Anna turned away.
Colter wanted to offer comfort.
He also knew some pain needed room before it could accept company.
So he simply remained nearby.
After a while, Anna spoke without facing Noah.
“Why come here now?”
“Because after Dad died, I read everything.”
“What everything?”
Noah reached into his backpack.
The deputies tensed, but he slowly removed a folded plastic sleeve.
Inside was a hand-drawn map.
Lines crossed the yellowed paper.
Handwritten numbers marked tunnels and old timber supports.
Near the bottom was a circle drawn in blue ink.
Beside it were two words.
SECOND ROOM.
Anna stared.
“My mother told me to look beneath the house.”
Noah nodded.
“My father told me the same thing.”
Colter studied the map.
“So you think there is another chamber beneath that cellar.”
“Yes.”
“And you followed Anna because you thought she would find it first.”
“I followed because I knew the floor was dangerous.”
Noah looked at Lily.
“And because I didn’t want a child anywhere near that mine.”
Lily leaned against her mother.
“I didn’t go inside.”
Noah managed a sad smile.
“You did the smartest thing any of us did today.”
One deputy took the map.
“We’ll have the county mine safety people look at this before anyone enters.”
Anna nodded reluctantly.
The responders placed her on a portable chair for the journey back toward the road.
Before they carried her away, Colter noticed something on the far side of the ruined cellar door.
A small blue mark had been painted on the wood.
Not old paint.
Not weathered.
Fresh enough to remain bright.
He pointed.
“Noah.”
Noah looked.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“That wasn’t there nine days ago.”
The deputy walked over.
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
“What does it mean?”
Noah unfolded another photocopied page from his backpack.
On the old mine map, the entrance to the second room had been marked with the same symbol.
A blue circle crossed by a single vertical line.