“Wait…does it mean he saw Clarice coming through the time portal?” Bette asked excitedly.

“Yes, he totally saw Clarice just arriving from the past and oddly enough, made a right deduction,” Shane nodded.

“It’s not so odd really,” Tina added. “The guy was a lunatic and a conspiracy theorist so he could come up with any crazy scenario.”

All the girls began talking all at once, discussing all the possible outcomes of Clarice travel into the future. “But wait, there’s more,” Alice quieted everyone down and resumed her dramatic story-telling tone.

“Our reader called the police but after a brief interrogation the old lady turned out to be a local resident with dementia who had wandered into the grove and was identified by her grandson who was also there, searching for her. The grandson did explained that ever since his grandmother was diagnosed with this decease, she got into her head that she was her own great-grandmother, which explained the old-style dress. So as you see, another so-called ‘conspiracy theory’ turned out to be nothing but rumblings of a crazy person.”

“That Clarice was a pretty smart lady if she was able to avoid a more thorough investigation,” Shane said with respect.

“Yes, she was…but so am I,” Alice winked and continued, “After I read this, I began thinking and then remembered the entry from Bette’s journal when she met the witch in the woods. It was in 1875 and we had already assumed that she just got back from the future after meeting Tina with the miniature. The time travel always brings you forward 120 years. So it got me thinking…” Alice paused for a more dramatic effect, which didn’t have any effect on the gang. She sighed, “I knew I will never be appreciated in my lifetime.”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Alice,” Bette took a pity on her again. “Please, tell us what you had found.”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Alice smiled happily and picked up another paper from her stack. “So, I was thinking. We already figured out that if Clarice appeared in California in 1979, then it was 1859 her time. Then it hit me. What had happened in 1859 that resulted in Clarice’s time travel into the future? Any guesses?” Alice looked at everyone and was met with blank stares.

TBC…