Olive frowned. “I just have a bad feeling. And I keep having these stupid bad dreams.”

Riley nodded, reached across the table, and put her hand on top of Olive’s. “What are the dreams about, Ollie?”

“They’re about Hattie mostly. But sometimes they’re about Mama too. About something bad happening to her.”

“Tell me about them,” Riley said.

Olive got a chill, shook her head. “I don’t really remember,” she said. No way was she going to tell her the gory details. Riley would take Olive to the nearest shrink.

Riley was quiet again. She gave Olive’s hand a squeeze, then pulled her own hand away. “Do you remember the last time you saw your mom?” she said, her voice low.

“I’ve been driving myself nuts thinking about it, trying to remember every detail. I know she hadn’t been around a lot. She was working, or hanging out with friends or something. So I don’t remember exactly the last time I saw her. But I remember the last time I heard her.”

Riley looked at Olive, puzzled. “Heard her? Did she call you?”

“No. But I heard her and Daddy arguing. It was the middle of the night. Mama hadn’t been home when I’d gone to bed, so I think she was just coming in. I was up in bed, but I woke up because they were right here in the kitchen, right below my room. And they were yelling.”

“About what?”

“I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Daddy was really mad. I think he even threw something. There was a crash. Then the door banged open. Mama must have left. When I got up in the morning, Mama was gone. Daddy was sitting at the table drinking coffee like it was any other morning. Mama didn’t come home again after that.”

Olive looked right at Riley. And what she saw freaked her out completely.

Riley looked scared. But then she seemed to try to pull herself together, to look more normal. Olive could still see worry in her eyes.

“Ollie, how about you come back to my place after school today. Stay there with me a few days while we try to figure out what to do, okay?”

Olive thought about it. Thought about leaving her dad alone in the house.

“No,” she said. “Dad needs me.”

“But Ollie, if you—”

“No. Don’t you get it? Things are going good for us lately. Dad’s happy school’s starting out so well. And we’re nearly done with my room. If I leave and go stay with you, he’ll be all worried and weirded out. I’ve gotta stay.”

“Okay,” Riley said. “You stay. I’ll do a little poking around, see what I can turn up about what your mom might have been up to those last few days. See if I can find out anything about guys she was seeing.”