in life and was leaving town."

Shamus leaned forward. "For where?"

"She didn't say. In fact, he said she made a point of being evasive."

Arthur took the opportunity to weigh in. "Mr. Paine, you have been paid a substantial sum of money for information leading to the location of Mrs. O'Keefe and her son. Please assure us further progress has been made on this account."

Paine set his jaw. "I'm afraid I can't, Mr. Raines. There was no forwarding address, the neighbors were interviewed and know nothing, and the bank accounts were closed. I've contacted all the moving companies in the area. They have no records pertaining to a Mrs. O'Keefe or of moving anyone from her former address. I have even been to see the priest at the church shedifferent when he was in Maine. The trees seemed greener and the air a little cleaner. There were no billboards and there didn't seem to be as much garbage on the side of the road. About forty-five minutes later he drove through Portland, a beautiful old city. You got a great look at the skyline and there were plenty of water views. North of Portland the trees took over once more. In Brunswick he got off the highway and back on Route One. He kept heading north, though it was really east. Conall had read somewhere this section of Maine was called "Down East" because the compass setting for sailing ships going up the coast was more east than north.

As he drove through Bath, and then Wiscasset, he