Chapter 6 - The Man in the Gray Suit
We remained underground.
Nobody spoke.
Footsteps crossed the kitchen.
Slow.
Deliberate.
The stranger didn't search.
He knew exactly where he was going.
Mason raised his gun.
The footsteps stopped above the basement door.
A voice drifted down.
“Sheriff's deputy Mason?”
Mason stiffened.
“You have ten seconds to leave.”
The man laughed.
“Still pretending you have authority?”
I knew that voice.
Elias Voss.
Redwood Land Partners.
He opened the basement door.
Light spilled down the stairs.
He stood there in an immaculate gray suit.
Two men behind him.
Neither carried visible weapons.
Elias looked at me.
“Hannah.”
“You know my name.”
“I've known your family a very long time.”
“You killed my grandfather.”
He smiled.
“No.”
“Then where is he?”
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
I stood.
“You're lying.”
“Everyone on this farm is lying.”
His eyes moved to Evelyn.
Her face went pale.
Elias smiled.
“So you finally came home.”
Evelyn said nothing.
“Where is Sarah?”
Elias's expression hardened.
“That's the right question.”
I stepped closer.
“You know where she is.”
“She knew too much.”
“What did she know?”
“That your grandfather had been hiding evidence against Redwood for twenty-seven years.”
“Evidence of what?”
Elias looked around the room.
Then he said quietly,
“Your family didn't own nine hundred acres.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“They owned the surface.”
He pointed at the floor.
“The mineral rights beneath it belonged to a private corporation.”
Mason stared.
“And Redwood bought that corporation.”
Elias nodded.
“They bought it eleven years ago.”
“So why buy my farm?”
“Because Henry refused to sell.”
“Why?”
“Because the old tunnels beneath your land connect to the Blackwater aquifer.”
Evelyn whispered,
“And the barrels.”
Elias looked at her.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“You watched.”
“I remember.”
He looked at me.
“Twenty-seven years ago, the company stored industrial waste underground.”
Mason swore.
“We have records.”
“You have stories.”
“Sarah had photographs.”
Elias nodded.
“That is why she had to disappear.”
My stomach twisted.
“You murdered her.”
“No.”
“Then where is she?”
Elias looked toward the ceiling.
“Ask your uncle.”
A loud engine started outside.
Robert.
Elias stepped aside.
“Your uncle has spent six months trying to repair what your grandfather broke.”
I stared at him.
“What did Grandpa break?”
“The agreement.”
“What agreement?”
Elias smiled.
“The one that promised your family money for silence.”
My blood went cold.
“You paid my family?”
“Every year.”
“Liar.”
“Ask your mother.”
The silence that followed felt like a door opening inside my chest.
My mother.
She had never talked about Sarah.
Never.
Not once.
Elias began walking upstairs.
I followed.
“What happened to my grandmother?”
He stopped.
“Which grandmother?”
I couldn't speak.
Mason whispered, “What does that mean?”
Elias smiled.
“You should ask Hannah where she was born.”
My heart froze.
“I was born in St. Louis.”
“That is what the records say.”
Then he left.
Robert entered.
My uncle looked older than he had the day before.
Exhausted.
Afraid.
He looked at me.
“You shouldn't have come here.”
“Where is Sarah?”
His face collapsed.
I raised the silver necklace.
His eyes locked on it.
“She was wearing that the night she ran.”
“Ran?”
“Yes.”
“From you?”
He shook his head.
“From all of us.”
I stepped toward him.
“What did you do?”
Robert looked at the tunnel.
Then back at me.
“I didn't kill her.”
“Then tell me where she is.”
He swallowed.
“I can't.”
“You can.”
“No.”
“Why?”
His voice broke.
“Because she's your mother.”
Everything stopped.
Mason looked at him.
I couldn't breathe.
“My mother is Linda.”
Robert closed his eyes.
“Her real name wasn't Linda Walker.”
He looked at me.
“Your mother is Sarah Mercer.”
I stared at him.
The floor seemed to disappear.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“That isn't possible.”
“It is.”
“Then who raised me?”
“Your aunt.”
“Why?”
Robert whispered,
“Because Sarah begged us to hide you.”
A noise sounded outside.
A car door.
Then another.
Robert looked toward the window.
“They found us.”
“Who?”
He turned to me.
“Redwood.”
May you like
Then every light on the farm went out.
And from the fields came the sound of multiple vehicles approaching.
