The Invited(97)

“Riley, what if Mama didn’t run off with some guy? What if something else happened to her?”

“Sweetie,” Riley said, giving Olive that familiar look of pity she so hated. “I think there’s still a good chance that your mom really did run off with a boyfriend. Sometimes the simplest, most obvious explanation is the right one.”

Olive frowned. “I just have a bad feeling. And I keep having these stupid bad dreams.”

    Riley nodded, reached across the table, and put her hand on top of Olive’s. “What are the dreams about, Ollie?”

“They’re about Hattie mostly. But sometimes they’re about Mama too. About something bad happening to her.”

“Tell me about them,” Riley said.

Olive got a chill, shook her head. “I don’t really remember,” she said. No way was she going to tell her the gory details. Riley would take Olive to the nearest shrink.

Riley was quiet again. She gave Olive’s hand a squeeze, then pulled her own hand away. “Do you remember the last time you saw your mom?” she said, her voice low.

“I’ve been driving myself nuts thinking about it, trying to remember every detail. I know she hadn’t been around a lot. She was working, or hanging out with friends or something. So I don’t remember exactly the last time I saw her. But I remember the last time I heard her.”

Riley looked at Olive, puzzled. “Heard her? Did she call you?”

“No. But I heard her and Daddy arguing. It was the middle of the night. Mama hadn’t been home when I’d gone to bed, so I think she was just coming in. I was up in bed, but I woke up because they were right here in the kitchen, right below my room. And they were yelling.”

“About what?”

“I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Daddy was really mad. I think he even threw something. There was a crash. Then the door banged open. Mama must have left. When I got up in the morning, Mama was gone. Daddy was sitting at the table drinking coffee like it was any other morning. Mama didn’t come home again after that.”

Olive looked right at Riley. And what she saw freaked her out completely.

Riley looked scared. But then she seemed to try to pull herself together, to look more normal. Olive could still see worry in her eyes.

“Ollie, how about you come back to my place after school today. Stay there with me a few days while we try to figure out what to do, okay?”

Olive thought about it. Thought about leaving her dad alone in the house.

“No,” she said. “Dad needs me.”

“But Ollie, if you—”

    “No. Don’t you get it? Things are going good for us lately. Dad’s happy school’s starting out so well. And we’re nearly done with my room. If I leave and go stay with you, he’ll be all worried and weirded out. I’ve gotta stay.”

“Okay,” Riley said. “You stay. I’ll do a little poking around, see what I can turn up about what your mom might have been up to those last few days. See if I can find out anything about guys she was seeing.”

“So you think maybe she didn’t run off with some guy?”

“I don’t know what I think,” Riley admitted. “But I want you to promise me you’ll stop playing detective, okay? And don’t say anything to your dad. Leave it to me. If I can’t turn anything up in a couple of days, we’ll go talk to the police together, okay?”

“Deal,” Olive said.

Riley took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Now run upstairs and get dressed. I don’t want you to be late for school.”





CHAPTER 33



Helen





SEPTEMBER 10, 2015

“What happened last night with the propane—that’s some serious shit,” Riley said, voice low so that none of the customers would hear. Helen had driven to the salvage yard after lunch to tell Riley the latest—that now she believed someone had tried to kill her and Nate.

“I know. That’s why I called the police.”

“You called the police?” This time Riley forgot to lower her voice, and a young couple looking at stained-glass windows turned their way.

“Yeah, but I see now that it was a mistake,” Helen whispered. “The cop thought I’d left the stove on, that I was too drunk or flaky or whatever to be remembering right. And I bet word’s getting around town that we called—the kid down at Ferguson’s probably heard it on his scanner, and by now, I bet the whole town knows.”

“So what did the cop do?”

“He didn’t do shit, to be honest. Just wrote up a report. He said there was no evidence of a crime. It was just our word, my word really, and that doesn’t exactly carry a whole lot of weight around here. Shit, even Nate was looking at me like maybe I accidentally turned on the gas and closed all the windows and somehow forgot…”

Riley blew out an exasperated breath, pushed her blue bangs away from her eyes. “What if it was Hattie?”

“Hattie?”

“What if…what if it was her who turned that gas on last night?” Riley asked.

Helen shook her head. “No, I told you—she’s the one who woke me up, I’m sure of it. And I’ve been thinking. What if it’s not some asshole from town who wants me to go because I’m the new witch of the bog? What if it’s because of the research I’m doing? Maybe there’s something about Hattie’s family I’m not supposed to find out.”