Chapter 5 - The Woman Garrick Buried
Garrick opened the door so violently it struck the wall.
Mercer stood ten feet away.
His hands were visible.
No weapon.
“Say it again.”
Mercer’s face had lost every trace of amusement.
“Mara is alive.”
Garrick crossed the distance and hit him.
Mercer fell.
Nola grabbed Garrick’s arm before he could strike again.
“Stop!”
“He’s lying.”
“Maybe.”
Mercer wiped blood from his lip.
“Would’ve been easier if she died.”
Garrick hauled him up by the coat.
“Where is she?”
“Mercy House.”
Garrick froze.
“No.”
“She’s been there two years.”
“No.”
“You buried another woman.”
Garrick punched him again.
This time Nola did not stop him fast enough.
Mercer collapsed against the porch post.
Pike appeared behind them.
“He may be telling the truth.”
Garrick turned slowly.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“But you think it’s possible.”
Pike looked horrified.
“Hollis controlled the body after the crash. I never saw Mara’s face.”
Garrick’s breathing changed.
Nola realized something terrible.
“Did you?”
He looked at her.
“At the funeral. Did you see her face?”
Garrick stared into the darkness.
“The coffin was closed.”
“Why?”
“Burns.”
Mercer gave a bitter laugh.
“Hollis told you that.”
Garrick released him.
For the first time, he looked unstable.
Not weak.
Untethered.
Two years of grief had just cracked open.
Nola crouched beside the vial.
“What is this?”
“Antimicrobial compound,” Mercer said. “Pike developed the original.”
Pike frowned.
“I abandoned that formula.”
“Hollis didn’t.”
“Is it safe?”
Mercer looked at Elsie’s window.
“Safer than letting her die.”
Nola held the vial to the lantern.
Clear.
Unmarked.
“I won’t give a child something I don’t understand.”
Mercer looked at Pike.
“Compound C. Revised dosage.”
Pike’s eyes widened.
“You found my notes?”
“Mara did.”
Garrick stared.
“Mara?”
“She spent the last two years pretending her mind was broken so Hollis would stop questioning her.”
Nola felt cold.
“Why didn’t she escape?”
“She tried.”
Mercer looked at Garrick.
“Every time she got close, Hollis threatened the children.”
“Why not tell me?”
“Hollis watched your house.”
“You watched my house.”
“Yes.”
Garrick stepped toward him.
“Why inject Elsie?”
“To save her.”
“You broke into my home and stuck a needle in my daughter.”
“She’d already been exposed.”
“To the well?”
Mercer nodded.
“Hollis ordered the contamination four days ago.”
“Why now?”
“Because Nola arrived.”
Everyone looked at her.
Nola’s skin prickled.
Mercer continued.
“Hollis knew Mara had contacted your mother years ago.”
“My mother was dead before Mara’s accident.”
“But her papers weren’t.”
Nola suddenly remembered something.
Her mother’s trunk.
Stored in St. Louis.
Sold with most of the household goods after debts came due.
Except one box.
A box Nola had never opened because it contained old medical records and letters.
She had mailed it west before leaving.
To herself.
General delivery.
Hollow Creek.
Her heart stopped.
“My trunk.”
“What?” Garrick asked.
“I shipped one trunk separately.”
Mercer stared.
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Has it arrived?”
“I don’t know.”
Mercer cursed.
“Hollis controls the freight office.”
Nola understood.
“He thought I brought evidence.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why my name was in the barn.”
“Yes.”
Garrick looked toward town.
“And Mara?”
“Still inside Mercy House.”
“Then we go now.”
Pike held out a hand.
“Elsie first.”
Nola returned to the child.
Pike examined the vial.
Smelled it.
Tested a drop.
His confidence was imperfect but better than nothing.
“The dose Mercer gave her likely slowed the poisoning’s effect.”
“Can this help?”
“Yes.”
Nola administered the smallest appropriate amount under Pike’s direction.
Then they waited.
Ten minutes.
Twenty.
Elsie’s pulse steadied.
