Chapter 5 - Everett had faced men with knives.Men with guns.
Men who enjoyed violence.
None of them frightened him as much as the thought of Junie being taken.
He looked at Claire.
“There's a tunnel beneath this barn.”
Claire blinked.
“How do you know?”
“I used to ride with the owner.”
He lifted a metal hatch beneath a pile of old hay.
A narrow ladder descended into darkness.
Price looked at him.
“Where does it go?”
“To the river.”
They carried Price down.
Everett closed the hatch.
The tunnel smelled of dirt and gasoline.
Junie held his hand.
“Mister Bear?”
“Yeah?”
“Is my mommy scared?”
Everett glanced at Claire.
“She is.”
Junie thought for a second.
“Are you scared?”
Everett smiled faintly.
“A little.”
“Why?”
“Because bears can get scared too.”
Junie squeezed his fingers.
“It's okay.”
Everett looked down.
“Why?”
“Nice bears don't leave.”
Everett's throat tightened.
Those were Lily's exact words.
She used to say them when she was little.
His daughter had once fallen asleep on his chest after a thunderstorm.
“You won't leave, right, Daddy?”
Everett had answered:
“Never.”
He looked at Junie.
The promise suddenly felt alive again.
They emerged near the river.
Price could barely stand.
Everett helped him into an abandoned pickup.
They drove toward Claire's mother's house.
The house stood at the edge of a forest.
Old.
Wooden.
Almost hidden.
Claire unlocked the front door.
Junie ran inside.
Everett followed.
“Where's this secret room?”
Claire pointed upstairs.
At the end of the hallway was a locked door.
Everett forced it open.
Inside was an archive.
Boxes filled the room.
Photographs.
Medical records.
Old phones.
Newspapers.
Cassette tapes.
And dozens of letters.
Everett picked up one.
His name was written on the front.
He opened it.
The handwriting was Lily's.
Daddy,
If you're reading this, I'm probably already gone.
Everett stopped breathing.
He read on.
I'm sorry I lied to you.
Junie is your granddaughter.
His eyes filled.
Claire looked away.
The letter continued.
Victor knows. Richard knows. They both believe your family money can be used to destroy anyone who gets in their way.
Everett clenched the page.
But there's something they don't know.
Junie wasn't born where they think she was.
Everett frowned.
Another page.
She was born in a clinic outside Nashville under the name Elizabeth June Carter.
He stared.
“What does that mean?”
Claire looked at him.
“I don't know.”
Everett read the final paragraph.
Dad, if anything happens to me, don't trust the man who tells you he loved me.
And don't trust the man who claims he found my body.
Everett's eyes lifted.
“The coroner.”
Claire nodded.
“The original coroner retired six months after Lily died.”
A sound came from downstairs.
Footsteps.
Everett immediately closed the door.
Claire whispered:
“Did you lock the front door?”
“Yes.”
Another footstep.
Then silence.
Everett motioned Claire behind him.
He opened the bedroom closet.
Nothing.
Bathroom.
Nothing.
Then Junie whispered:
“Someone's in Grandma's room.”
Everett's eyes narrowed.
They heard the door downstairs slam.
Everett rushed down.
The kitchen window was open.
Nobody there.
But on the table sat a small envelope.
Everett picked it up.
There was one sentence.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET HER DIE.
Everett turned pale.
Claire whispered:
“Who's 'her'?”
A phone began ringing upstairs.
Junie picked it up.
Nobody had seen it before.
She answered.
“Hello?”
Everett shouted:
“Junie, hang up!”
The little girl froze.
A man's voice came through the speaker.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Junie's eyes widened.
“Are you the bad man?”
The voice laughed.
“No.”
A pause.
“I'm your grandfather.”
Everett's heart stopped.
May you like
The voice continued.
“And I have your real mother.”
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