Set in Stone: The Rose Secret

Chapter 20: The Truth ⌛️

"Come in", I yelled tossing my laundry under the bed. It was my parents. They sat down on my bed with me. "How are you doing?", dad asked. "Alright", I lied.

I thought about telling the truth. Maybe my parents would know what to do. I waited for the right moment to tell them. "Hey mom, dad? Can I tell you something." I whined. I told them all that I knew. When I spoke the last word, I let out a long sigh.

My parents thought about what I said for a few minutes. When my dad said, "So one of the Heartstones have our daughter?".  "I think so", I said. "We mustn't tell anyone else.", Mom said. Dad and I agreed. "Not even officer Forrest. Anyone in this town could be related to Hearstone.", dad mentioned.

"Where to start! How will we find Blue?", Mom worried. "Calm down Linda. We will find her", dad assured mom.

They then left my room. I turned off the lights then drifted to sleep.

I awoke to voices. I opened my eyes to find Sasha, Antonia and Lianetta hovering over me. "Wake up White", they yelled. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. "What", I said. "We think it is Mr. Arnoldo!", they yelled.

I showered, got dressed, then followed them downstairs. "Why do you think that?", I said. "Antonia saw him driving around on a beaten up motorcycle and wearing a black hoodie! Like the guy who chased us!", Sasha told. "Are you sure? Little old Mr. Arnoldo? The same Mr. Arnoldo who stays after school to help kids study?", I questioned. We walked over to his house which was near the school and hid behind his old tractor. We peered around it to look at the motorcycle. It had many dents and scratches and divots in it. I was surprised it still ran.

I got up to get a closer look. "White! What are you doing you could get caught!", Liantta yelled. I kept going until I got to the bike. I looked around it until I heard, "Hey you! Get away from my bike!". It was Mr. Arnoldo. I darted out from behind it, when he recognized me. "Blue? Is that you?", he croaked. "Wrong twin.", I responded. "Sorry I don't have my glasses on. What are you doing here?", he said. "We were passing by when we saw how banged up your bike was and we wanted to make sure you were ok. You are my favourite teacher of course!", I lied.

"We?", he questioned. "I mean, I passed by...", I said trying to fix my mistake. "Well thanks for your concern. Luckily I was not the one caught up in the wreckage. Some stupid kid took of with my bike. The police found it out by the train tracks near the outskirts of town. Surprised it still runs.", he told. "Oh I am sorry about your bike." I consoled. "It's alright, I got the funds for a new one!", he smiled holding an envelope in his hand. "I guess whoever did this felt bad and left me money in my mailbox!", he smiled. "Hmmmm, well, I better be going.", I waved continuing out of his yard. I waited for him to return back inside. I then ran over to my three friend who were still behind the tractor.

"Dead end.", I frowned. We walked downtown near the café and sat down for a coffee. "So Mr. Arnoldo is off the list.", I frowned. "One down, eight to go", Antonia said crossing his name off our list. "What have you all found out so far", I asked. "Americ and Terrance never seem to be around", Sasha grumbled. "Mr. Arnoldo is crossed off. Archie Milton is on a cruise in the Bahamas and has been for two months, we can cross him off the list as well.", Antonio said crossing his name off. "Abigail just works at the laundromat all day long and then meets up with her husband at the park for picnics in the evening. Deanna is a car dealer, but I found out she has a criminal record.", Lianetta said. "What for?", I asked.

"She was found trying to steal from a house back in 1976 when she was a teenager. Guess where the house was?", she said. "Where?", we shouted. "At the Rose Mansion!", she yelled. "That kind of connects her to this", Antonia said. "Yes make her a prime suspect", I said as Antonia circled her name. "How about you White?", Lianetta asked. "The brothers just go about their daily routines, although Dom was in contact with Blue before she disappeared, borrowed her book and found a picture inside of it", I showed them the picture. "That is strange", they all said. "It is a town map, we think.", I said. "We?", Sasha repeated. "Dominic and I.", I responded.

"We should probably report back to Marla", I mentioned. They nodded, then all thought for a moment. "How exactly do we find Marla?", Lianetta asked. "Where we first found her, the cavern below the mansion!", Antonia said. "This time we must be prepared!", I yelled.