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“Fear?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “Not that I knew of anyway. But then, I didn’t exactly know her well.”

I leave the five on the counter. She lets it stay there until I’m at the door.

Then she says, “He smiles too much.”

I turn.

She shrugs. “Tom. For a man that upset, he smiles too much when people are watching.”

I write that down in the truck.

At noon, I speak to a woman at the preschool pickup lane under the respectable lie of asking about community search efforts.

People reveal more when they think they’re being helpful than when they think they’re being questioned.

Her name is Dana. She wears athletic leggings, a puffer vest, and the expression of someone who considers herself informed because people tell her things to make her stop asking.

“Maggie’s sweet,” Dana says. “A little scattered, maybe. Tom’s the steady one.”

“Steady.”

“Oh, absolutely. Poor man. He’s been beside himself.”

“Has he?”

“You can see it. He came by yesterday asking if anyone had heard from her. He’s doing everything to find her.”

I make a neutral sound.

Neutral sounds are underestimated. They encourage elaboration without creating commitment.

Dana leans closer. “Between us, Maggie has always been a little… emotional.”

“Emotional how?”

“You know. Dramatic. Tom works so hard, and she’d still get overwhelmed. Some women don’t know how good they have it.”

There are moments when silence is strategy. There are other moments when it’s self-control. This one is both.

“Did Lucy ever seem overwhelmed?” I ask.

Dana blinks. “Lucy’s quiet.”

“That wasn’t the question.”

Her mouth pinches. “Well. Children pick up on things.”

“Yes,” I say. “They do.”

I leave before I say something inefficient.

Five hours of driving around Everwood gets me very little besides bad coffee, conflicting impressions, and growing suspicion that Tom White has spent days shaping this narrative ahead of everyone else.

Maggie buys groceries with cash more often than card. Maggie stopped attending a weekly library story hour with Lucy six weeks ago. Tom told at least four people Maggie “needs space” before anyone else describes her as missing.

That timeline matters.