Chapter 3

The next morning I woke up extra early, got changed, and headed down for a talk with Peter. I rushed to his office door and knocked. I waited for a reply but there was none. I figured he wasn't there yet so I sat on the stairs waiting for him to arrive. Finally I saw a car coming up in the distance. I stood up and waited for it to get closer to see if it was Peter. It was. "Peter!" I called, "I have to talk to you!"

"Okay, Olivia. Let's go into my office and talk." he sighed. I guess he wasn't looking forward to it.

I didn't care, though. This was important! We got to his office and I said, before he even sat down, "A guy ran away last night!"

"What? Why didn't you tell me last night?" I looked at him in shock about to tell him I tried but he put his hand up and closed his eyes before saying, "Who was it?"

"I never saw him before but he said his name was Jackson Gafferty."

Peter tilted his head to one side and looked at me, "Jackson Gafferty." he mumbled to himself. He said it again more slowly. I stood there impatiently. "I know. I saw it on the news." He stopped for a second and his face looked terrified, "I saw it on the news this morning." I prepared myself for something I didn't want to hear, "He was involved in an accident last night. He was crossing the street and a car came out of nowhere and hit him. He was killed instantly." I caught my breath. What? He was dead? But I just saw him last night!

"I . . .I don't. Why are looking like that?" His expression had turned into one of confusion.

"Wait." He said, "Jackson Gafferty." He sat down at his computer and typed what looked to be Jackson Gafferty into his computer, "That's what I thought." He looked up at me, "Jackson Gafferty wasn't a student here." That was a shock to me. And it kind of scared me. "Olivia, you need to tell me everything you know about Jackson Gafferty. Everythng he said to you last night."

I couldn't remember. I knew there was something he wanted me to tell Peter. It was right there. Right on the tip of my tongue. Something about treasure or gold or something. I know it reminded me of pirates. Why couldn't I remember? "I don't . . . I don't know. I can't remeber. I'm sorry."

"Olivia, this is important, you have to remember."

I started getting mad at Peter, "Like I don't know it's important. This kid died and I might have been able to help him! I want to remember . . ." Then it came to me just like that. I had no idea one minute and the next I knew for sure, "We . . . we were talking about him leaving. He was going to New York. I told him it was on the other side of the country and he got annoyed with me. So he started leaving, I think, and I asked what I should tell you when you found out about Jackson leaving. He said to tell you I'm letting someone find their hidden treasure." I contemplated this, "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

Peter was quiet and he shrugged,shaking his head, "I don't know.Why don't you go eat some breakfast."

I nodded and opened the door. A thought struck me as I was leaving, "You're going to have to tell the police that I talked to him, right?" Peter nodded, "And I'm going to have to tell them what happened?"

"Probably." I took a deep breathe. Last time I talked to the police it was about my best friend's death. And that time I almost went to jail. I must have looked really bad because Peter asked me, "Are you okay with that?"

"I guess I have to be." I said leaving his office. I really didn't want to have to talk to the cops. I went into the dining room and got my breakfast. I scanned the room to see if any other Cliffhangers were there yet and when I saw them I rushed over to the table. I didn't like Horizon but I started to like my group. We had already started to become friends.

When I sat down Kat asked, "Where were you this morning?"

"Talking to Peter." I told her dully. I started picking at my food suddenly not hungry. Plus, the food here was totally disgusting.

"What about?" asked Jules.

I wondered if I should tell them. I didn't see a reason not to but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to doing it. "Nothing. Last night . . . nothing." I shook my head. After I said it I couldn't stop wondering why I hadn't told him. It was like last night when I wanted to turn away, I wanted to scream but I couldn't. It was the Jackson force. It was just so wierd.

Peter came up behind me and scared me out of my thoughts. Kneeling beside me he said, "They're going to be here in about half an hour." I nodded and started moving my food around again, "It's going to be okay." he whispered, "You didn't do anything wrong. You won't be in trouble." I nodded not really believing him. For some reason I felt like I'd be in huge trouble. Like someone was going to hate me when this was all over and done with. Peter stood, squeezing my shoulder as he did so and left the room.

"What was that all about?" Auggie asked looking confused.

I looked at him and tried to hide my frustration, "Nothing." I started thinking about ways I could feel better. It was something I always did when I felt like this. All I could come up with was calling Josh and I couldn't even do that. I fell against the back of my shair and stared out the window.