Liz turned back and followed him into the garage.
Inside they found that it was large enough to fit four cars and was just as spotless as the house had been. There was currently only one actual car in it as well as a space for
the big SUV Aunt Jackie and Mr. Lyles had left in. The rest of the garage was taken up by two all-terrain vehicles that looked exactly like the ones in the photo Max had picked up in Jason's room the previous night. Making his way around the car and to the bikes, he immediately noticed that there was enough room between them and the wall to assume that the third bike had been taking up the space until recently.
«I heard a buzzing this morning.» Max bent to see a faint tire track on the concrete floor. «I thought it was a fly in my bedroom, but it must have been the sound of Jason's ATV drowned out by my closed window.»
«I didn't hear anything," Liz said, wishing she didn't have to contradict him.
«You were probably in the shower," he replied.
She thought that over and suspected he could be right. «Are you sure there were three bikes?»
«Jason has a photo of him and his parents on the bikes.» Max searched for more clues to confirm his suspicions. «He said they owned them. Besides, everything in this house is so precisely organized. Don't you think it's a little odd that there's a big empty space between the wall and the bikes, like there's room for a third?»
«Nice deductive work, Sherlock.» Liz was genuinely impressed.
A wooden key rack sat on the wall. It was carved in the shape of a dirt bike and had three empty pegs sticking out from it. «He took all the keys.»
«Why would they keep the keys right next to the bikes?» Liz wondered out loud. «It would make them pretty easy to steal if someone got into the garage.»
«I think that's the point.» Max looked at the two remaining ATVs and couldn't help but figure out which one belonged to Mr. Lyles. The bikes were almost identical with their red and black painted designs, but the one he assumed was the property of the head of the house looked like it had never been ridden. It was amazingly clean for something that was built to get dirty. «Although Jason made sure the bikes won't get stolen.» He checked the remaining bikes and confirmed that the two missing sets of keys weren't in their ignitions.
«Well, that really shouldn't be a problem.» Liz gave him a sly smile.
Wordlessly, Max placed a hand on each of the two remaining bikes, concentrating on the engines that powered them. A soft glow emanated from his palms to the starters. Within moments, the engines were buzzing a louder version of the same sound Max had heard only a short time ago from his comfortable bed. Why did I ever get up? he wondered.
Max grabbed a helmet and a set of safety pads that were neatly laid out on a nearby shelf and handed them to Liz. Turning back to the shelf, he grabbed his own equipment and strapped it on, taking a minute to get the bindings done up correctly. «I think I can give you a quick lesson on these things," he said as he laced up the knee pads. «They can be a little dangerous.»
But Liz was already geared up and seated atop her bike revving the engine and looking ready to go. She couldn't help but notice the expression of surprise Max had on his face. «I did date Kyle Valenti for a summer. What do you think his idea of a fun day out would entail?»
In the same way he knew that Michael had a tendency to shock Maria, he hoped that Liz would never stop surprising him. «Let's go.»
Max aimed his right hand at a button on the wall, and the electronic garage door opened in front of them. They pulled the dirt bikes out of the garage and rode the loop of the driveway out to the street. Stopping, they looked in either direction to see if there was any oncoming traffic or possible clues to tell them in which direction Jason had traveled.
«If we go left, that takes us right into town," Max noted skeptically.
«I doubt he'd go there on an ATV," Liz agreed with his unspoken thought.
There was another property directly across the street from them, and Max crossed out that direction as a possibility. To the right they saw there were only a few more ranches to pass before the road opened up into the desert. «He must have gone that way.»
«Max, look at this.» Liz called his attention to the side of the road. Together they coasted their bikes over.
«Tracks," he said, confirming what she had been pointing out to him.
The set of bike tracks had come off the Lyleses' property and continued down the dirt path along the side of the road. «Now that we know for sure that he left the grounds," Liz said, «maybe we should call the police.»
«I don't know.» Max's mind was working on another idea as he stared at the tracks. They were fairly deep in the soft ground and seemed like they would be rather easy to follow, at least for a while. «Something's obviously wrong
with Jason. If we involve the police, he may never trust us enough to tell us the truth.»
Max tried to remember back to a time when he had considered the police to be the first people he could turn to in an emergency. When he was a child, Officer Friendly would often visit his school to give lectures on safety and what to do when strangers approach. He had always felt better knowing that the officer with the calming voice was keeping the town safe. Back then, the police were the good guys and, as such, he had always felt protected under their watchful eyes even when he'd realized that Officer Friendly's real name was Valenti and had actually been the father of one of his classmates.
He still did feel reasonably safe around the police for the most part, but things were more complicated now. Lately, the police were the last people he could go to for help. Max knew he couldn't trust anyone currently in law enforcement-not because they were out to get him, but because it was their responsibility to report anything out of the ordinary. And the situations that Max usually found himself in were certainly out of the ordinary. At least I know I can trust Officer Friendly again.
But here, they were dealing with an ordinary case of a missing child. He worried that his lack of trust in the police could easily put Jason's life in jeopardy. However, he had a nagging feeling that if he and Liz followed the trail and found him on their own, it could ultimately help out with whatever his real problem turned out to be.
«I don't know," Liz said, sharing his concerns on both sides. «I'm really worried about Jason.»
«Me too," Max replied, still eyeing the set of tracks left
in the sand by the tires of Jason's ATV «How about we call the police if we don't find him in an hour.»
Liz was hesitant to agree.
«I think he wants to be found," Max added.
«Why do you say that?»
«He would have used the road otherwise," Max replied. «He left the tracks in the dirt for us to follow.»
«Aren't you just the detective this morning?» She was impressed by the way his mind was working. «But if he wanted us to follow him, why did he take the keys to the bikes?»
Max thought back to the night before, when he had been forced to use his powers to pick the lock to Jason's room. «Because he's a smart kid.»
Revving their engines, they started down the side of the road, careful to keep an eye on the tracks as well as on the traffic as they headed out of Artesia. The road wasn't very well traveled, and the wind was light, so they didn't have any problem following the trail that had stayed fairly intact for them. Max graciously allowed Liz to lead the way since she appeared to be more confident on the ATV It really has been years since I rode one of these things, he thought.