hospital in a major city with access to the best care and medical equipment, not some mansion in a forest somewhere in upstate New York.”
“You’ve got a point there,” I said. “And I gotta admit, it did feel like Grandfather was hiding something from us.”
“No doubt,” said Triplet. “Matthew was clearly omitting some very important details. Such as the locations of the Savannah Jones’s soul.”
“But he said—”
“That he didn’t know where it was, right,” said Triplet. “He could have been lying. Did you notice the way he didn’t look at us when I mentioned Savannah? I think he is hiding something.”
“Do you think he has Savannah’s soul?” I said.
“Maybe, but it could be that he just knows where it is,” said Triplet. “In any case, I left one of my Thirds back there to keep an eye on them. He’ll follow me again after an hour or so, though, because of the time limit my Thirds have.”
I looked over my shoulder, although the mansion was obscured by the trees now. “You left one of your Thirds there without telling anyone?”
“Of course,” said Triplet. “If I had told them, they would have forced the Third to come back with us. Besides, I’ve done this before, leaving behind a Third to keep an eye on a person or a place that I am technically not allowed to be at. Hardly unusual for me.”
“I know, but what if they discover your Third?” I said. “What do you think they will do to it?”
“They won’t,” said Triplet, shaking my head. “My Thirds have all my abilities and skills, and because I am very good at sneaking around, my Thirds are, too, especially now that I know what Emma’s powers are.”
I wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed with Triplet’s actions or not, but there wasn’t much I could do about it, so I said, “Well, okay, but I’m not sure you’ll actually find out anything. If Grandfather is a secretive as you say, then you might not learn anything of importance.”
“Perhaps, but I don’t need to learn everything,” said Triplet. “Even just a few clues can sometimes turn a case completely around, as you might remember from the Sagan case.”
I nodded. “Right. Well, I guess I’ll just fly home from here. I should be able to make it back to Hero Island in an hour, maybe hour and a half if I don’t slow down. If you need any help or anything, just let me know.”
“Sure,” said Triplet. “But before you go, I have something to give you.”
I had taken a flight stance, but as soon as Triplet said that, I paused and looked at him. “Something to give me? What is it?”
Triplet started digging through the pockets of his coat as he said, “It’s something that your dad gave me before he passed. He wanted me to keep it for safety reasons, but I think it will be far more useful for you.”
Then Triplet fished something out of his pocket and held it out for me. I took the object and looked at it.
It was a small flash drive that looked pretty plain and ordinary. I turned it over to see if there was anything interesting or different on the other side, only to discover that it was labeled ‘PERSONAL FILES.’
I looked up at Triplet. “What is this?”
“A flash drive containing a lot of your father’s personal files,” said Triplet. “He gave it to me when I visited your house last year, when I was on the Sagan case. He said it contained a lot of blueprints for his inventions, research notes, diary entries, and so on. There’s a few gigabytes worth of memory on that thing.”
“Why didn’t Dad tell me about this before he died?” I said.
“I don’t know,” said Triplet. “I only know that he gave me the flash drive because he didn’t want all of his files in one basket and he trusted me to keep it safe. I kept it in a safe under my bed back in my apartment in New York.”
“Why didn’t you give this to me at the funeral?” I said.
“I was in too much of a hurry to get to Texas,” said Triplet. “The flash
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