“You think wrong.”
“I’m going.”
“You have one ankle that currently resembles a grapefruit.”
“It’s my father.”
“And your father will remain exactly where he is while trained professionals make sure the ceiling doesn’t fall on you.”
Anna looked frustrated.
Tess raised an eyebrow.
“I’m a paramedic.”
“I have practice winning this argument.”
Lily whispered, “She does.”
Anna looked at her daughter.
“You’re taking her side?”
“She has snacks.”
Even Noah laughed.
The small sound surprised all of them.
For several seconds, Cedar Hollow became simply a place where tired people could still laugh.
Then Harriet’s radio crackled.
One of the inspectors had found something.
The group moved to the edge of the taped area.
A worker emerged carrying a weatherproof evidence container.
Inside was a rusted lunch tin.
Noah recognized it immediately.
He sat down on the nearest stump.
“That was Dad’s.”
Anna looked at him.
“You’re sure?”
“There’s a dent in the corner.”
His voice became distant.
“He dropped it off the porch when I was ten.”
“Mom wanted him to throw it away.”
“He said the dent gave it character.”
Harriet carefully opened the tin.
Inside were several ruined papers.
A pocketknife.
A matchbook.
And a photograph sealed in waxed cloth.
The photograph had survived.
Two men stood outside Black Ridge Mine.
One was Thomas Mercer.
The other was Caleb Reed.
Their work clothes were coated with dust.
Both were grinning.
Between them stood two children.
Six-year-old Anna.
Fourteen-year-old Noah.
Anna covered her mouth.
Noah whispered, “I remember that day.”
“I don’t.”
“You kept asking to wear your dad’s helmet.”
Anna studied the photograph.
She saw herself looking upward toward Thomas.
He had one hand resting lightly on her shoulder.
She looked safe beside him.
Not abandoned.
Not forgotten.
Safe.
“My mother kept almost no photographs of him after he disappeared.”
Noah looked at her.
“Maybe looking at them hurt.”
“That doesn’t explain lying.”
“No.”
“Please stop defending people who refused to tell me the truth.”