It wasn’t like old times, but it was civil. The farther south we got, the more she seemed to relax and open up.

When we reached the outskirts of Lincoln City she admitted that she hadn’t told Lod that she and Bill had led me to them.

“He was in a hurry and didn’t ask me how you found us,” she said. “He was more concerned about Alex. I assured him that you were alone.”

She was clearly relieved that he didn’t ask her how I had found them. If she told him the truth, Lod would have been furious.

Bella put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a small smile. “I’d appreciate it if you’d come up with an alternative story. I’ve talked to the other Originals who were there when I questioned you. We’ve agreed that the question as to how you found us was never asked. That we were too busy doing countersurveillance to do a proper interrogation.”

She was lucky LaNae wasn’t there when I told them how I had found them. LaNae would never lie to Lod, which is why I think Lod had kept her around all these years.

“I have your back,” I said. “It’s the least I can do. You could have turned me over to LaNae. But it will take me a while to come up with a plausible alternative.”

“I’ll think about it as well.” Her relief was obvious. “We have some time. We won’t be seeing Lod for a day or two. In the meantime, for old times’ sake, how about you and I bake a batch of cookies.”

“Absolutely, but do we have everything we need here?”

“Depends on what kind of cookies you want to make.”

“Salty oatmeal.”

“Your grandmother’s favorite. Do you remember the recipe?”

“Not exactly, but if I could write it down on something.” They had taken my pocket journal along with everything else in my backpack.

Bella opened a drawer and pulled out a pencil and a small spiral notebook. I was visual. I remembered things I had seen, and I had seen my grandmother’s handwritten salty oatmeal cookie recipe a thousand times. As I wrote the ingredients down something came back to me. Something I had completely forgotten.

“Lod’s notebooks,” I said.

“What are you talking about?”

“The notebook he always carries in his back pocket.”

Bella smiled. “Ah, yes, the mysterious notebook. We always wondered what he was jotting down in it.”

“Sketches and notes,” I said. “And there has been more than one notebook. There have been dozens, maybe even hundreds. When the notebook was full he’d burn it.”

“Burn it?” Bella asked.

“On the grill on our balcony. I fished one out of the flames once and he caught me. I thought he was going to hit me. He didn’t, of course, but he was furious that I had looked at it.”

I had fished out several notebooks over the years, but he had caught me only once. And I didn’t stop after he had caught me.

“What was in it?” Bella asked.

“I don’t remember,” I said. “The point is that he had to have made sketches and notes for this escape plan. When he asks me how I found you I’ll tell him that I remember seeing Nehalem Bay State Park in the notebook. When I found myself in Oregon I decided to check it out.”

Bella gave me a genuine smile. It was hard to believe that the night before she had threatened to slit my throat.

“That just might work,” she said. “If I can just keep the others from telling Lod how you really found us.”

“It doesn’t matter. If one of them rats you out I’ll tell Lod that I made the story up to throw you off-kilter. I’ll tell him that I got to the park two days before you got there. Did he track me past Chicago?”

Bella shook her head. “I don’t think so. He sent us in every direction, checking out train stations all over the country. Which is another reason everyone is mad at you. It wasn’t easy and it slowed us down.”

“Sorry,” I said, although I wasn’t the least bit sorry. “On second thought, if he asks you about how I found you, I think you should tell him that I overheard you and Bill in Portland.”

Bella frowned.

“No, I mean it,” I said. “One of the others is going to tell him. You know as well as I do that there are no secrets in the Pod. When I talk to him, I’ll tell him about the notebook and getting to the park before you. You’ll be off the hook.”

The smile returned. She knew I was right about someone telling Lod. The truth always came out.

“Okay, then,” she said. “But I do have some bad news.”

“What?”

“We have no oats.”

We both laughed.

“Do I hear actual laughter back there?” Bill shouted to us from the driver’s seat.

“If you want cookies, we need oats.”

“Of course I want cookies,” Bill said. “We’re stopping for fuel up ahead. There’s a little grocery store connected to the station. If they don’t have oatmeal I’ll stop somewhere else. I want cookies.”

Bella walked up front to tell Bill about our plan. While they were talking I slipped the notebook and pencil into my pocket. If Bella asked me about it I would tell her I put it there so I wouldn’t lose the recipe.

Bella walked back to the kitchen. “I have one more question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Are you really with us? Has the prodigal granddaughter really returned?”

“That’s two questions, but the answer to both of them is yes.”