It was safe to say bloody wallets, empty graves, dangers we might soon face…weren’t anywhere in either of our thoughts. I was sure I’d made Adam forget. But he’d allowed me to escape as well.
Later, after the windows had cleared, we drove back to Harbour Falls, both of us much more relaxed. When Adam pulled the Escalade up to the curb in front of the Victorian, I asked, “Staying?”
He cocked his head and smiled. “Do you really have to ask?”
That night, the things we’d started in the car continued. We didn’t discuss the missing body or what might happen next. Sure, we needed to talk with Nate and Helena, get them up to speed. But that could wait until morning. This night was about one thing only: thinking of new and inventive ways to forget. Tomorrow we’d get back to our problems.
Chapter Eighteen
The next day Adam and I met with Nate and Helena at the café over on Fade Island. Adam told them everything, even the part about Chelsea blackmailing him with the secret they all held. Nate looked surprised but not Helena. She said, “I knew it! You should have told us; maybe we could have helped.”
We were seated at one of the larger tables, hot coffees before us. Adam raised his cup and murmured into it, “That’s what I was afraid of.” He took a sip and, while setting his cup down, added, “There was no reason for either you or Nate to end up in Chelsea’s crosshairs, too.”
Helena was about to say more, but Nate put his hand on her arm. “Babe,” he said, shaking his head.
With the blackmail subject dropped, Adam moved on to more recent developments. He told them all I’d discovered from my visits to Willow Point and recounted the events of last night. When he got to the part about Ron’s body being missing, Helena blanched. “Oh God, no…”
Nate’s eyes landed on Adam. “Ami?” he asked.
Helena took a drink and set her cup down with a clatter. Glaring at her husband, she hissed, “In case you haven’t noticed, Nathan, Ami is currently incarcerated.”
Glaring right back, Nate said, “She wasn’t back in October, babe.”
“Hey, hey,” Adam interrupted, “let’s not jump to conclusions here. We don’t have any evidence it was Ami who dug up the body.”
Nate shot a look of disbelief Adam’s way. “You’re kidding, right? Don’t tell me you’re starting to buy into the whole mystery student theory. That’s ridiculous.”
“Actually, Nate…” Adam began, and then he explained all that he and I had discussed the previous evening, including the distinct possibility that the mystery guy Ron had dropped off in Bangor had then followed Ron—or Ami—to the motel. Meaning the student could have witnessed the subsequent events that evening.
Helena sipped her coffee uneasily, her hand shaky. “So what you’re saying is that since we have no idea who this guy is, we’re basically screwed.”
“Uh, about that…” I piped in, glancing to Adam to see if it was okay for me to tell Helena and Nate what we had planned for me to do.
He nodded that I should proceed, so I turned in my seat to face our friends more directly. They listened with rapt attention as I filled them in on Ami’s recent deterioration. They seemed to be especially worried when I got to the part about her being frightened that someone may be trying to kill her, someone at Willow Point.
“So I’m going to go there on Monday,” I said, “to see if Ami can shed any light on what’s going on. If she can tell me who’s scaring her—give me a name or a description—then we may have our man.”
“I don’t like it,” Helena replied immediately. “It’s way too dangerous.”
“It’s our only hope,” I tried to explain. “She’s not going to talk to Adam or any one else.”
“How do you know she’ll talk to you?” Helena countered.
“I don’t,” I admitted. “But she’s given me a lot of information up to this point. I think if she’s willing to talk to anyone, it’ll be me.”
There was no denying what I was saying, so Helena and Nate had no real choice but to go along with the plan. My visiting Ami might be the only way to get the information we needed, and they knew it.
“Just be careful,” Helena said, pulling me into a hug, when we all stood up to leave.
Adam helped me slip on my jacket, and I told Helena, “I will, I promise.”
Helena still seemed unsure about the whole thing, but Nate patted me on the back and wished me luck.
Things were set; there was no changing my mind. I was committed now. If all went well, we’d soon have a name or a description, and this mess might soon be over.
When I arrived at Willow Point on Monday, my visit did not get off to a very good start. As soon as I reached the fourth floor, I was promptly turned away. Nurse Allen stopped me in my tracks at the nurse’s station.
“I don’t know why they let you up here,” she said exasperatedly. “Mrs. Hensley isn’t doing well at all. There’s no way you can see her today. She can’t have visitors; she can barely speak. You’ll have to come back next week. Hopefully, she’ll improve by then.”
Next week? That was unacceptable. We couldn’t wait another week for the information we needed.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked, wondering how Ami could be worse off than she’d been last week. The possibility that this mystery guy was behind Ami’s unusual and sudden decline was growing stronger, making things even more urgent.
What if this mystery guy ended up killing Ami? Would he stop there? I doubted it. And who would be next on his twisted list? I obviously needed to see Ami as soon as possible. I couldn’t wait another week.
“Is there any way I can see Ami, even just for a couple of minutes?” I
