Chapter 8 - Beneath the Frozen Creek
By sunrise, Caleb had a plan.
Clara hated it immediately.
“We are not bringing Eli.”
“He knows Thomas.”
“He is eight.”
“He can identify his own father.”
“I can identify Thomas.”
“From a distance?”
“Yes.”
“In darkness?”
“Yes.”
Caleb looked unconvinced.
Clara folded her arms.
“Try asking again.”
“No.”
“Good.”
Eli raised his hand from the table.
“I want to go.”
“No.”
“But—”
“No.”
June whispered, “I don’t want to go.”
Clara pulled her close.
“You aren’t.”
Caleb spread an old map across the table.
“The mill sits here.”
Black Pine Creek wound behind it.
“The lower drainage tunnel entered from beneath the eastern wheel.”
Jonah leaned over the map.
“If it still exists.”
“Correct.”
“If Vale remembers it?”
“He probably does.”
“That seems like a problem.”
Caleb nodded.
“It is.”
Clara pointed to another marking.
“What is this?”
“Old ore channel.”
“It connects?”
“Maybe.”
Jonah sighed.
“Your plans depend heavily on words like maybe.”
Caleb ignored him.
They decided Jonah would take the children toward Martha Quinn’s boardinghouse at Pine Hollow.
Martha had known Thomas.
More importantly, she hated Silas Vale.
Clara kissed June.
“We’ll see you tonight.”
June looked terrified.
“Promise?”
Clara’s throat tightened.
Adults made too many promises to children because they could not bear saying I don’t know.
She refused.
“I’m going to do everything I can.”
June nodded.
Eli hugged her.
Then Caleb.
Caleb looked surprised.
“Bring Papa back,” Eli whispered.
Caleb placed one hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“I’ll try.”
They separated.
Clara and Caleb traveled northeast toward the mill.
For hours they said little.
The storm weakened, leaving the world unnaturally bright.
At noon they reached Black Pine Creek.
The old mill appeared beyond the trees.
Massive.
Dark.
Smoke rose from its central chimney.
Clara had not seen it in two years.
Memories came instantly.
Thomas laughing outside the office.
Matthew waiting with a wagon.
Vale walking through workers like a king through servants.
Caleb touched her arm.
“You all right?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She frowned.
He continued.
“Fear keeps you careful.”
“That is the nicest thing you have ever said.”
They crawled beneath thick brush along the creek.
The water was mostly frozen.
Caleb located the remains of the old wheel.
Behind it, stonework disappeared beneath ice.
“There.”
“That is the tunnel?”
“It used to be.”
“It looks like a wall.”
Caleb produced a small hammer.
They chipped quietly.
After twenty minutes, an opening appeared.
Darkness beyond.
Freezing water reached their boots.
Clara shivered.
“We’re going in there?”
“You insisted on coming.”
“I am reconsidering every decision that led me to this moment.”
They entered.
The tunnel forced them to crouch.
Ice covered sections of stone.
After fifty yards it split.
Caleb stopped.
“This didn’t split before.”
“Which way?”
He examined the walls.
Old markings remained.
“Left.”
“You sound uncertain.”
“I am uncertain.”
“Wonderful.”
They continued.
Eventually a faint mechanical vibration came through the rock.
The mill.
Caleb raised a hand.
Voices above.
They had reached beneath the building.
The tunnel opened into an old stone chamber.
Broken machinery filled the space.
Clara noticed boot prints.
Fresh.
“Someone uses this.”
Caleb nodded.
They followed the tracks.
A lantern appeared ahead.
Then voices.
Clara and Caleb hid behind timber supports.
Two men walked past.
One said, “Vale wants him moved tonight.”
The other laughed.
“After fourteen months? Why now?”
Clara nearly cried out.
Fourteen months.
Thomas had been missing fourteen months.
Caleb covered her mouth gently.
She nodded.
He released her.
The guards disappeared.
Clara whispered, “It’s him.”
“Probably.”
“Stop saying probably.”
Caleb pointed toward the tunnel.
