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Simon's flippant remark seemed to enrage my father more, and he whipped his head to glare at me. "I'm going to work. I don't want to see you here when I get back."
I slumped back into the chair as my father stormed out, slamming the door behind him. I heard his car start, driving away so quickly that the tires squealed. Simon crouched in front of me so that we were eye-level, taking my hand.
"I'm sorry, but your father is a royal ass. I don't know how you've put up with him for all these years."
"It's okay. I don't blame you for reacting the way you did. Hell, I can't count how many times I've wanted to punch him myself."
Simon sighed heavily. "I guess coming here wasn't a good idea."
"If my father won't tell me what happened to my mother, I'll find out myself. He always keeps his office upstairs locked. There's got to be something in there that he doesn't want me to see."
Simon followed me upstairs to my father's bedroom. I had found the key to his office once in his closet, but I had never thought much of it because I didn't think he was hiding anything from me. I just thought he didn't want me messing up his papers.
The key was in the shoebox where I had found it before, and I quickly unlocked the office. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, bookshelves lining the walls and a desktop piled high with papers, covering everything on top of it except the computer.
Simon and I went to work searching for anything that could be important, but I started to become doubtful when we still hadn't found anything after an hour.
"This is hopeless!" I sighed, exasperation getting the best of me. "He just has mountains of paperwork. There's nothing important here." I turned to Simon when he didn't answer me.
"Simon?"
He was bent over a filing cabinet with what looked like a newspaper clipping in his hand. He glanced up when I said his name. The look on his face told me he had found something.
I quickly walked over and took the newspaper clipping from him, my pulse quickening when I saw that it was an article about my mother's death. I read it silently, absorbing every single detail.
"My father was telling the truth," I said, looking up when I was finished reading the article. "My mother was killed by a drunk driver. But they never found her body. The accident happened on a bridge. When the other driver crashed into my mother's car, her car broke through the railing and fell into the Delaware River. They found my mother's car but her body was never found."
I clutched the newspaper article, hope blooming inside of me. "Do you know what this means? My mother could be alive!"
Chapter Nine
Simon was watching me with concern and worded his response carefully. "Caitlin, I know how much you want your mother to be alive. I don't blame you. But don't you think she would have come home if she was alive? That she would have contacted you? Where has she been all this time?"
I shook my head, refusing to listen to his logic. "She could have amnesia from the accident. Maybe she doesn't remember who she is and that's why she's never contacted me."
"That's a big leap to make."
I was getting annoyed by Simon's reasoning, even though I knew he had a point. "I didn't dream that my mother was alive for nothing. She saved me. If she hadn't woken me up, Sarah's vardoger could have very well overtaken my body."
Simon sighed, running his hand through his hair, realizing he couldn't win this argument. "What do we do now?"
"This bridge isn't very far from here. Do you know how many times I've crossed that bridge, not realizing that's where my mother's accident happened?"
Simon reluctantly followed me down the stairs and out to his car. I was brimming with impatience as he slowly slid into the driver's seat. He didn't say a word as he followed my directions, but I knew he was afraid that I was going to be disappointed. I called Sarah during the drive over, remembering my promise to check in regularly. I filled her in about what I had found out about my mother's accident, and I was gratified that she was much more excited about the information than Simon.
"Turn left here," I instructed. Simon followed my direction and we came upon the bridge. The bridge was on a road that had very little traffic so Simon easily parked his car on the wide shoulder and we got out. I leaned over the bridge, morbid thoughts flooding through my mind as I tried to imagine what had happened the night my mother's car had been pushed into the rushing waters below. I shuddered from more than the cold air numbing my cheeks.
I felt an arm slip around me and I leaned against Simon's warmth gratefully. "How are you feeling?"
"I don't know. I'm not even sure what I thought I'd find here. I thought maybe I would feel an energy, something to help me understand what to do next. But there's nothing. I feel nothing."
An empty ache made me feel hollow. I had been so sure that I would instantly know what to do once I arrived at the scene of my mother's accident, but no big revelation had been dropped upon me.
I look down at the river and the embankment, not willing to give up entirely on finding a clue here. "Let's go down by the water. Maybe I'll feel something there since that's where my mother's car ended up."
Simon's eyes darkened, his expression turning grim. "Caitlin, I don't think that's a good idea. It's dangerous down there."
"Simon," I said, frustrated that he didn't seem to understand the significance of this place. "I can't just leave here without turning over every stone. Besides, the embankment isn't that steep and it looks like there's a pathway over there." I pointed to a strip of land where the grass had been flattened into a trail towards the water.
