“Any in the Cleary family?” Jack asked, walking toward the frozen shoreline.
“Nope. The Clearys can barely manage to buy food. A small plane would have made a noise. Maybe someone heard something.”
Jack shook his head. “There’s no tracks where it took off again. Whoever came in here walked away.”
“Or used Main Street as a runway.”
Jack thought about that. “A hang glider or large kite makes more sense than a plane, even a small one. And dragging a glider might have made those tracks.” He shook his head again. “But that’s a pretty unusual way to arrive to a burglary. Maybe the tracks don’t have anything to do with our break-in.”
“But they head directly to the bakery,” Simon pointed out.
“None of the other stores were broken into?”
“Nope. I checked the shops on both sides of the street. Everything is just as the owners left it last night.”
Jack looked out at the busy lake dotted with tiny islands, zooming snowmobiles, ice shanties, and even a few pickups with plows on them. Hell, it was busier than Main Street out there. He looked back at the bakery. So, what had caused a bunch of bored teenagers to go from pulling a few harmless pranks to breaking and entering?
And what in hell had made those tracks?
Chapter Three
“I thought I’d find you down here.”
Megan looked up from the computer screen and scowled at her sister. “Go away,” she said, returning to the Internet page.
Of course Camry ignored her. She sauntered into Gù Brath’s science lab, pulled up a chair, and cradled her chin in her hands as she also studied the screen. “I wondered how long it would take you to get bored working at Winter’s art gallery.” She reached over to hit a keyboard button to scroll down the page. “I’m surprised you lasted three months. Not Easter Island,” she muttered, hitting the button again. “Or Costa Rica, either. It’s too hot. There!” she said, pointing at the new Internet page. “You can go count Steller’s sea eagles off the coast of Siberia. That’s definitely far enough away to teach all of us a lesson.”
Megan reached up and shut off the monitor.
Camry immediately turned it back on. “No, I think you’re on to something here, Meg. You should run as far and as fast as you can, and to hell with everyone. You’re a fully grown woman, so why hang around here getting fawned over by a family who loves you?”
Megan looked down at her lap. “It’s killing me, Cam. Mom and Dad treat me like a fragile piece of glass, afraid if they so much as look at me wrong, I’ll shatter.” Tears welled in her eyes. “Dad actually got down on his knee and tied my shoes for me yesterday.”
Camry covered Megan’s hands. “He can’t help himself, coming from a time when being pregnant and single was just about the worst position a woman could find herself in. None of us can help being worried about you, because we love you. Mom said you came home in tears from your fieldwork in Canada, and cried for nearly a month when Wayne Ferris broke your heart.”
“But everyone’s concern is only making it worse. I came home looking for support, not pity. I certainly expected better from you. We’re more alike than our own twin sisters, and I was positive you would realize I haven’t turned into a helpless idiot. So how come you didn’t tell me about Kenzie?”
“Ahh,” Camry said, leaning back in her chair. “That’s why you’re searching for a job. So you can run away again, only this time from…from what, Meg? Why should Kenzie being Gesader throw you into such a tailspin? It can’t be the magic, since we grew up with it. So what is it?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“And just how was I supposed to explain that the panther you’d been sleeping with for the last four months was really a man?” She leaned forward. “Everyone knew how embarrassed you’d be.”
“And none of you thought I would eventually figure it out when Gesader never showed up again? Cam, I told that cat everything,” she whispered. “All my deepest, darkest secrets.” She covered her face with her hands. “My God, I even told him how I’d torn off Wayne’s clothes and made love to him under the stars!”
“And Gesader saw you naked when you got ready for bed. That’s really what has you so flustered, isn’t it? That, and even though you’re not quite over Wayne, you find Kenzie mysteriously attractive. So who finally told you, anyway?”
“He did. And I don’t like Kenzie that way.”
“Why not? He’s handsome as all get out, and he’s seen you at your worst and doesn’t turn tail when you approach. So what’s wrong with liking him ‘that way’? I’m tempted to flirt with him myself.”
“He’s a warrior.”
Camry arched her brows at Megan’s tone. “And just what’s wrong with warriors? They make up most of our family, including our own generation. Half our cousins have served in the military.”
“Which is exactly why I fell so hard for Wayne. His first reaction to a problem isn’t to bludgeon it into submission, but to solve it peaceably. He doesn’t have one confrontational bone in his body. He’s interested in stuff I’m interested in, he’s shy and gentle and sensitive, and he’s got this endearing little clumsiness thing going on.”
“The men in our family can be sensitive and gentle.”
“Wayne wouldn’t even know which end of a sword to hold,” Megan countered, “much less how to shoot a gun. You should have seen him with the students out on the tundra, Cam. No matter how heated their petty arguments got, Wayne disarmed the situation without even raising his voice.”
“He sounds like a nerd.”
“He is. A wonderful, beautiful, sensitive nerd. And for an added bonus, he’s only five foot ten, so I don’t get a crick in my neck talking to him. I love the men in our family, Cam, I just don’t want to be married to one. I want Wayne.”
“Then go get him!” Camry snapped. “Instead of looking for a new job halfway around the world, get your sorry butt back to Canada.”
“And do what?” Megan snapped back. “Beg Wayne to marry me?”
“MacKeages do not beg.” Camry narrowed her eyes. “The Megan I grew up with would have fought for the man she loved. She sure as hell wouldn’t be hiding in the family fortress, having a four-month pity party.”
Megan lifted her chin. “I am not hiding. In fact, I’m planning to confront Wayne.”
“When?”
Megan started scrolling down the page again. “Just as soon as I get my ducks in a row,” she muttered. “That’s why I’m looking for a new job. I’m going to become gainfully employed again and move into my own home, and then I’m going to track down Wayne and show him exactly what he threw away.”
“That’s the sister I grew up with.” Camry’s face suddenly brightened even more. “You know what this means, Meg? If you give wimpy Wayne the boot, you’ve broken the curse of us girls getting pregnant the first time we make love to our future husbands!” She bobbed her eyebrows. “Which also means I’m free to start dating again. Maybe I will go after Kenzie.”
Only Megan wasn’t feeling her sister’s enthusiasm. “Why didn’t the curse work for me? And are you…still a virgin?”
“No,” Camry said softly, her face pink. “Were you?”
Megan shook her head. “I’ve had other relationships.”
“Hmm…so that means it’s not making love that’s the danger, just that we get pregnant by the men we’re destined to marry.”
“Then what happened to me?”
Camry shrugged. “Who knows? The upset Matt caused to the continuum might have messed up the magic enough to stop the curse. Anyway, come on,” she said, standing up. “Dinner’s ready.”
Megan turned back to the computer. “I’m not hungry.”
“You have to face Kenzie sometime, Meg. He’s not going away.”
“No, but I am. Look! There’s an opening for a field biologist right here in Maine.”
Camry leaned over her shoulder and read the posting. “It’s for the Pine Lake watershed.” She straightened with a frown. “What are the chances of that?”