Anna became very still.
“Why?”
“Caleb had found cracks opening in old ground above the abandoned mine.”
Noah pointed beyond the cabin.
“He believed runoff from heavy rain was entering the tunnels.”
“He wanted Thomas to help him inspect it.”
“Why secretly?”
“Because they had no business being here.”
“It was abandoned property.”
“They were two stubborn men who thought years underground made them experts at every hole in Kentucky.”
Noah looked ashamed even though the mistake had not been his.
“They came after dark.”
“A section collapsed.”
Anna’s fingers tightened around the brass tag.
“My father died here.”
Noah looked at her.
“Eventually.”
The word seemed to stop the air.
“What does that mean?”
Noah did not answer immediately.
Colter watched the man’s face and saw something he recognized.
Not fear of being caught.
Fear of finally being believed.
Noah rubbed both hands together.
“My father told everyone Thomas never made it home from Black Ridge because Thomas asked him to.”
Anna stared at him.
“That makes no sense.”
“I know.”
“Why would my father ask someone to lie about where he died?”
“He didn’t.”
Noah’s voice trembled.
“Because when he asked my father to keep quiet, he wasn’t dying.”
A deputy stopped writing in his notebook.
Tess looked sharply at Noah.
Anna seemed to forget her injured ankle.
“What are you saying?”
“The first collapse trapped them for almost two days.”
Noah pointed toward a line of hills visible through the trees.
“They found an old ventilation shaft barely wide enough to crawl through.”
“Thomas pushed my father through first.”
Anna whispered, “And my father?”
“He came through afterward.”
Alive.
The word was not spoken, but everyone heard it.
Anna’s face changed with every breath.
Confusion.
Hope.
Anger.
Disbelief.
Then something almost childlike.
“My father survived?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
Noah looked at Lily, then back at Anna.
“Long enough to leave these woods.”
Anna gripped the porch railing.
“Where did he go?”
“Home.”
Her eyes filled instantly.
“No.”
“He went home.”
“My mother never said—”
“I know.”
“Why would she hide that from me?”
“I don’t know everything Ruth knew.”
Noah stood.
“My father never told me until the end.”
Anna shook her head.
“You said they both escaped.”
“They did.”
“Then why didn’t my father stay home?”
Noah’s voice broke.
“Because my father realized he had left something behind.”
Anna stared at him.
“What?”
Noah looked toward the cellar.
“A map showing another section of the mine.”
“Why did that matter?”
“Because Caleb believed somebody else had gone into those tunnels earlier that day.”
Colter frowned.
“Who?”
Noah swallowed.
“My father’s younger brother, Eli.”
Anna knew the name.
Colter could tell by her expression.
“Eli Reed disappeared that same summer.”
“Yes.”
“They said he left Kentucky.”
“My father started that story.”
“Why?”
“Because when Caleb and Thomas escaped the first time, Caleb admitted Eli might be trapped somewhere below them.”
Anna whispered, “And my father went back.”
Noah nodded.
“He went home first.”
“He saw your mother.”
“He saw you.”
Anna’s hand flew to her mouth.
“I was six.”
“He stayed until morning.”
Anna shook her head again, but this time tears ran silently down her face.
“I don’t remember.”
“You might.”
Noah’s own eyes were wet.
“Maybe not clearly.”
“But he was there.”
“At sunrise, Thomas returned here with my father.”
“They went back underground.”
“Only Caleb came out.”
Lily held her mother’s hand.
Anna stood amid strangers, deputies, motorcycles in the distance, and a collapsing cabin full of dust, yet for a moment she seemed completely alone.
“My whole life,” she whispered, “I believed he never came home.”
Noah nodded.
“I know.”
“I thought he chose work over us that night.”
“I know.”
“I was angry at a dead man for twenty-seven years.”
Noah lowered his head.
“My father was angry at himself for the same twenty-seven.”
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.”