Page 107 of A River of Crows

“Noah, get to the creek now!”

“What? What’s going on?”

“Mom has Ridge.” Sloan gasped for air. “She took a gun, but her car is here, so they walked somewhere. I don’t know where else she’d be but the river.”

Sloan heard drawers opening and closing on the other side of the phone. “Meet you there.”

Sloan arrived at the creek first. The low morning light rose like smoke from the night grass. Where would she go? Sloan started the trek up to their camping site but stopped short. Big Rock, she realized—the scene of Ridge’s fake death.

She turned and ran through the trees, stumbling across uneven terrain. Her lungs seemed near collapse, but she couldn’t stop. She heard her brother’s deep voice first, echoing in the valley. “Come on, Mom. You don’t want to do this.”

“Who else has seen you?” Caroline’s voice was bitter as the morning air.

Sloan was close enough to see them now, Ridge on his knees at the water’s edge, Caroline behind him, gun drawn.

“No one else.” Ridge’s voice sounded hoarse. “Sloan only knows because I showed up last night,” he lied.

“Mom, stop!” Sloan screamed as she stumbled down to the water. When Caroline cocked the hammer, Sloan stopped running and raised her hands. “Calm down.” She took slow, small steps forward. “Ridge is alive. This is good news.”

“You shouldn’t have come back!” Spit flew from Caroline’s mouth. “You lost the chance to come back a long time ago.”

“It wasn’t Ridge’s fault,” Sloan said. “He was just a kid.”

“Who else saw you?” Caroline yelled now, the gun shaking in her hand.

“Nobody, I swear.”

“I’ll go to prison.” Caroline’s voice shook along with the gun. “Jay will be a martyr. It will be in all the magazines.”

“No one else knows.” Sloan continued to edge closer. “Put the gun down, and let’s make a plan. You won’t go to jail. If Ridge wanted that, he would have gone to the police already. But if you shoot him now, they will find his body, and the truth will come out.”

“He’s already dead,” Caroline mumbled. “As far as the world knows, Ridge Hadfield already drowned in this creek. This won’t change anything.”

“Caroline!” Noah’s voice boomed as he stepped out of the grove of trees opposite of Sloan. “Drop your weapon.”

The interruption disoriented Caroline. She turned to look in Noah’s direction, moving the gun slightly away from Ridge’s head. Sloan took her chance. She charged at her mom, knocking her to the ground. While Ridge stood, staring at the water, seemingly paralyzed, Noah flung himself between Sloan and her mother. He wrestled the gun away and handcuffed Caroline.

“I’m not going back to the hospital!” Caroline screamed. “I’m not!”

“Ridge?” Noah looked up at his best friend. “What the hell happened, man?”

Ridge finally turned away from the river. “It’s kind of a long story.”

Ridge, Sloan, and Noah settled on a lie. They couldn’t tell the truth about Caroline trying to kill Ridge—not when the world thought Ridge was dead. Noah would claim it had been a suicide attempt, and that would be enough to initiate a seventy-two-hour psychiatric hold. Long enough to get Ridge the hell out of Mallowater.

Sloan knew how much it pained Noah to do anything dishonest, especially regarding his job. This was a testament to how much he loved them. Noah Dawson was the truest friend Sloan had ever known. Who else would stay loyal when asked to resurrect ghosts just to bury them again?

“Maybe we should have told the truth.” Ridge sat in front of the Christmas tree. In the light and sobriety of the afternoon, it didn’t look as magical. Several branches were still clumped together, leaving gaping holes throughout the tree. Ornaments were concentrated on one side, and a strand of lights had completely burned out. “Mom needs to be in jail. She’s dangerous.”

Sloan pulled out her phone. Where was Dylan? Why hadn’t he responded to her three texts? She looked back at her brother. “Mom doesn’t need to be in jail. I can handle her.”

“What’s with your constant defense of her? She lied to us both.”

“She had her reasons,” Sloan said.

“So did Dad, but I don’t see you over at his house pretending like nothing happened. Mom almost killed me.”

Anger spiraled from the pit of Sloan’s stomach. “Then why did you leave me with her?”