“Can you fix it?”
“Maybe.”
Harriet appeared at the edge of the shelter before anyone could say more.
Her expression was solemn but strangely bright.
“We found a notebook.”
Anna stood despite the pain.
“Thomas’s?”
“His name is inside.”
“Is it readable?”
“Most of it.”
Harriet held up a sealed evidence sleeve.
The notebook was small, black, and swollen from moisture.
Several pages had survived.
On one, Thomas had written about escaping the first collapse.
On another, he described coming home to Ruth and Anna.
Then came his return to Cedar Hollow.
Caleb beside him.
The search for Eli.
The second collapse.
Anna read the final legible entry.
Heard Eli again.
Caleb says it may be water through the timbers, but I know a human voice.
Sending Caleb toward the east vent.
I am going twenty yards farther.
If I find Eli, we will follow.
Tell Ruth I chose this.
Tell Anna I came home.
Anna pressed the page to her chest.
Noah stared toward the mine entrance.
“My father carried that sentence for the rest of his life.”
Colter looked at them both.
“Then maybe it’s time you stopped carrying it for him.”
Noah nodded.
Anna did too.
Harriet did not leave.
Anna noticed.
“There’s more.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“We reached the far end of the chamber.”
Noah stood.
“Did you find them?”
Harriet took a breath.
“We found evidence that two people were there.”
Anna gripped Noah’s hand without realizing it.
“But?”
“There is another passage.”
“What passage?”
“It isn’t on the map.”
Harriet unfolded a new sketch.
A narrow tunnel continued east from the chamber.
“And somebody opened it from the opposite side.”
Noah frowned.
“When?”
“We can’t say.”
“Recently?”
“No.”
Harriet shook her head.
“The timbers appear decades old.”
Anna stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the second chamber may not have been the end.”
Harriet hesitated.
“And we found footprints preserved in mineral deposits beyond the collapse.”
Noah whispered, “Thomas?”