in a heavy sigh. "All I'm saying is, maybe it's a good thing Micah's gone."
Lainey shook her head. "No..."
"Lainey, if everything you've said is true, think of what would have happened to Micah if the wrong people found out he was here," Dolores remarked quietly. "The press would have had a field day. Scientists would have been poking and probing at him for the rest of his life."
Lainey thought about the three men who had captured Micah, about the tests they'd performed, and knew that would be nothing compared to what would happen if SETI or some other organization had gotten hold of Micah. Her mother was right and she knew it, but it didn't lessen the pain.
Lainey frowned. The men who had followed them to the cabin had to be the same men who had captured Micah. But how had they known where her parents lived? The realization that her parents might have been hurt or killed hit her for the first time. She stared at her father and saw the knowledge in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Lainey," Ralph said. "I know how much you cared for him, but I can't be sorry he's gone. I'd rather have you grieving than see anything happen to you or your mother."
Lainey placed her hand on her father's and gave it a squeeze. "I know, Dad. Thanks for listening and for believing me."
Rising, she hugged her father, then her mother. "I think I'll go to bed."
"Good night, sweetie," Dolores said. "I love you."
"I love you, too. Good night, Mom. Dad."
Heavy-hearted, Lainey climbed the stairs to her room, pulled off her sneakers, jeans, and sweater, and crawled into bed, praying that Micah would travel in safety, thanking God that her parents hadn't been harmed.
She tried to focus on putting her life back together, tried to think of a plot for her next mystery, which was due at the end of the year, but to no avail.
Micah was gone from her life, and nothing else mattered.
"Well," Delores said after Lainey had gone to bed, "what do you make of that? Spaceships, indeed!"
"Lainey's always had a vivid imagination," Ralph said, chuckling. "Remember that time she thought her closet was haunted? Still..." He rubbed a hand along his jaw. "There's something strange going on here,Dee . I don't believe for a minute that Micah's from outer space, but peopleare looking for him. Maybe he's involved in some sort of mob activity or something. Whatever's going on,I think we'd better cancel that trip to Palm Springs and stick close to home, just in case."
He sat in the car across the street from theSt. John house, an unlit cigar clamped between his teeth. Gene and Mac had disappeared. He assumed they were dead, killed by the alien. But it was the fact that the girl had come home alone that concerned him. What did it mean?
Turning the key in the ignition, he pulled away from the curb. The girl had come home alone. Did that mean the alien had escaped and headed home, or was he merely lying low?
Frowning, he turned down the alley that ran behind his house.
The alien was gone, at least for now, but there was always a chance he'd come back for the girl.
And Red LeMans would be waiting for him.
Dressed in his official Fleet uniform, Micah stood in front of his superiors, his face impassive as the Minister of Flight enumerated the charges that had been filed against him.
It was quite a lengthy list. Most of the charges were of little consequence, but his failure to follow standard procedures after the crash, coupled with his admission that he had intentionally put off signaling his sister ship, were charges to be reckoned with. And the fact that he had not only let an earthling see him, but had lived with her and told her about Xanthian ways, only made things worse. And yet it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. He had answered their questions honestly, not caring what anyone thought, not caring that he was likely ruining what had been an outstanding career. He had told them everything except the most important thing.
Pergith had been called to testify. Micah had felt the commander's sympathetic gaze as Pergith related all that had happened on his ship from the time Micah and the woman had come on board until the time the woman had been returned to Earth.
Told in a straightforward manner, fact upon fact, Micah's behavior sounded irrational, unacceptable. He wasn't surprised when he was stripped of