They followed.
A locked wooden door appeared.
Caleb examined it.
“What?”
“New lock.”
“Can you open it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
He pulled a small wire tool from his coat.
Clara stared.
“You carry that?”
“I had an interesting youth.”
Minutes later the lock clicked.
Caleb opened the door.
A narrow hallway extended beyond.
One lantern.
Three doors.
They checked the first.
Empty.
Second.
Storage.
Third.
Caleb stopped.
Clara could hear breathing inside.
He unlocked it.
The door opened.
A man sat against the far wall.
Long hair.
Full beard.
Thin.
His face had changed dramatically.
But Clara knew him instantly.
“Thomas.”
The man lifted his head.
For several seconds he simply stared.
Then tears filled his eyes.
“Clara?”
She crossed the room.
Her knees hit the floor.
They embraced.
Thomas shook in her arms.
“You’re alive.”
“So are you.”
She pulled back.
“Eli and June—”
His face filled with terror.
“Where are they?”
“Safe.”
“You brought them north?”
“I had nowhere else.”
“Vale knows?”
“Yes.”
Thomas shut his eyes.
“Oh God.”
Caleb entered.
Thomas stared at him.
“Reed.”
“Harper.”
A weak smile crossed Thomas’s face.
“Took you long enough.”
Caleb laughed once, painfully.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I considered it several times.”
Clara helped Thomas stand.
“We have to go.”
“No.”
She stared.
“What?”
Thomas pointed toward the hallway.
“The ledger.”
“We have it.”
Thomas shook his head.
“That’s not enough.”
Caleb frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“The book proves payments. Vale will say it’s forged.”
Clara remembered Matthew’s letter.
“Original evidence below the mill.”
Thomas nodded.
“The county seals.”
“Matthew found them?”
“He found something bigger.”
Clara’s heart tightened.
“What?”
Thomas looked at her.
“Matthew didn’t die on the north road.”
The world stopped.
Clara stared.
“What did you say?”
Thomas swallowed.
“I found out after I was captured.”
Caleb stepped closer.
“Thomas.”
“What happened to him?”
Thomas’s eyes filled with sorrow.
“He survived the fall.”
Clara could barely stand.
“He was alive?”
“For three days.”
She covered her mouth.
“Where?”
“Here.”
The room tilted.
“They brought him here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He had taken the county seal plates and hidden them.”
Clara’s voice became a whisper.
“Did you see him?”
Thomas shook his head.
“No. A guard told me later.”
“Did Vale kill him?”
Thomas hesitated.
Before he could answer, footsteps sounded in the hallway.
Caleb extinguished the lantern.
Men approached.
Thomas whispered, “There’s another way out.”
“Where?”
He pointed toward the rear wall.
Behind a loose board was a crawlspace.
Caleb pulled it open.
Clara helped Thomas inside.
Then a voice came from the corridor.
Deputy Warren.
“I know you’re down here, Reed.”
Caleb looked at Clara.
She whispered, “How?”
Thomas answered.
“There’s a guard station at the creek.”
Caleb cursed softly.
Warren continued.
“Vale said bring the woman alive.”
Clara glanced toward Thomas.
“And everyone else?”
Thomas gave a humorless smile.
“I’m guessing we don’t get the same courtesy.”
Caleb moved into the crawlspace.
Clara followed.
Behind them, the door burst open.
They crawled into darkness.
Thomas led.
The passage sloped downward.
Suddenly Clara heard water.
“Where does this go?”
Thomas looked back.
“Under the creek.”
Caleb froze.
“You’re joking.”
Thomas almost smiled.
“Remember what you told me nine years ago?”
“What?”
“When the bridge washed out.”
Caleb stared.
Then Thomas repeated Caleb’s old words.
“When every safe road closes, find the road nobody sane would take.”
A shout echoed behind them.
Warren had entered the crawlspace.
Thomas grinned weakly.
“Still giving terrible advice, Reed.”
May you like
Then the three of them disappeared beneath the frozen creek while Vale’s men followed only yards behind.
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