Chapter 11 - THE SIXTH DOG'S SECRETRachel started the SUV before the men reached them.
The tires spun against wet pavement.
Sofia grabbed the dashboard.
Elise held Atlas's collar.
The black sedan followed.
Rachel turned sharply onto a narrow county road.
Trees crowded both sides.
Rain reduced visibility.
The headlights behind them grew closer.
“They're gaining,” Elise whispered.
Rachel checked the mirror.
“I know.”
Sofia looked at her phone.
“No signal.”
“Keep trying.”
The road curved toward an old railway crossing.
Rachel accelerated.
The sedan followed.
Then Finn began barking.
He jumped against the rear window.
Sofia turned.
“What is it?”
Finn barked again.
He moved toward the left side of the vehicle.
Rachel glanced at him.
“Claire trained him to recognize escape routes.”
Sofia looked ahead.
A narrow gravel road branched left.
It was almost hidden behind overgrown bushes.
“Take that road!”
Rachel hesitated.
“It's barely wide enough.”
“Trust him!”
Rachel turned.
The SUV bounced violently over the gravel.
Branches scraped the windows.
The black sedan overshot the turn.
By the time its driver reversed, Rachel had disappeared into the trees.
Several minutes later, they reached an abandoned ranger station.
Rachel parked behind the building.
The engine stopped.
Silence settled over them.
Sofia exhaled shakily.
“We can't keep running.”
Rachel nodded.
“I know.”
Elise looked toward the dogs.
“Then maybe we should stop looking for the evidence ourselves.”
Sofia frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Elise pointed toward Bear.
The large mixed-breed dog had remained unusually quiet throughout the drive.
He sat near the rear door, watching Sofia.
“Mom always said Bear had the most important job.”
Sofia remembered Julien's explanation.
Bear protected frightened people.
But perhaps that wasn't his only role.
She opened the rear door.
Bear stepped out.
He approached her slowly.
Then lowered his head.
Sofia examined his collar.
Unlike the others, it had no visible compartment.
But a small metal plate was sewn into the leather.
She ran her fingers along its edge.
Something moved.
The plate slid aside.
Beneath it was a tiny brass key.
And a folded photograph.
Sofia opened the picture.
It showed Claire standing beside a young woman in a hospital bed.
The woman was holding a newborn baby.
On the back, Claire had written:
MARGARET KNOWS WHERE THE CHILDREN WENT.
Sofia stared at the words.
“The children?”
Rachel took the photograph.
Her face changed.
“That's Margaret Ellis.”
Elise leaned closer.
“Who's the baby?”
Rachel turned the picture over.
A date was written in the corner.
September 18, 2003.
Three months after Sofia and Elise's sixth birthday.
The same month Elise had been taken.
Sofia felt sick.
“Was Margaret involved in the kidnappings?”
Rachel shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Bear nudged Sofia's hand.
Then he turned toward the ranger station.
He walked to the entrance and waited.
Sofia followed.
Inside, the building smelled of damp wood.
Old maps hung on the walls.
A metal cabinet stood beneath a window.
Bear approached it.
He placed one paw against the bottom drawer.
Sofia looked at the brass key.
It fit the lock.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
The handwriting belonged to Claire.
Sofia opened it carefully.
There was a letter.
And a list of names.
The letter began:
My daughters, if you are reading this together, then the one thing I prayed for has finally happened.
Sofia's eyes filled with tears.
She continued.
I could not protect you from every lie. But I tried to protect you from the people who told them.
Margaret Ellis was not one of the people who hurt us. She was the nurse who helped me save the children Meridian wanted to erase.
Some were returned to their families. Others were hidden under new identities because their parents were being threatened.
Margaret kept the original records.
And she hid them where Adrian would never think to look.
Sofia turned the page.
May you like
The final sentence made her heart pound.
The records are inside the cemetery where Julien Varenne was supposedly buried.
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