got a right to know. They belong to me.”
    â€œSoon,” Jack promised. “I want a chance to read them carefully, and then I’ll return them.”
    Nothing was going to stop Lucas from reading those letters, too. He decided the best way to see to that was to ask Marnie if he could look at them. “I’d like to read them, too,” he said quietly.
    Marnie turned her blue gaze on him. “They’re mine.”
    â€œI know. And I’m asking. Will you let me read them?”
    Marnie took her time answering. She looked at Lucas through narrowed eyes, clearly doubtful that he could be trusted. Lucas suppressed a sigh of relief when she ruled in his favor. “All right. You can read them. But I want them back as soon as you’re done.”
    In another room, a baby began to cry. Regina started to excuse herself. Jack said there was no problem. They could see themselves out.
    * * *
    They interviewed Oggie Jones next. Lucas had never much cared for the crafty old troublemaker.
    It was a local legend that Oggie Jones had stolen his now-deceased wife, Bathsheba, from Lucas’s father, Rory, decades ago. Rory had later married Lucas’s mother and Lucas had come along. Indirectly, he supposed, Lucas owed his existence to old Oggie Jones.
    But Lucas had never managed to muster up any gratitude. For one thing, it was hard to be grateful for the hell on earth that his early childhood had been. And beyond that, Lucas just plain didn’t like Oggie’s attitude.
    The old loudmouth thought he knew it all and had no qualms