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Fai nodded. “Yeah… yeah, I can give him a call.” His voice lacked any and all emotion.

His wife, Sarah, sighed softly, pressed a kiss into his cheek, and stood. “Let me, okay?” We all nodded, and she headed into Jackie’s office to make the call.

I cleared my throat. “What about her brother?”

I was met with four confused faces as Oliver, Theo, Jackie, and Fai looked to me.

“What brother?” Oliver asked.

I could have laughed if I weren’t so numb. “Umm… she has a brother. He’s in a photo on her shelf. She didn’t say much about him. I don’t even know his name. I just… well, I know he exists.”

Jackie stared at me, dumbfounded, but spoke up nonetheless. “We can try and find him. Give him a call—maybe she went to him?”

“Without her car?” Theo interjected, her gaze on her sister. “Or her wallet, or telling anyone?”

Jackie sighed and ran a hand through her blonde hair. “I know, I know. I just… I can’t process the idea that she’s gone, that something has happened to her. It’s…” She trailed off, trying to find the words.

“Unfathomable,” I provided.

Jackie nodded and stood. “I’ll go see if I can find him.” She rested her hand on Fai’s shoulder. “Can you help? I’m not actually sure how to find him—Goldie’s the researcher.”

Goldie was more than just the researcher. She could dig up information on anyone, and I still wasn’t sure how she pulled it off. Without her… well, I wasn’t sure how we could find her. It was ironic that Goldie was the very person who could save herself.

Fai nodded to Jackie and stood, following her into her office, where Sarah still was. Theo, Oliver, and I were left alone, sitting in silence. It felt unbelievably wrong to not be doing anything, but I didn’t know what to do. No one knew where she was, when she disappeared, if it was on purpose, or if she was taken. But I couldn’t imagine a world where she would leave without telling someone. She wouldn’t want to hurt anyone like that.

“Any chance she took off after what happened between you two? For a breather?” Oliver asked, keeping his voice low.

I shook my head. “It was so long ago.” Theo looked between us, confused, but didn’t speak up. “Wouldn’t she have left right after it happened, not two weeks later, and left her car behind?”

Oliver sighed in defeat. “I know. I just want it to be anything but the obvious.”

I swallowed. “You think she was taken?”

He nodded. “I don’t know a lot about your case, but it does have to do with abductions, right?” I nodded, and he continued. “Isn’t it too much of a coincidence that she disappears off the face of the planet with no trace the day a supposed abduction was supposed to happen?”

He spoke the very truth I had been expertly ignoring. It was too much of a coincidence, especially with her disappearing out of the same town. She didn’t match the other victims, but the fact that no one else had been taken made me wonder if she fulfilled the Watcher’s needs. Maybe she was getting close to finding him, too close. We hadn’t talked in the last two weeks, but I knew she was still looking into the case.

As was I. I was trying to track down this supposed survivor: Marigold. But I hadn’t had any luck.

Marigold.

My eyes went wide, remembering the notebook I had definitely stolen. I had forgotten in the chaos of the crime scene. I leaned to the side, careful not to wake River, and pulled the small red notebook out of my back pocket. Oliver watched me quizzically as I rifled with one hand through the pages, looking for the last entry.

“What is that?” Oliver asked, and I slid the notebook over to him.

“Do you know what this means?” I asked as I pointed to the strange line, ignoring his question altogether.

Tell Marigold to run, and to run far. Tell her to go where the witches were burned.

Oliver read it over once, twice, and then a third time before sliding it to Theo, who did the same. “Where did you get that?”

“I found it on the floor of her car,” I explained.

Oliver’s brown eyes went wide, and Theo threw me a smirk.

“You stole evidence?” Oliver asked, concerned.

“I guess, kind of?” I explained, and Theo thumbed through the pages of the small notebook.