Page 80 of Save a Wish

“Right now all we have on Miss Rodgers’s disappearance is the incomplete arrest letter Mr. Faraday gave us,” the officer said, “and this note from you, Mr. Slater. A note that sounds threatening because we don’t have the rest of it. You’re going to have to come to the station for some questioning.”

We all talked at once, but the officer whistled and we clamped our mouths shut.

“If I don’t question the town’s rumored serial killer,” the officer said, “the gossips in town will have a field day. If Mr. Slater is innocent, great. He’ll be free to go. If he’s not . . .” The officer’s voice dropped off.

“And the best way to clear Jimmy’s name,” Darius began, “is to have Sadie—or whoever she is—make a reappearance, right?”

“That would be the easiest way, yes,” the officer agreed. “If she’s not missing, we don’t have anything to investigate.”

All attention turned to me, and Logan said, “Dude, you gotta go find her. For Mom. We can’t let whatever Sadie is dealing with and this misunderstanding that Jimmy has something to do with it keep Mom from getting that engagement ring.”

“If you find her and bring her back,” Vanessa said, “you might solve two problems. Jimmy’s and yours.”

“I don’t have a problem,” I said.

“Yeah, you do.” Joshua came to stand in front of me and rested his hands on my shoulders. “You’re in love with Sadie, aren’t you?”

“I can’t be in love with her!” I shot back. “She isn’t real!”

“You don’t believe that,” Isaac said. “In your heart, you don’t believe that.”

“She was more real than any other chick you’ve gone out with, wasn’t she?” Logan asked.

“You chose hanging out with her over your phone, your computers, your video games,” Darius said. “She may have lied about who she was, but what you felt while you were with her was authentic.”

“And you owe it to her and to you and to Jimmy to find out the whole story,” Vanessa said. “As the only female in the group here, take it from me. Sadie or Princess Aislinn or whatever she calls herself wants you to fight for her. For what you were building together.”

“But she lied to me,” I said.

“And you need to know why,” Isaac said.

“Come with me, Mr. Slater.” The officer looked at me. “We’ve reached out to Verdalach, but so far there has been no response so if you find Miss Rodgers or Princess What’s-Her-Name, let us know.”

Jimmy followed the officer to the squad car parked in front of Darius’s house. The sad look he gave me just before the officer ushered him into the back seat assaulted my battered heart. I couldn’t let my mom’s chance at happiness go to shit when I could do something about it.

“Fine,” I said, stepping into my shoes by the door. “I’ll go to Verdalach. I’ll find Her Majesty, but for Jimmy and Mom. Not for me. I can’t trust someone who lies to me and then disappears without any contact.”

I didn’t care what her reasons were. I would not fall for Sadie Rodgers again.

Chapter Twenty-eight

Sadie

I stared at the wedding dress my mother had delivered to my chambers. I’d had no say in its design, but of course I hadn’t. I’d had no say in getting married to a man I didn’t love either. I’d had no say in the future to which I was about to subject myself.

I’d had no say.

It turned out that my welcome back dinner had been held at an ungodly hour yesterday morning. When Cian had announced we’d be getting married tomorrow, he’d meant in the evening of the following day. The entire palace had shifted into autopilot with wedding preparations while I’d stayed in my chambers with Orla and Fionn trying desperately to cheer me up.

“Cian will probably be too busy trying to get your father to put him in charge of important things,” Fionn had said. “He won’t have time to make your life miserable.”

“Yes,” Orla had agreed. “You probably won’t have to see him much.”

While that was encouraging, I feared what Cian would do with any power my father gave him.

Orla had offered to do my hair for the wedding, so I’d let her while Fionn supervised and did his best to keep me from completely falling apart. I kept reminding myself to breathe, but mindfulness and forced, arranged marriage didn’t mesh.

Laoise and the other ladies bustled into my chambers now, ready to bundle me into this hideously pretentious wedding dress and seal my unfortunate fate.