“Oh, Grady,” she sobbed.

“I know it’s new, and it might take some getting used to, but let my love be your strength for now. Lean on me if you can. Let me help you bear this. I’ll do everything in my power to get Maggie back.”

She was holding him, clutching his shoulders, like a lifeline. “I love you, too,” she whimpered, but didn’t know if he’d heard her.

“We’ll get through this,” he promised. “We’ll find Maggie.”

He sounded confident and sure, and she clung to the promise of his words.

“It’s going to be all right, understand?”

She nodded, desperately wanting to believe him.

Oh, God, she prayed, please bring my little girl home.

But God seemed far away just then.

* * *

MAGGIE’S EYES were sore from crying, but she didn’t want Richard to hear her because he’d already gotten mad and yelled at her. She huddled in the corner of the old stone building that used to be a store. It was getting dark, but there was still some light coming in through the open door. Richard had told her not to leave the room and then he’d disappeared. Maggie didn’t like Richard anymore, even if he could do magic tricks.

He was mean and he said bad words and he threw things, too. After he found her hiding in the back of Grady’s pickup, he started acting like Billy Parsons when he had a temper tantrum at his brother’s birthday party. The only thing Richard didn’t do was throw himself down on the ground and start kicking.

Her stomach growled, but Maggie had already looked around for something to eat and hadn’t found anything. She wished she’d gone horseback riding with her mommy and Grady. She was afraid of horses after last Sunday—but not nearly as afraid as she was now.

“Richard,” Maggie said, risking his wrath by walking out of the store. “I want to go home now, okay?”

“Yeah, well, you can’t have everything you want.” He was sitting outside and he had a big bottle in his hand. Every now and then, he’d take a drink. Her mother had told Maggie it wasn’t good manners to drink out of a bottle, but she didn’t tell Richard that because he’d only yell at her again.

“Can we go back to the ranch?” she asked.

“No.” He growled the word at her and laughed when she leaped back, frightened by the harsh sound of his voice. “I’ve got an idea,” he said, leaning toward her. “Why don’t you go fall in an empty well and save me a lot of trouble?”

Maggie hurried back into the old store and sat down on the lone chair. When it grew dark, she ventured over to the stable where he’d parked the truck. There was enough moonlight to find her way, but she walked very carefully, afraid of holes in the road and snakes…and Richard. Climbing into the bed of the pickup, she curled up with the sleeping bag she’d found earlier. She was cold and hungry and more afraid than she’d ever been in her whole life.

Every once in a while she could hear Richard singing. He played his guitar and sang, but his voice didn’t sound right. It was like he’d mashed all the words together. She used to think he had a good voice; she didn’t think so anymore.

Soon she fell asleep and didn’t awake until light peeked through a crack in the stable door. She was so hungry her stomach hurt.

She clambered out of the truck and walked back to the main street. The early morning was very still.

Richard was asleep in the rocker. His guitar lay on the wooden sidewalk, and he’d slouched down in the chair with his feet stretched out. His arms dangled over the edges of the rocker until his fingertips touched the ground close to the empty bottle. His head lolled to one side.

“Richard,” she whispered. “I’m hungry.”

He opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times.

“I’m hungry,” she repeated, louder this time.

“Get out of here, kid.”

“I want my mommy,” she said, and her lower lip wobbled. “I don’t like it here. I want to go home.”

Richard slowly sat up and rubbed his face. “Get lost, will ya?”

Maggie didn’t mean to, but she started to cry. She’d always thought Richard was her friend, and now she knew he wasn’t.

“Stop it!” he shouted and scowled at her.

Sobbing, Maggie ran away from him.

“Maggie,” he called after her, but she didn’t stop, running between two of the buildings.

“Damn it.”

Maggie pretended not to hear him and, thinking he might try to follow her, she crept down the side of a building, then slipped inside another store.

The town was old. Really, really old. Older than any place she’d ever been. It smelled old. None of the buildings had paint, either. It sure seemed like no one had lived here for a long time. Some of the places had stuff inside. The store had a table and chair and shelves. But there were only a few cans sitting around—they looked kind of strange, like they might burst. Plus a cash register. She’d tried to get it to work, but it wouldn’t open for her.

Maggie wasn’t sure what kind of shop this had been, but it had a big cupboard. Maybe she could hide from Richard there. She opened the door and saw that it had shelves. On one of the shelves was a doll. A really old one, with a cotton dress and apron and bonnet. The doll’s face had been stitched on. It wasn’t like any doll she’d ever seen. The only one she owned with cloth arms and legs was Raggedy Ann, but her clothes were bright and pretty. This doll’s clothes were all faded.

“Are you scared, too?” she asked the doll.

The stitched red mouth seemed to quaver a bit.

Suddenly she heard Richard’s footsteps outside.

“Maggie, damn it! You could get hurt racing around this old town.”

Maggie didn’t care what Richard said—she didn’t like him. She crouched down inside the cupboard and shut the door, leaving it open just a crack so she could see out.

“Are you hungry?” he called. She watched him stop in the doorway, staring into the building. Maggie’s heart pounded hard and she bit her lower lip, afraid he might see her.

“Come on, kid,” he growled.

Maggie clutched the old doll to her chest and closed her eyes. She wanted Richard to go away.

“I’m going to cook breakfast now,” he said, moving away. He continued down the sidewalk with heavy footsteps. “When you’re ready, you can come and eat, too.”

Maggie waited a long time and didn’t move until she smelled bacon frying. Her stomach growled again. It’d been hours and hours since she’d eaten.

Her grip on the doll loosened and she looked into its face again. It was a sad face, Maggie realized, as if the doll was about to cry. Maggie felt like crying, too. She missed her mommy.

Slipping her backpack off her shoulders, Maggie opened it and carefully tucked the sad doll inside.

“I cooked you some bacon and eggs,” Richard called.

This time Maggie couldn’t resist. She pushed open the cupboard door and slowly walked out of the old building.

“There you are,” Richard said, holding out a plate to her.

Maggie didn’t trust Richard anymore and moved cautiously toward him. If he said something mean, she was prepared to run.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Richard told her.

“What about the bad words?”

“I’m sorry about those, too.”

“Will you take me home now?” she asked, standing in the middle of the dirt street.

Richard stood by the post where people used to hitch their horses. He didn’t look like he was sorry, even if he said he was.

Maggie’s stomach was empty and making funny noises.

“You really want to go home now?” Richard asked. He sounded surprised that she’d want to leave. He made it seem like she was supposed to be having fun.

“I want to see my mommy.”

“Okay, okay, but we need to talk about it first.” He set the plate of food aside and sat down on the steps leading to the raised sidewalk.

“Why?”

He scratched his head. “Do you remember Grady getting mad at Savannah about coming to the ghost town?” he asked.