Chapter 7 - THE ROAD THROUGH THE WOODS
Two men stepped from the SUV ahead.
Neither wore a uniform.
One approached the driver’s side while the other moved toward the rear door.
Evelyn shifted the taxi into reverse.
The second vehicle behind them accelerated, closing the space.
Clarissa pulled Dustin down beneath the window.
“Stay low.”
The man beside the driver’s door struck the glass.
“Turn off the engine.”
Evelyn kept both hands on the wheel.
“Mrs. Vale,” he called, “your husband is concerned about you.”
Clarissa recognized the language of controlled threats. The man did not say Parker had sent him. He said Parker was concerned.
That would sound reasonable if someone recorded the encounter.
“I’m fine,” Clarissa replied.
“Your husband says you removed a child from his home during a mental health crisis.”
Dustin gripped her sleeve.
Clarissa’s fear turned cold.
Parker had moved quickly.
He was already building a story in which she was unstable.
The man tried the door handle.
“Open the door.”
Evelyn whispered, “Hold on.”
She turned the wheel sharply and drove off the road.
Branches scraped against the taxi.
The vehicle bounced over mud and roots, forcing the man to jump aside.
The taxi crashed through a row of low bushes and entered a narrow service path.
The SUV followed.
Evelyn drove faster.
The path twisted through dense trees.
Clarissa held Dustin against her while the car swerved.
“Where are we going?”
“An old fire station.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas built an emergency room beneath it.”
“You keep saying things about my father that I never knew.”
“He kept secrets to protect you.”
“He lied to me.”
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt more than an excuse would have.
The SUV struck the rear bumper.
Dustin screamed.
Clarissa looked back.
The black vehicle remained only a few feet away.
Evelyn accelerated toward a rusted metal bridge spanning a shallow ravine.
“The bridge will not hold both vehicles.”
“What?”
“Thomas weakened the support bolts.”
Clarissa stared at her.
“Why would he do that?”
“In case Hale’s men found the station.”
They crossed.
The bridge shook beneath the taxi.
The SUV followed.
Halfway across, the right side of the bridge collapsed.
The SUV tilted, struck the railing, and slid into the ravine.
Evelyn did not slow down.
After another mile, the trees opened around an abandoned fire station with broken windows and a faded red door.
Clarissa looked at Dustin.
“The red door?”
He shook his head.
“Not this one.”
Evelyn parked inside the empty garage and pulled a lever hidden behind a cabinet.
A section of the concrete floor descended like an elevator.
Below them was a narrow underground room filled with old computers, filing cabinets, bottled water, and emergency supplies.
Dustin stared.
“Grandpa’s room.”
Clarissa turned to him.
“You’ve been here?”
“Once.”
Evelyn locked the elevator mechanism.
The underground lights flickered on.
Clarissa placed the red cylinder on a metal table.
“What is it?”
Evelyn opened a drawer and removed a small scanning device.
“It contains an encrypted sequence.”
“Can you read it?”
“Part of it.”
She inserted the cylinder.
Numbers appeared on a screen.
The sequence formed coordinates, followed by a date.
April 17.
Two days away.
“What happens on April seventeenth?” Clarissa asked.
Evelyn’s face tightened.
“Victor Hale’s company finalizes the redevelopment purchase.”
“What redevelopment?”
“The lake district. Including your father’s land.”
Clarissa understood.
The forged trust allowed Parker to control the house, but the real target was much larger.
Thomas Vale had owned almost three hundred acres surrounding the lake, including water rights that developers had wanted for decades.
“If Parker is trustee, he can sell it.”
“Not alone,” Evelyn said. “He needs proof that you are incapable of managing the estate.”
“The guardianship documents.”
“Yes. If Alana gains temporary control over Dustin and Parker presents you as unstable, he can petition the court for emergency authority over the trust.”
Clarissa sank into a chair.
Every insult, every argument, every moment Parker provoked her and then called her emotional had been preparation.
They were building a history.
“What do I do?”
Evelyn opened another cabinet and removed a file.
“You find Nathan Cole.”
“Where?”
“No one knows.”
Clarissa looked toward the coordinates on the screen.
“Maybe this tells us.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“These coordinates lead to your father’s lake house.”
Dustin stared at the numbers.
“No.”
Clarissa looked at him.
“What is it?”
“That’s not the lake house.”
May you like
He pointed at the final digits.
“That’s where the man buried Grandpa’s coat.”
