Page 220 of As You Wish

His mother’s name.

How had I been so blind? How had I not seen this?

Gabriel was the grant owner.

There was no doubt about it.

GABRIEL

Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch

Mollie Wilson: Hey, Hugh. Out of curiosity, how many divorces have you had?

Comments:

Hu Gh: I lost count after the fourth. Why?

Wren Hackett: How did you have four divorces???

Marjorie Brown: Do you really need him to answer that?

Hu Gh: They only wanted me for my body.

Kevin and Toby were still holding out, and I was in a bad mood when I went to pick up Agnes and Beatrice from school. I’d hoped Jade would have asked if she could go with me to get them, but she hadn’t. So, I tried to put on a good show for the girls by myself.

When Jade didn’t come by the apartment after we got home, I figured maybe she had opened the store today, and she’d stop in after she closed. But that didn’t happen either.

There was absolute silence from her. There was no noise coming from her apartment and there was nothing about or from her in the Facebook group.

I started to get nervous as the sun set.

Had Kevin done something to her? I knew that I’d pushed him today, but he had to break eventually.

But what if I’d gone too far and put her at risk?

It was near the girls’ bedtime when I got a text. I thought it would be Jade, but it was something even more shocking.

Unknown Number

This is Mike. The sheriff. Jade is at the spring. Come get her before Kevin realizes she’s here.

I sat up. “She’s what?” I yelled.

“You’re so loud!” Agnes yelled back. She was far louder than I had been.

I immediately called Atticus, begging him to rush over. He agreed to come, but I knew he would have questions.

The second my stepfather was in my apartment, I was running. How long had she been there? How had I missed that she was going to the spring?

It wasn’t owned by someone we knew anymore. If she was caught, she could be in massive trouble.

As much as Jade loved to joke around, she wouldn’t do something if she actually thought she would get in trouble. She wasn’t stupid, but she wasn’t always in her right mind when she was upset.

The spring was something she cared about so much, and it was in danger now.

Kevin could have easily done something to push her over the edge.