Her breathing deepened.
By midnight, the fever began to fall.
Garrick sat beside her.
Tears slipped silently down his face.
Nola pretended not to see.
Then Elsie opened her eyes.
“Papa?”
He took her hand.
“I’m here.”
“Is the lady staying?”
Nola looked away.
Garrick did not answer immediately.
Then:
“If she wants to.”
Nola looked at him.
Three days earlier, he had rejected her.
Tonight, that sentence felt like an apology he did not yet know how to make.
Mercer stood in the doorway.
“We need to move.”
Garrick rose.
“Thomas stays with the girls.”
“I’m coming,” Thomas said.
“No.”
“But Mama—”
“Your sisters need you.”
Thomas looked furious.
Then scared.
Then he nodded.
Nola packed bandages, the vial, Mara’s ledger, rope, and a small pistol Garrick insisted she carry.
They reached Hollow Creek after one in the morning.
The town looked asleep.
It wasn’t.
Too many curtains moved.
Too many shadows waited behind windows.
Mercer led them behind the abandoned church.
A broken stable leaned toward the alley.
Under loose boards, they found stone steps.
The drainage passage smelled of earth and chemicals.
Nola carried a lantern.
Garrick walked first.
Mercer behind him.
Pike, wounded but stubborn, stayed near Nola.
The tunnel narrowed.
Water dripped.
Then voices.
They extinguished the lantern.
A guard passed the grate above.
Mercer waited.
Counted.
Then moved.
They emerged into a basement.
Rows of shelves held bottles.
Medical instruments.
Ledgers.
And child-sized cots.
Nola’s stomach turned.
Seven cots.
Four occupied.
Children sleeping under gray blankets.
One boy was no older than five.
Pike covered his mouth.
“Oh God.”
Nola checked them.
Sedated.
But alive.
“Where is Mara?”
Mercer pointed upstairs.
“Second floor.”
Garrick was already moving.
They climbed.
At the end of the corridor stood a locked room.
Mercer produced a key.
Garrick took it.
His hand shook.
Nola realized he was terrified to open the door.
If Mercer had lied, Garrick would lose Mara again.
If Mercer told the truth, Garrick would face something perhaps harder.
The life that had continued without him.
He turned the key.
The door opened.
A woman sat beside a barred window.
Thin.
Dark hair streaked with gray.
A scar along one cheek.
She turned.
Garrick stopped.
“Mara.”
The woman stood.
Her eyes filled.
“Garrick?”
He crossed the room.
She reached him.
For one second, neither moved.
Then Mara touched his face.
“You’re real.”
Garrick broke.
He held her as though afraid she might disappear.
Nola stepped back.
Something inside her ached.
Not jealousy.
Not yet.
Something more complicated.
She had traveled west to marry a widower.
But he was not a widower.
His wife was alive.
That truth ended any future she had imagined before it had begun.
Mara pulled away.
“The children?”
“Alive.”
“Elsie?”
“Sick, but improving.”
Mara closed her eyes.
“Hollis.”
“We know.”
“No. You don’t.”
She looked at Nola.
“You’re Elizabeth Vance’s daughter.”
Nola stared.
“You knew my mother?”
Mara stepped toward her.
“She saved my life once.”
“When?”
“Before I met Garrick.”
Nola could barely process the words.
Mara grabbed her hands.
“Your mother found proof that Hollis poisoned entire mining camps. I sent the records to her.”
“Where are they?”
“Hidden.”
“In my trunk?”
Mara frowned.
“No.”
Nola went cold.
“Then what did I mail?”
“I don’t know.”
Footsteps sounded below.
Mercer swore.
“We’ve been discovered.”
Garrick moved to the door.
Mara grabbed him.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“Hollis wants the children because of their blood.”
“What does that mean?”
Mara looked at Elsie’s father.
Then at Nola.
“He wasn’t testing poison on them.”
The footsteps came closer.
Mara whispered:
May you like
“He was testing immunity.”
Then every lock in Mercy House slammed shut.
