𝐃𝐨 𝐎𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐞 - 𝐉𝐉 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞

Later that day, I got home to find John B creating his own little bonfire in the front yard with trash from the house. I haven't seen him since Pope, JJ and I fled from the lighthouse to avoid being seen by the cops.

He looks utterly deflated.

I walked through the front yard, approaching John B. I stood beside him and glanced down at the pile of trash that was in flames, noticing that the board with our ancestors on it was right at the top of the pile.

"You okay, JB?" I questioned softly.

"You tell me." He answered, glancing over at me with a blank expression. "Kie and I got nothing from the lighthouse. I got arrested. Sarah told Ward that I poached his scuba gear so he fired me."

"Bitch." I whispered under my breath, "I honestly wouldn't have expected anything less from her. She is a Kook after all."

I squinted my eyes against the flames as one of the photographs, and the name beside it on the piece of paper that was pinned to the board caught my attention. A photograph and a name that at first, didn't stick out to us, was practically screaming at me now.

I quickly bent down and grabbed a large branch that was on the ground, and pulled the board off of the pile and closer to us. I stomped on the board until the flames were extinguished as John B watched on, his blank expression becoming more of a puzzled one.

I bent down in front of the board, staring at the photograph and name. Olivia R. Routledge, 1904—1959. I recalled back to Pope mentioning that Redfield was one of the most common surnames in the US.

In this case, what if the 'R' in her name was Redfield?

"Maddy, what on earth—" John B started, but I quickly cut him off.

"What if Dad wasn't sending us to the lighthouse, John B." I said, glancing up at him. I then glanced back down at the board, pointing out to him what had caught my attention, "What if he was telling us to dig deeper into our family history."

John B glanced down at the name and photographs, his eyes widened as he realised that this could be a potential new lead, "Olivia R. Routledge. You mean, you think the 'R' could be, Redfield?" He questioned, flickering his gaze between the me and the board.

I nodded in response with a proud grin across my face, "Instead of questioning it, why don't we find out for ourselves?"

—

We picked Pope up first, then made our way over to JJ's. As we drove through The Cut and headed towards the Figure Eight side of the island to grab Kie from her shift, I explained our new lead to Pope and JJ on the way. They seemed just as optimistic about it as John B and I were, which instantly boosted our spirits.