Chapter 16 - The Sister Who Stayed Gone
Ruth refused to go to the ferry terminal alone.
She refused to go with Eli, too, until he pointed out that every dangerous decision she had made in the last forty-three years began with that sentence.
They arrived before sunrise. The terminal had been closed since a flood destroyed the lower docks. Mist drifted over the river, hiding the opposite shore.
June stood beneath the broken departure sign.
She looked older than Ruth remembered, but not ill. A gray coat wrapped her thin frame, and a blue thread was stitched along one cuff.
Ruth stopped several feet away.
“You’re alive.”
“For now.”
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
“I needed the Vails to believe I was gone.”
“You let me grieve you.”
“I grieved too.”
Eli moved beside Ruth. “You took the children.”
June studied him. “You are Tomas Soto.”
“I am Eli Calder.”
“Both names are true.”
“You knew?”
“I knew before you could walk.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Victor threatened to find Mara. Because Daniel begged me to wait. Because I believed the records would be corrected when the Vails lost power.”
Ruth’s voice shook. “You took money from them.”
“I took money to buy time.”
“You used my name.”
“Because yours was the only name they trusted enough to ignore.”
June handed Ruth a small envelope. Inside was a photograph of two women standing in a hospital corridor: Ruth and Mara, each holding an infant. Behind them, June held a third folder.
“There was never a clean rescue,” June said. “The infants were moved through three households. I made the final assignments. I placed Tomas with you because Mara was being watched and you had no connection to the Vail network.”
“You stole him from his mother.”
“I saved him from people who planned to sell him.”
“You should have returned him.”
“I tried.”
June’s eyes filled. “The first time I contacted Mara, Victor intercepted the message. The second time, Daniel was attacked. The third time, you were pregnant again and threatened to disappear with the baby.”
“I was not pregnant.”
“Victor believed you were. That was enough.”
Eli stared toward the river. “Why fake your death?”
“Because Nico found my trail.”
“Nico knew you were alive?”
“He suspected.”
“He used you.”
“He needed the final page.”
June reached inside her coat and removed a folded sheet of paper.
“This is the page he has been searching for.”
Ruth took it carefully. It contained the names of all twelve children and the signatures of the people who moved them. At the bottom was Victor Vail’s confession.
He admitted that the fire had been set to destroy the ledger. He admitted that he had taken Celia’s infant son, Nico, and claimed him as his own grandson. He admitted that the twelfth child, Tomas Soto, had been hidden with Ruth Calder.
“This proves everything,” Eli said.
“It proves enough,” June replied.
“Where is Celia?”
June looked toward the river.
“She came to Bellweather three days ago. Nico found her first.”
“Is she alive?”
“I don’t know.”
Ruth folded the confession. “You knew Nico was dangerous.”
“I knew he was desperate.”
“You should have warned me.”
“I was afraid you would come looking.”
“You were right.”
An engine roared beneath the terminal.
Nico’s SUV burst through the chain barrier.
June shoved Ruth aside as the vehicle struck the signpost. Eli pulled his mother toward the dock.
Nico stepped from the SUV. In one hand he held a flare. In the other, a pistol.
“Give me the confession,” he called.
June stood between him and Ruth.
“No.”
Nico raised the gun.
Ruth saw movement beneath the terminal stairs.
Iris Bell emerged carrying a camera and a phone.
“Your mother is watching,” Iris said.
Nico hesitated.
On the phone screen, Lenora appeared beside Mara, surrounded by reporters.
“Drop the weapon,” Lenora said. “The whole country is listening.”
Nico looked at Ruth.
May you like
Then he lit the flare and threw it onto the dock.
Flames raced across the dry boards.
