Gingerbread Man

thought. So what are you really doing out here, besides digging into someone's private hell?" Before Vince could answer, the chief said, "This have to do with those two kids who were murdered up your way?"
    Startled, Vince said, "How did you know?"
    "I'm the police chief of a small town, O'Mally. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm dumb as a post. That story was all over the news. I saw your picture in the paper. I knew damn well that lame stolen car tale you spun in my office was bullshit. But what's the connection with the library book?"
    Vince took back his envelope, and he and Mallory walked side by side to the waiting cars. "It was found at the crime scene." He opened his car door, tossed the fat envelope onto the seat. "Have you found out who last took it out of the library?"
    The chief nodded. "Holly did. Just a few weeks before her sister was taken. But you already knew that, didn't you, O'Mally?"
    "I was pretty sure of it, yes," Vince admitted.
    "So what's the connection? Ivy Newman's murderer is in prison—confessed to the crime. Even led the police into the woods up north to show them where he dumped the body."
    Vince's head came up fast. "And did they find it?"
    Chief Mallory shook his head. "No. Apparently he'd buried her somewhere in the Adirondaks. They searched several sites, but you know how it is up there. Lake after lake, and they all look pretty much the same."
    Vince's jaw tightened. "There's a connection. I'll find it." He got into his Jeep.
    "Vince." The chief held on to Vince's door, leaning in. "Does Holly know what you're doing?"
    "She does now."
    "How long has she known?"
    Vince knew exactly what the man was getting at. "About an hour now. Chief, whatever is wrong with Holly was wrong with her before I started digging into this. If something has set her off, it's something besides me."
    "And her mother?"
    "She doesn't know anything. Holly asked me not to tell her and at the moment, I see no reason to."
    "You watch your step with Holly—be careful with her," Mallory warned.
    He nodded. "I intend to be." But as he started the engine, he thought Holly Newman was one hell of a lot stronger than these people gave her credit for. The trick was in making
her
see that.
    This was a puzzle. And Holly Newman was more than just one of the pieces. She was the key that would make all the others fit.

EIGHT
----

    CHIEF JIM MALLORY looked around the table at the men he'd asked to come to his home in the middle of a Saturday night. Each had a beer, but he would see to it they didn't have a second one before they left.
    To his right, the town's aging doctor sipped his beer slowly from the bottle, and punctuated each sip with a fistful of chips from the bowl on the table. Ernie Graycloud was thirty pounds overweight, and wore his long, silvered hair pulled back in a ponytail, day in, day out. His face was starting to wrinkle, but it still bore the copper hue and the straight large nose that would identify him as Indian even to those who hadn't yet heard his name. He bragged that he was pureblood Cayuga, but the chief doubted anyone in this part of the state was pureblood anything at this point in history. Ernie was the finest doctor he'd ever known, though. And a good friend, besides.
    So was the other man at the table, Marty Cantrell. He drank his beer in long, loving drafts that were few and far between. He looked worried, pensive.
    "You didn't tell me your reasons for calling this meeting in your phone message," Marty said to Jim.
    "I didn't want to leave the details on your machine," Jim explained.
    "No matter. I think I can guess. That cop, Vince O'Mally, down from Syracuse. He's poking around in things that don't concern him, isn't he?"
    Jim Mallory nodded. "I'm afraid so."
    "I knew there was some reason he was getting so chummy with my niece. I don't like it. I don't like it a bit."
    "I don't like it any better than you do, Marty."
    Ernie Graycloud was looking from one of them to the other. "I still don't understand. What is it you think he wants? Ivy's case is solved. It's closed. What can he do by digging all this up now?"
    "I'll tell you what he can do," Marty said. "He can send my niece over the edge, straight into a mental ward." Marty looked the doctor dead in the eyes. "Tell me you don't think it's possible, Ernie. Say something, for crying out loud; you're her doctor."
    Ernie lowered his gaze. "I don't know. I think she's stronger than we realize, but this ... yeah. If he forces her to relive