Page 31

31

ALISSA

Did I really just say those words?

But I have the same feeling I had?—

No.

Can’t go there.

I need to keep my wits about me.

I have no idea what we’re going to find in this preserve. All I know is that every word of the unnaturally low voice from the phone is reverberating in my ears, echoing through every synapse in my brain as I try to make sense of it.

I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and let it out in a heavy sigh. “Let’s go back to the car and get the spades.”

Maddox nods. “Good move. We can figure out what those directions mean as well.”

We cross the road again and return to my car. I pop the trunk open with my key fob and grab two shovels.

“I’ll carry them both,” Maddox says.

Even in this moment, when things are dark and scary, he’s being a gentleman. I was the one who dragged him out here in the dead of night in the middle of one of the coldest months of the year, and now he’s carrying my shovel.

I love this man.

It’s absolute nonsense. I’ve known him a grand total of three days. A long weekend. Today is Sunday, and I walked into his shop Thursday evening.

So much can happen in three days.

We’ve kissed more times than I can count. We’ve had sex twice—first in my bed, and then in his shop. We’ve had a total of three official dates, and I haven’t been able to keep my mind off him since the moment he first smiled at me.

But all of that is not nearly enough to determine whether you love a man or not.

We simply have incredible chemistry. Love could come down the line.

Then again, what even is love? You hear about it all the time in fairy tales, in the Disney movies I watched on VHS growing up until they wore out. But those are simple tales, woven for the enjoyment of children. I’m not Princess Jasmine, and Maddox isn’t my Aladdin.

Then again, Aladdin put his life in danger for the woman he loved. Couldn’t one say that Maddox is doing the exact same thing for me right now?

No. It’s all nonsense.

Alissa Maravilla doesn’t deal in nonsense.

She deals in the world of cold, hard facts.

And the facts do not line up. I simply have not known this man long enough to love him.

And I can’t think about any of that now, anyway.

I pull out my phone, look over the new riddle as I typed it into my notes.

“All right. The first line is pretty simple. North on the river, you’ll find a nice clearing. That’s clearly referencing the Des Plaines river, which flows through the entire preserve here.” I switch my phone’s screen to the Maps app and look at the satellite imagery. “So we follow the river up from Monument Park.”

I frown and keep scrolling.

“What is it?” Maddox asks.

I sigh. “The river just…keeps going. All the way to the Wisconsin border. There are lots of clearings along its route. Any one of them could be the one we’re looking for.”

“What was the next line?” Maddox asks. “That might offer some help.”

I nod, switching back to my notes app. “ The darker it gets, the closer you’re nearing. ”

Maddox wrinkles his forehead. “So we’re looking for someplace dark.”

“Not exactly helpful.” I gesture broadly around me. “It’s night. Everything will be dark.”

“Good point,” Maddox says. “We should really have some flashlights. Any chance you have a few in your car?”

“Oh, good thinking.” I dig inside the trunk and pull out a torch flashlight from an emergency kit my dad bought me when I moved to the States. “I only have one.”

“You use it,” Maddox says. “That’s a big flashlight, and it’ll give us a decent amount of sight. I’ll use the light on my phone to supplement it.”

“You’ll be carrying the shovels, though.” I bite my lip. “Will you be able to hold them and keep your phone out?”

“My hands are big. I can hold the shovels in one hand, my phone in the other.”

Again, a surge of warmth flutters through me at his words. I get the big flashlight, and he’s holding the shovels. I could easily hold a flashlight in one hand and a shovel in the other, but Maddox is going above and beyond.

I really might… I really might have actual feelings for this man.

But again, not the time, nor the place.

“Either way, the second line doesn’t help a lot. My guess is our little friend needed a rhyme to go with the first line.” I widen my eyes. “Speaking of which, I totally forgot to look and see if there was a statue of a cat at the waterfalls.”

Maddox frowns. “I didn’t think of it either.”

I scratch my head. “We’ll just keep that in mind if we run into a wall.” I look back at my phone. “ Quadruple the instants you’ll say ‘good God damn. ’”

Maddox shifts his gaze and recites, “Good God damn, good God damn, good God damn, good God damn.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Why did you do that?”

He shrugs. “I thought actually saying it four times would help. Maybe the words slide together somehow. ‘Goo… Go… Dah…’” He frowns. “Anything in your maps look like… Gugodah ?”

I chuckle. “No, nothing like that.” I tap at my phone screen. “Besides, it says that it’s four times. There must be something about that.”

He scratches his head, and then his eyes grow wide. “Wait. What if it’s a homophone?”

“A homophone?”

“Yeah, you know, a word that sounds the same but is a different word.”

“I know what a homophone is, Maddox.” But then I drop my jaw. “Yes. A dam!”

He nods. “I’m sure there are several along the river.”

I open my Maps app and scroll. I’m still at the Wisconsin border, so I move south on the map looking for anything labeled a dam. Then I see it. “Dam number one, woods east. But it’s several miles north. Why would they have had us start at Monument Park if it were that far away?”

Maddox exhales. “If there’s a dam specifically labeled as number one, then there must be more.” He runs his hands through his hair. “ Quadruple the times… Quadruple the times. Is there a dam number four?”

I scroll down the map, my fingers shaking.

And there it is.

“Dam number four.” I throw my arms around Maddox. “You’re a genius.”

He chuckles. “You can just call me Maddox.”

“Very funny.” I let go of him and return my eyes to my phone. “But a dam isn’t a clearing, is it?”

“Is there something nearby?”

I zoom in on the screen, gazing intently. “Yeah, there’s a little square-shaped clearing off of dam number four. There’s even a little parking lot. We could drive right there instead of walking along the river in the dark.”

“Probably a good move. I don’t want one of us falling in.” Maddox rubs his arms. “Getting wet in this weather could do some pretty bad damage.” He looks over my shoulder at the phone. “So that’s our clearing. Are there any other details?”

I zoom in further. “Just the clearing and the parking lot.” But then I squint. “Wait. There’s a smaller clearing just south of the lot. Dam number four, woods east. Picnic grove two.” I drop my jaw. “The last line of the riddle!”

Maddox nods. “ This won’t be a picnic. ”

I swallow. “ You’re likely to scram. ”

He smiles at me. “I won’t scram if you won’t.”

I raise my flashlight as if it were a sword. “I intend to see this through until the bloody end, Maddox.” I grab the shovels out of his hands and place them back in the trunk. “Get in the car. I’ll drive.”