Chapter 3 - The Man Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The man outside the farmhouse raised his hand and whispered:
"Nola Vance."
When Garrick Hale opened the front door, he found an old leather journal belonging to my mother lying in the stranger's hand.
But carved into the cover were four words:
"You were warned."
Garrick suddenly realized the past had found us.
I had never seen fear on Garrick Hale's face before.
Not when Samuel's fever had burned through the night.
Not when the doctor refused to come.
Not even when he opened Eleanor's room and found the hidden message waiting for him.
But when he saw the man standing outside our farmhouse, every bit of strength disappeared from him.
It was gone in a second.
The man outside looked older than the picture of him I had seen in my mother's journal.
His hair was gray.
His face was thinner.
A deep scar ran along his left cheek.
But there was no mistaking the reaction on Garrick's face.
He knew him.
"Stay behind me," Garrick whispered.
I looked at him.
"Who is he?"
Garrick did not answer.
The stranger stepped closer to the porch.
The horses behind him shifted nervously.
The entire farmhouse became silent.
Even the children understood something was wrong.
Thomas grabbed Clara's hand and pulled her back.
Samuel slept upstairs, unaware that the man who had haunted his father's memories had returned.
The stranger looked past Garrick.
His eyes found me.
"Nola Vance."
The way he said my name made my stomach tighten.
Not like he was meeting me.
Like he had been waiting for me.
Garrick stepped forward.
"You should be dead."
The stranger gave a small smile.
"That is what everyone wanted to believe."
The words sent a chill through me.
Garrick's hand moved toward the pistol at his side.
"Leave."
The stranger looked at the weapon.
Then back at Garrick.
"If I wanted you dead, Garrick, you would have joined Eleanor years ago."
My breath stopped.
The name.
Eleanor.
He said it like he had known her.
Like he had been part of the life Garrick had spent years trying to forget.
"You don't get to say her name."
Garrick's voice was low.
The stranger's expression changed.
For the first time, the confidence disappeared.
"I know what happened."
"Then you know why you are not welcome here."
The stranger looked at me again.
"No."
He shook his head.
"He doesn't know everything."
I felt Garrick tense.
"What are you talking about?"
The man reached inside his coat.
Garrick immediately raised his weapon.
But the stranger did not pull out a gun.
He pulled out a small leather journal.
My heart stopped.
Because I recognized it.
The edges.
The faded brown cover.
The small tear near the binding.
It was my mother's journal.
The same journal I had carried with me.
Except this one was older.
Different.
A copy.
Or perhaps the original.
"Where did you get that?"
I asked.
The stranger looked at me.
"Your mother gave it to me."
The world seemed to stop.
My mother.
A woman who had spent her entire life refusing to speak about Hollow Creek.
A woman who had died without telling me why she kept certain names hidden.
She knew him.
She knew this place.
And somehow, she had sent me here.
Garrick looked at me.
"You didn't know?"
I shook my head.
"No."
The stranger watched our reactions carefully.
"She never told you the truth."
I felt anger rise inside me.
"Who are you?"
The man looked at Garrick.
Then back at me.
"My name is Elias Ward."
Garrick's face changed.
The name meant something.
Something terrible.
"You were there."
Elias did not deny it.
"Yes."
"When Eleanor died."
The silence that followed was unbearable.
I looked between them.
"What does that mean?"
Neither man answered.
And that scared me more than anything.
Because silence could hide many things.
But the way Garrick looked at Elias told me one thing.
He was not afraid of a stranger.
He was afraid of the truth.
That night, after Elias was allowed inside, nobody slept.
Garrick refused to sit near him.
The children stayed upstairs.
And I sat at the kitchen table between two men who seemed connected by a history nobody wanted to explain.
Elias placed the journal on the table.
"Your mother knew Eleanor."
I looked down.
"How?"
"Because Eleanor found out someone was trying to destroy her."
Garrick's jaw tightened.
"You don't know what you're saying."
Elias looked at him.
"I know exactly what I'm saying."
The room became tense.
I looked at Garrick.
"Why did you never tell me Eleanor was investigating something?"
His eyes moved away.
"Because I didn't know how deep it went."
"But you knew something."
A long silence followed.
Then he admitted it.
"Yes."
The answer hurt.
Not because he had secrets.
Everyone had secrets.
But because I realized I had entered a house where everyone knew more than me.
Everyone except me.
"What was Eleanor looking for?"
Elias opened the journal.
Inside were pages filled with handwriting.
Not my mother's.
Eleanor's.
Names.
Dates.
Locations.
Notes.
A list of people from Hollow Creek.
At the bottom of one page was a sentence written heavily.
"Someone inside Garrick's family helped them."
I looked up.
"Your family?"
Garrick stood immediately.
"That's impossible."
"Is it?"
Elias asked.
"You trusted the wrong people."
Garrick's expression hardened.
"Careful."
"She was trying to protect you."
"Then why didn't she tell me?"
Elias looked at him.
"Because she discovered the person watching her was someone you loved."
The words hit harder than a weapon.
Someone Garrick loved.
Someone close.
Someone inside his family.
I looked at Garrick.
He looked away.
And that was when I knew.
There was a name he was thinking about.
A name he did not want to say.
"Eleanor hid something before she died," Elias continued.
"What?"
"A letter."
Garrick froze.
"What letter?"
"The one she wrote the night before she died."
My hands went cold.
"Where is it?"
Elias looked at me.
"Your mother had it."
I stared at him.
"My mother?"
He nodded.
"She took it because Eleanor trusted her."
Everything suddenly connected.
The journal.
The name.
The reason I was sent to Hollow Creek.
My arrival had never been an accident.
My mother had known.
She had known something would happen.
But before I could ask another question, a loud crash came from upstairs.
Everyone turned.
Thomas.
Garrick ran first.
We followed.
The hallway was dark.
Samuel's room door was open.
The window was broken.
Cold air moved through the room.
And on the floor beside Samuel's bed was a single piece of paper.
Garrick picked it up.
His face went pale.
"What does it say?" I asked.
He didn't answer.
Elias walked closer.
Then he whispered:
"They found her."
I looked at the paper.
Three words were written across it.
Not a warning.
Not a threat.
A name.
My name.
NOLA VANCE.
And beneath it was a message.
"Come alone, or Garrick Hale's children will pay for what your mother hid."
May you like
Then the bedroom door behind us slowly began to close by itself.
From the other side, someone whispered my name.
