CHAPTER 4 – THE TRUTH DAVID NEVER KNEW
CHAPTER 4 – THE TRUTH DAVID NEVER KNEW
The woods swallowed us.
Branches clawed at my face as I carried Emma deeper into the darkness.
Behind us, flashlights danced between the trees.
Dogs barked somewhere in the distance.
Whoever these people were, they had come prepared.
Emma's breathing grew shallow.
I ducked behind a fallen oak and checked her pulse.
Still there.
Weak.
Too weak.
She opened her eyes just enough to whisper,
"Grandma... my shoe..."
One tiny pink shoe had fallen off during our escape.
I almost turned back.
Then I realized something.
Inside that shoe was a hidden compartment.
Months earlier, Emma's mother had laughed while showing it to me.
"For emergency money," she'd joked.
Except...
What if it wasn't money?
I carefully pulled off the remaining shoe.
My fingers searched the sole.
There.
A tiny zipper.
Inside wasn't cash.
It was a miniature memory card.
No larger than my fingernail.
My breath caught.
This was what they were after.
Not the bracelet itself.
Whatever was stored on this card.
Footsteps approached.
Closer.
Closer.
I slipped the memory card into my necklace before replacing the shoe.
Two flashlights swept across the trees only yards away.
"Search every inch!"
One of the suited men shouted.
"They can't have gone far."
Suddenly another voice answered.
"Dad?"
I froze.
David.
My son stepped into the clearing carrying a flashlight.
Relief flooded through me.
"David!"
I started toward him.
Then I stopped.
He wasn't looking for me.
He was looking at Dr. Graves.
The two men exchanged a glance that lasted only a second.
But it was enough.
Enough to tell me they knew each other.
No...
More than that.
They had planned this together.
David looked exhausted.
His eyes were bloodshot.
His hands shook.
"I told you sedation wouldn't last this long," he whispered angrily to Dr. Graves.
Sedation.
Not death.
Sedation.
The word shattered everything I believed.
Dr. Graves answered quietly,
"Your mother wasn't supposed to hear the child."
"I never wanted Mom involved."
David rubbed his face.
"I only agreed because you promised Emma would be safe."
Safe?
My knees nearly buckled.
"You agreed?" I whispered from the darkness.
David spun toward my voice.
His face turned white.
"Mom..."
He hadn't known I was there.
He certainly hadn't expected me to hear those words.
Tears filled his eyes.
"It's not what you think."
"Then tell me."
My voice shook with rage.
"Tell me why my granddaughter was lying in a coffin while still breathing."
David opened his mouth.
No words came.
Finally he whispered,
"They told me it was the only way to protect her."
"Protect her from who?"
Silence.
Then Dr. Graves answered instead.
"From the people who murdered her mother."
The forest fell deathly quiet.
David slowly lowered his head.
"I didn't know..."
he said, his voice breaking.
"I didn't know they were the same people until it was too late."
Before anyone could speak again, a black SUV rolled onto the forest service road nearby.
Its headlights illuminated the trees like daylight.
The rear door opened.
A woman stepped out wearing an elegant gray suit.
She couldn't have been older than forty-five.
She smiled as though greeting old friends.
Then she looked directly at Emma.
"There you are," she said softly.
"We've been searching for our little witness."
Emma's entire body began to tremble.
May you like
She buried her face against my shoulder and whispered the words that made my blood run cold.
"She's the lady who killed Mommy."
