It read exactly this: Wickingham Way—Level One.
I hadn’t thought much of it until Adam called three seconds later, demanding I delete the text and forget I ever saw it.
“Okay, okay, calm down,” I’d said, deleting the seemingly meaningless line of text immediately. “Done, it’s gone.”
I’d heard him exhale, imagined him running his fingers through his hair. “Jeez, Adam. It’s just the name of a road, a floor number for a building, right? What’s so secret about that?”
“Madeleine, listen to me…” The seriousness in his voice had made me take heed. “This isn’t some kind of a game. You have to forget you ever received that text, forget the words you read. You don’t need to know what it means. In fact, I’m going to clear out your phone when I get back, do a full reset.” He sighed. “But right now I need for you to promise you’ll never mention what you saw in that text to anyone.”
I dared not joke around. “I promise, Adam,” I said. “It’s already forgotten.”
And then he’d had to go.
Bizarre, yes, but I had no time to fret about things going on down in Boston. Wickingham—whatever. See, I’d already forgotten. Well, not really, but I had more pressing matters at hand, right here in Harbour Falls. One of those matters was getting back out to Fowler’s as soon as possible, like today.
I sat at the kitchen table—a warm cup of coffee in hand—while I recalled the old ledgers behind the registration desk. If I could just get a look at the one from May, nine years ago, then I would know for sure if Ron Mifflin had ever stayed there. But I needed a diversion, someone who could distract the old crypt keeper man who worked there while I checked the ledgers.
Who could I ask?
I considered my options.
Helena? Hell no. Nate? Don’t think so. My dad? No way was I dragging him into this mess. There was always Max, but he’d report back to Adam. Too bad Katie, my best friend, lived out in California. She’d make a perfect accomplice. But, alas, she was too far away. I was down to only one other person, my next-door neighbor, Stowe Hannigan. So I finished my coffee and picked up the phone.
Stowe sounded surprised to hear from me, and why wouldn’t he be? I was friendly and light when I ran into him, but I mostly tried to avoid him. Adam still had yet to uncover anything to give us an indication as to why Stowe was hanging around in Harbour Falls.
I had to say sometimes I wondered if maybe Stowe really was just studying our town as some sort of a model, like he’d said he was. Sure, it was far-fetched, and I really doubted it, but I was more inclined than Adam to at least try to give Stowe the benefit of the doubt.
One thing I’d noticed over these past few months was that Adam’s line of work—developing sophisticated security software programs for governments and businesses—tended to make him…suspicious. His company and its inner workings were so shrouded in secrecy that I understood why he’d be that way. Adam kept so many secrets that I think he often assumed everyone else did as well. Obviously, he knew I kept secrets, as well. That’s why there was a two-week deadline looming over my head. I still counted myself lucky he was even giving me two weeks. I often thought it was Adam’s own secrecy in his life that allowed him to be so tolerant of mine.
In any case, if Adam was correct and Stowe was hanging around for some nefarious reason, perhaps if I spent a little time with him I’d discover what it was.
So I chatted with Stowe a bit and then got right to the point. “Can you help me out with something?”
“Car troubles again?” he teased.
“No, no, nothing like that,” I said, smiling to myself. “I have to warn you, though. It is kind of a strange request.”
“My favorite kind,” he sort of purred.
I ignored him and went on, “I wouldn’t normally bother you, but there’s no one else I can ask.”
At first Stowe said nothing, and I was sure I’d just offended him. But then he said, “What exactly do you need?”
I explained to him that there was something I wanted to check on out at Fowler’s Motel. He told me he knew of the place, and I was sure by his tone that he wondered what I was up to if I wanted to go somewhere like that. I forged on, ignoring the unasked question on the other end. “So…are you up for going with me?”
“Sure, I’ll go.”
“Great. Thanks, Stowe.” I hesitated. “Uh, there is one more thing.”
“And that would be…?”
“I kind of need you to provide a distraction while we’re there.” More silence. “So I can, um, check out something in the office.”
Stowe chuckled on the other end. “So let me get this straight. You want me to distract whoever is working at the registration desk so you can… Do what exactly?”
“Well…” I hesitated, and then just spit it out in a rush of words, “I kind of need to look at the old registration ledgers in the back.”
“Madeleine Fitch,” Stowe replied with a whistle, “you sure are full of surprises. Of all the favors I never would have expected it to be something so shady.”
I felt like I should hedge; my request was shady. And it was a lot to ask. “Look, if you don’t want to do it—”
“On the contrary, I’d actually love to help. But I am curious. Is this
