Chapter 11 - SOMEBODY WANTED MIRIAM SILENT
Helena shoved Sister Miriam’s wheelchair toward the emergency exit.
Daniel grabbed a fire extinguisher.
Anna pulled the door open.
Smoke rolled down the hallway.
Residents screamed.
Staff rushed from room to room.
“Move!” Helena shouted.
They pushed Miriam into the stairwell.
Behind them, glass shattered.
Daniel turned.
A man wearing hospital scrubs was running away from Miriam’s room.
“Helena!”
She saw him too.
Ray Nolan.
Daniel chased him.
“Daniel, no!”
Too late.
Ray slammed through the side exit.
Daniel followed.
Helena pushed Miriam outside while Anna called 911.
Two minutes later, Daniel returned with blood on his knuckles.
“He got away.”
“Did you hit him?”
“He hit me first.”
Anna almost smiled.
Almost.
Firefighters arrived.
The fire was contained to a storage room beside Miriam’s room.
Arson.
Helena crouched beside the old nun.
“He tried to kill you.”
Miriam shook her head.
“No.”
“What do you mean?”
“He wanted my Bible.”
“Your Bible?”
Miriam smiled faintly.
“Evelyn knew I was old. She knew my memory was going.”
She reached beneath her blanket.
“But I’m not stupid.”
She pulled out a small black Bible.
Inside was an envelope.
Helena opened it.
A flash drive fell into her palm.
Anna whispered, “What’s on it?”
“Evelyn mailed it to me three weeks ago,” Miriam said.
Daniel found a laptop in the nursing-home office.
They opened the drive.
One audio file.
One video.
The audio began with Evelyn’s voice.
“My name is Evelyn Crawford. If you’re hearing this, I probably couldn’t finish what I came home to do.”
Helena covered her mouth.
Evelyn continued.
“Nineteen years ago, Silas Bell caused the crash that killed Caleb Hart. My father, Richard Crawford, helped him cover it up.”
Daniel stared at the screen.
“I signed two false statements because Dad threatened to have Daniel charged with murder and take my baby from me.”
Anna started crying.
“I believed him. That is my shame, and I will carry it forever.”
Helena’s eyes burned.
Then Evelyn said something unexpected.
“But the proof isn’t my testimony.”
The video opened.
Grainy.
Dark.
Dashcam footage.
A county sheriff’s cruiser.
Date stamp: October 14, 2007.
The camera showed a red pickup ahead.
Bell’s voice could be heard.
“Pull over, damn it!”
Then Richard Crawford shouted from the passenger seat.
“Hit them!”
Daniel stood.
The video jolted violently.
Metal screamed.
The pickup rolled.
Then came Richard’s voice.
“Get Evelyn.”
Bell asked, “What about the boys?”
Richard answered:
“Leave them.”
Nobody in the room moved.
The recording kept running.
Caleb could be heard moaning somewhere in the darkness.
Alive.
Begging for help.
Daniel turned away, shoulders shaking.
Anna wrapped her arms around him.
Helena felt pure rage.
Then Evelyn’s voice returned.
“There’s one more thing you need to know.”
The screen went black.
“If Bell finds out Anna has this, he will come for her.”
Anna’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered before anyone could stop her.
“Hello?”
Evelyn’s voice whispered through the speaker.
“Anna?”
Anna screamed.
“Mom!”
“I don’t have long.”
“Where are you?”
A man shouted in the background.
Evelyn gasped.
May you like
Then yelled one word before the line died.
“QUARRY!”
