Page 98

He didn’t look at her, his eyes still on me, but he answered anyway. “I don’t know. There was a crash, really loud. It scared me. Goldie Girl went to see, and when she came back, her eyes were like this—” he paused to demonstrate, opening his eyes wide “—and she told me to hide. She lifted me into the attic and said to be quiet like a mouse. I was quiet, just like she asked.”

“I’m proud of you,” I praised, bile climbing up my throat at what or who had scared Goldie enough to go through the effort of hiding my son in his own home, mixed with utter gratitude that she had done whatever she needed to keep him safe. “Do you know where she went?”

He shook his head again. “She said to stay quiet until you came and got me. She promised me that you would come.” He smiled softly. “She was right.”

Theo leaned into Oliver’s side, whispering softly, “Go tell the officers and the others what River said, okay?”

He nodded, kissed her softly on the top of her head, and walked away.

“Daddy?”

“Yeah?”

He finally loosened his grip on his alligator, letting it fall to the ground, which was nearly unfathomable. That alligator was his pride and joy. What we hadn’t seen hidden all this time was a deep red notebook—the same one I had found in Goldie’s car all those months ago. I was hit with deja vu. How could that be what was left of her again?

He reached it out to me. “Goldie Girl told me to give this to you.”

I took it from him gingerly, looking it over, confused as to why she would want me to have it. Theo snatched it from me quickly, moving through the pages. “I don’t know what you’re looking for. I have that thing memorized at this point.”

“There had to be a reason she gave it to River,” Theo mumbled, flipping through it quickly.

I just watched her in silence, pulling River into my lap. Losing him and Goldie would have killed me, and him being here, being okay, was truly the only thing keeping me standing.

“What does Salem have to do with anything?” Theo asked.

I looked at her, confused. “Salem? What are you talking about?”

“I thought you had this thing memorized?” she mocked with no malice, and handed me the notebook, flipped toward the end.

It was the same page Goldie had filled out on the day she went missing, with that damned quote we had never understood. The deja vu was increasing with each passing second. But there were a few new lines scribbled at the end:

Witches burned, Salem? Riddle, or fact?

Peter Baker land on border of Salem—is that where we were held?

Road where Lex found us in Salem, just miles from Peter Baker? Coincidence or clue?

“Jackie!” I yelled across the yard. She didn’t hesitate, giving the poor officer who was receiving quite the tongue-lashing a moment of reprieve, and crossed the lawn quickly.

“What do you need?” she asked resolutely. This was why I loved my friends, my family. They showed up without question and fought like hell for me… for Goldie.

I handed her the notebook. “Can you find me where this Peter Baker’s property is, exactly?”

She read it over quickly. “Old Man Baker, I presume?” I nodded. She handed the notebook back. “Have a computer inside?”

I nodded again. “In my room. Password is goldiegirl, no spaces.”

“Give me thirty?” I gave her a nod in acknowledgment, and she turned, bypassing the cop at the front door. When he tried to stop her, she simply flipped him the bird and stormed past.

Theo laughed lightly, watching her sister, the absolute storm that she was. She turned to River, bending down so she was eye-level with him. “Can you hang out with me for a few hours? Your dad needs to take care of something.”

River looked at me timidly. “You’ll come home, right?”

“Always,” I promised.

My brave boy took a deep breath, nodded to Theo, and outstretched his hands. She picked him up from my lap and settled him on her hip.

“Keep him safe?” I asked.