Chapter 2 - Three Weeks Earlier
Emma did not remember arriving at St. Matthew's Regional Hospital.
She remembered fragments.
Scissors cutting through her wet jeans.
Cold hands examining her ribs.
A nurse asking whether she knew her full name.
The taste of blood.
Then Dr. Mira Patel stood beside her bed and said words Emma had been afraid to hear.
"You have three fractured ribs, a severe ankle sprain, and a concussion. But your spinal cord is intact."
Emma closed her eyes.
Relief overwhelmed her.
"My baby?"
The doctor paused.
Emma's eyes opened.
"I'm not pregnant."
Dr. Patel looked confused.
"No. I meant your son."
"My son?"
"The teenage boy from the crash."
"He's not my son. He's my stepson."
The doctor's expression changed.
"He hasn't been brought in."
Emma tried to sit up.
Pain stopped her.
"He left."
A deputy stood near the doorway.
Deputy Marcus Hale.
Emma recognized him from town.
He approached slowly.
"Mrs. Carter, we have officers searching for Evan."
"He tried to kill me."
"We understand."
"No, you don't."
Marcus pulled a chair closer.
"Then tell me."
Emma described the truck.
The impacts.
The box cutter.
Evan's words.
The stranger in the dark coat.
Marcus took notes.
When she finished, he asked, "You mentioned a cabin?"
Emma nodded.
"My husband owned one in Black Pine Ridge."
"Owned?"
"He died nine months ago."
Marcus stopped writing.
"How?"
"Heart attack."
Jack Turner, sitting silently near the window, looked toward her.
Emma noticed.
"What?"
Jack shook his head.
"Nothing."
Marcus did not.
"You reacted."
Jack folded his arms.
"I knew Daniel Carter."
Emma stared at him.
"My husband?"
"Not well."
"You never told me that."
"You never asked."
Marcus looked between them.
"Mr. Turner, you also said you'd seen Evan near the crash site before."
Jack remained silent.
Marcus waited.
Finally Jack sighed.
"Three weeks ago, I was hauling lumber through Black Pine Pass around two in the morning. Saw a car parked near the cliff."
"What kind?"
"White sedan."
"And?"
"There were three people standing near the guardrail."
"Did you identify them?"
"One was Evan."
Emma felt sick.
"You're sure?"
Jack looked at her.
"I remember faces."
"Who were the others?"
"One man. One woman."
Marcus leaned forward.
"Descriptions?"
"The man was maybe forty-five. Dark jacket. Tall. The woman was younger. Late thirties, maybe."
Emma whispered, "Did you hear anything?"
Jack looked uncomfortable.
"Enough."
"What did they say?"
Jack glanced toward Marcus.
Then answered.
"The woman said, 'She takes this road every Thursday.'"
Emma felt the room tilt.
Every Thursday.
Emma visited her late husband's cabin every Thursday.
She had spent the past four months restoring it.
Daniel had loved that cabin.
After his death, Emma had found comfort there.
Marcus asked, "Anything else?"
Jack nodded.
"The man asked Evan whether he'd changed his mind."
Emma's fingers tightened around the blanket.
"What did Evan say?"
Jack looked directly at her.
"He said, 'No. She deserves it.'"
Silence filled the room.
Emma turned toward the wall.
For nine months, she had tried to keep Evan from falling apart.
He had lost his father.
His grades collapsed.
He stopped seeing friends.
He barely spoke.
Emma assumed grief had hollowed him out.
She had never imagined he was planning her death.
Marcus asked, "Was your relationship with Evan difficult?"
Emma laughed weakly.
"He hated me at first."
"Why?"
"Because his mother died when he was eight. Daniel married me three years later."
"Did that improve?"
"I thought it did."
"You thought?"
Emma remembered birthday dinners.
School concerts.
Evan teaching her how to play a video game.
Her driving through a snowstorm when he broke his wrist.
She had believed they were becoming a family.
"He called me Mom once."
"When?"
"At Daniel's funeral."
Her voice broke.
Jack looked away.
Marcus closed his notebook.
"We need to find Evan before whoever was working with him does."
Emma turned toward Jack.
"You said that man mentioned twenty years ago."
Jack's jaw tightened.
"Yes."
"What happened twenty years ago?"
Before Jack could answer, Marcus's radio crackled.
"Unit Twelve, possible suspect located."
Emma's heart jumped.
Marcus grabbed the radio.
"Location?"
"Old quarry road. Vehicle abandoned."
"Suspect?"
"Negative. But we've got blood inside."
Emma stopped breathing.
Marcus headed for the door.
Emma called after him.
"Marcus!"
He turned.
"If Evan is hurt, tell me."
Marcus nodded.
Then disappeared.
Jack stood.
Emma reached for him.
"Don't."
He looked down.
"Don't leave without telling me."
"You're injured."
"So was Daniel when he died."
Jack froze.
Emma watched his face.
"You don't believe my husband died from a heart attack, do you?"
Jack's silence answered before his mouth did.
Finally he said, "Daniel called me two days before he died."
Emma's heartbeat quickened.
"What did he say?"
"He told me he'd found something under the cabin."
Emma stared at him.
"What?"
May you like
Jack stepped closer.
"A room."
