Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
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.”
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
32
MADDOX
Where the fuck am I?
First I have to check in with this creepy-ass guy in purple pinstripes at the front door, and then I have to go down this staircase lined with mirrors, and now this.
Four sections, one each for spades, diamonds, clubs, and hearts. Jazz music coming from the Hearts section, a cloud of tobacco and marijuana smoke hovering over the Clubs, the clinking of poker chips echoing through the Diamonds, and people gathering around the bar in Spades.
I was freaked out going down that staircase. I thought for sure I was about to fall victim to some elaborate prank to embarrass the son of Henry Hathaway. I had absolutely nothing to do with the stunts my old man pulled in the last year of his mayorship, but I still get sneers from people on the streets. I thought they might go easier on me after he died, but if anything, the news of his demise brought all the emotions from his term back to the surface, and the treatment got worse. I actually had to board up the windows of the haberdashery to keep people from throwing bricks through them.
For several weeks, I questioned my father’s decision to leave me his membership at this club. I’m still at a complete loss as to why he left me this and the Rolls-Royce, but not a penny of his millions.
Well, I guess there are several pennies in that damned trust, but I’m never seeing a single cent from there. I’m not abandoning the haberdashery for anything. It’s the only thing that is completely mine.