Chapter 6 - Blood on the Family Tree
Sarah took half a step backward, the knife still raised between them. "Thomas? You died in Michigan. The state police found your car burned out near the lumber yards."
"They found what they were supposed to find," Thomas said, his chest heaving as he leaned heavily against the doorframe. Blood was running down the sleeve of his left arm, soaking through the frayed hem of his canvas coat and dripping into the pool of rainwater at his feet. "Listen to me, Sarah. There isn't time for this. Clara isn't dead, but she won't survive the night if we don't get out of this county before the river crests."
Sarah’s head spun, the room tilting as the pieces of a forgotten nightmare reassembled themselves in front of her. "Clara was sixteen when she disappeared, Thomas. You were the one who helped her run. The whole town blamed our family. They thought Dad killed her and threw her into the quarry."
"Dad didn't kill anyone," Thomas snapped, his eyes wild as he scanned the darkened kitchen. "It was the sheriff. It was Vance. Clara knew what Vance was running through the old rail depot behind the processing plant. She had his ledger. When she tried to leave, Vance ran her off the bridge. I pulled her out of the water downstream, miles from the wreck. We hid across the state line, living on cash, moving every four months. But he found us two nights ago. He cornered her in the cabin outside of Pine Ridge."
The baby in the pantry let out a small, sharp cry. Thomas froze, his gaze locking onto the partially open pantry door.
"Is the boy with her?" Thomas asked, his voice suddenly breaking with pure desperation. "Tell me she brought the boy."
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Before Sarah could answer, the roar of a heavy V8 engine rumbled up the dirt drive, and twin high-beam headlights flooded the kitchen through the rain-lashed front windows.
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