Page 46 of See How They Hide

“You don’t trust me?”

“That’s not it,” he said. “Riley, I don’t blame you for what happened. But youareCalliope’s daughter. She was never going to let you go. If Jesse told her you are alive, they’ll keep looking for you.” He reached out and touched her hand. “Go far away. Don’t follow Thalia on her crusade. It was always going to end this way. Run. Hide. Go far away, back to France. I’ll call in an anonymous tip to the police so Jesse can have a proper burial. He deserved better than what happened to him. He was a good person who wanted to help because Thalia convinced him it was a just cause. Now he’s dead.”

Riley’s bottom lip quivered, but Andrew was right. That didn’t mean she was going to follow his advice. She and Thalia may have disagreed about how they handled the rescues at Havenwood. Thalia may never have forgiven Riley for leaving and not being her person on the inside. But they were family and Riley had to find a way to warn her.

If she was still alive.

Andrew put out his hand and she gave him one of her burner phones. He called the sheriff’s nonemergency number. Even though it might be recorded, it wouldn’t have the capabilities of the 911 center.

“I want to report a dead body.” He gave Jesse’s address, then ended the call before the person could ask any more questions.

“What now?” Riley asked.

“I’m going back to Fort Collins today. You can come with me, then leave in your car. If you want to stay here, I’ll return the rental for you tomorrow.”

Riley didn’t know what to do.

Their food arrived, though neither felt much like eating. Riley picked at her french fries.

“Riley, forget Havenwood, forget Thalia. Go back to France. It’s the safest place for you to be. Focus on healing.”

She snorted.

“I’m serious,” Andrew said. “We’re never going to stop Calliope and her people. They are on their own destructive path. We don’t want to be anywhere near them when everything implodes.”

“Don’t the others, the innocents, thechildren,deserve a chance to be free?”

“Calliope has nearly everyone brainwashed. I saw it and left six years ago. It has to be worse now. Is there anyone left who is really that innocent?”

She didn’t have an answer to that. She didn’t know. She’d walked away nearly four years ago and hadn’t gone back.

Except, Havenwood had once been paradise. Not everyone agreed with Calliope and how she ran their village. Riley knew every person who still lived there. She loved them. Blood or not, they were family. She wanted them to have a real choice, to stay or leave. Because the way Calliope ran Havenwood, the choice was stay or die.

“I have to find Thalia,” Riley said. “She needs to know what happened to Chris and Jane. Do you know where she is?”

“No,” Andrew said quickly.

“You’re lying,” she said. “You know how to reach her.”

He hesitated, then said, “Not exactly. But she comes by a couple times a year and she said once that she has a place not far from us.”

Riley almost didn’t hear the second half of his sentence.

She comes by a couple times a year...

Riley hadn’t seen Thalia since her aunt brought her and Jane to Chris’s house.

“It’s a place to start,” she said. “I know some of her aliases. Think about other clues.”

Thalia would either live in the middle of nowhere like Jesse, or in the middle of a city where she could blend in with the masses. That didn’t really narrow it down. It would be an uphill battle to find her. She needed Andrew’s help, but didn’t know how to convince him.

After two bites, Riley pushed her plate away. “I can’t eat. I’ll go back with you. Give me a minute.” She put money on the table and walked to the back where the restrooms were.

She splashed icy water on her face and stared at her reflection, but didn’t see herself. She saw her mother.

Andrew said she should forget Havenwood and everyone there. How could she?

How could she forget any of it?

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