“Half-day,” Merit and I said simultaneously.

Oliver made a skeptical grunting sound.

“Thank you, Oliver! I’m so excited!”

I got back in the car, and Merit muttered, “So, I assume we aren’t going to tell your mom, but that we are going to your house right now.”

I patted his shoulder and whispered, “It’s like we have one mind.”

Merit sighed. “Well, on the bright side, there’s very little chance I’ll be arrested.”

“Never say never,” I said. “The day is young.”

Walking into my own house—with my own key instead of breaking in through the window—was like Christmas Day and getting invited to prom by a senior and the day the little crispy chocolate Cadbury eggs hit the drugstores all at once. Merit and I stood in the entrance hall, staring through the paneled living room and dining room and all the way to the beach. I inhaled deeply. So, no, it didn’t smell like my house after being closed up for so long. But it was my house. I was home. I tried not to let the thought of what Alice had said at dinner last night ruin my moment. And I really tried to block out the thought that some creepy potential convict slash murderer had been in here. Even still, I shivered.

“You okay?” Merit asked.

I nodded, but I was kind of lying. I was scared. Did I even want to live here now?

“Glad they changed the locks,” I said.

Merit was really still. He seemed scared too, which bugged me. I needed him to be my rock. “Can we go back to school now?” he whispered.

“No,” I whispered back. I walked up the stairs, into my dad’s office.

The lone broker’s statement that the man in the mask had dropped that night was still sitting on the edge of the desk. I picked it up, and my heart started pounding in my chest. Dad had mentioned Artemis, Mallick, and Capstone. And this statement, my statement, here in my hand, was from the Capstone Fund. That had to mean something.

I walked with purpose toward my room and opened the drawer on the side of my desk that—much to my relief—still contained four file folders. One was marked Report Cards, one said Iris Statements, the third was Homecoming Looks, and the last said Vision Board. That was for the things I cut out from magazines that inspired me and saved to put on my huge corkboard over my desk when I had time in my very busy schedule.