Read The Hunt for Free Online

the tragic death of Kyle Rakoff. Did any of you know him?’
    ‘I’ve known him since nursery school,’ Jenna answered eagerly. ‘He was the greatest, greatest guy.’Her voice quavered a little. Luke believed she was sad about Kyle. He also believed Jenna wasn’t minding the reporter’s attention. At all.
    ‘He was one of my best friends,’ Dave added. ‘Like a brother.’
    Suddenly the milkshake didn’t taste so good. The reporter trolling for any little detail about Kyle felt wrong. Luke dropped some money on the table. ‘I’m heading off.’
    He got some ‘bye’s and ‘see you’s as he walked out. From the sidewalk he could see the tips of the trees in the woods where Kyle had died. He hoped he’d been right when he told Eve that Kyle’s death was part of the sucky side of normal life, and not … something else.
    If it is, Eve won’t have to deal with it alone , he promised himself. Yes, sometimes Eve Evergold was annoying. She could be a little too sensitive, and she spent a ridiculous amount of money on purses.
    But she was a force for good in the world, and it was his responsibility to back her up. And he was positive that he’d feel the same way even if she wasn’t extraordinarily adorable.
    *
    ‘I think every teacher Kyle ever had is here, and everybody from our class,’ Eve said softly as she glancedaround the church. All the pews were packed with people for his funeral. It was hard to believe it had already been three days since they heard about Kyle’s death.
    ‘Not just our class, the whole school,’ Jess commented, nodding towards Megan, who was in the back with her boyfriend of the week. Megan was a sophomore, while Eve and Jess were freshmen. ‘Plus everyone’s parents.’ Eve’s and Jess’s parents were sitting together a few rows behind them.
    ‘Mr Enslow from the hardware store is here,’ Eve noted. ‘He doesn’t have any kids at high school now. Did he even really know Kyle?’
    ‘He was Kyle’s Little League coach. Peter was on that team too,’ Jess replied. ‘My parents always made me go watch the games with them.’ Deepdene was so small that almost every person in the town was connected, with at most one degree of separation.
    But there were a bunch of people in the church Eve didn’t recognize at all. Some of them, the ones up in the front, were probably Kyle’s out-of-town relatives. But the ones all the way in the back had to be reporters. In the four days since the police had found Kyle’s body the papers had been full of stories about his death and speculation regarding what exactly hadkilled him. There hadn’t been any progress in tracking down the animal – whatever it was.
    Eve wished the reporters had stayed outside the church. This time should be for people who cared about Kyle. It didn’t feel right to have strangers here, folks who’d never even met him or his family.
    Luke stepped up to the pulpit, adjusted the microphone and set out a pitcher of water and a glass. His expression was solemn as he took a seat in one of the pews. Was it wrong to notice how good he looked in his dark blue suit – none of it corduroy – with his long blond hair swept back off his face? Eve felt it was a little wrong, but she couldn’t help noticing what she noticed.
    Jess leaned closer. ‘Helena just came in.’
    Eve tilted her head just far enough to watch Helena walking down the centre aisle. Her black cowlneck tunic dress set off long blonde hair perfectly, although her face was drawn and pale. Her eyes were bright and glittery, as if she had a fever.
    Jess nodded with approval. ‘Good for Helena,’ she whispered in Eve’s ear. ‘She’s clearly wrecked, but has pulled herself together. She’s going to be OK.’
    Eve nodded in agreement. She let her gaze wander to the gargoyles that stared down from the ceiling,dozens and dozens of them. As often as she’d looked at them, she still saw new things every time. Today she noticed that a tiny woman stood on