“I came after receiving your text,” Gabriel said after the man was gone. “I’ll pursue this, of course. While it is possible that Todd himself is blocking us, perhaps unable to face you after yesterday, that doesn’t seem likely. Unfortunately, with no way to contact Todd and ask . . .”

“We can’t prove it.”

“So our next move—” Ricky began as we walked out the front doors.

Gabriel flourished his wristwatch. “Don’t you have class?”

I swore Ricky bit his tongue before saying, calmly, “If Liv needs me, I’m not worried about classes.”

“Perhaps, but your father will expect—”

“Gabriel? I’m not a child.”

He snapped on his shades. “You misunderstood—”

“Nope, don’t think I did.” Ricky said it casually, almost cheerfully, but there was a warning note there. He turned to me. “I’m guessing your next move involves Cainsville?”

“It does.”

“In that case, since I’m not supposed to know their secrets, that is something you’ll want to do with Gabriel. If there’s anything I can pursue in the meantime . . .”

“Go to class. Take a break while you can.”

He gave me a faint smile. “I don’t need a break. Ever.”

“I know. But you did more than enough this morning. Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

He headed off to his bike, leaving Gabriel and me walking deeper into the lot, where my car was still parked from yesterday.

As we walked toward the VW, Gabriel slowed. “Might I suggest that we take my car to Cainsville so we can talk? Your text message was hardly voluble.”

“Such being the nature of text messages.”

“That wasn’t an accusation.” He paused, as if mentally adding not exactly. “But clearly your inquiries with Ricky proved . . . I’m loath to say fruitful, as your mood inside suggests the information was not what you wanted to hear. You learned something that upset you, and it made you want to talk to Todd.”

“We went to see Dr. Escoda,” I said.

“The daughter of your former family physician. Yes. You should not have gone to see her after I’ve notified her of a possible intention to sue. If you hoped to speed up recovery of your files—”

“They were my files.”

He stopped. Took off his shades. Looked at me. Waited.

“The girl in that file?” I said. “The one with spina bifida? That was me. Which means we finally know my parents’ motivation. The purpose of whatever ritual they were enacting. They did kill those people. For me. Now we need to find out who helped them do it.”

—

We took Gabriel’s car and I explained.