Chapter 4 - Claire’s Last Argument
On day two, memory became its own kind of torture.
Three weeks before Claire died, she had argued with my father.
I remembered because Claire almost never raised her voice.
That evening she did.
“You need to tell Daniel.”
Dad answered:
“It has nothing to do with him.”
“It has everything to do with him.”
When I entered the room, they stopped.
Claire told me it was about money.
I believed her.
After her death, I found nothing suspicious.
No secret accounts.
No unexplained debt.
Nothing.
Now, stranded in those mountains, I wondered what I had missed.
Noah and I started walking again.
We followed the road downhill this time.
By afternoon, we discovered tire tracks splitting onto another trail.
Then Noah spotted something beneath a bush.
A pink sweatshirt.
Sophie’s.
My niece.
There was mud across the front.
One sleeve had been torn.
Noah looked frightened.
“Did something happen to her?”
“I don’t know.”
Nearby, I found tire marks suggesting a vehicle had stopped abruptly.
Then footprints.
Several sets.
I called their names.
Nothing.
We continued until sunset.
That night, Noah whispered:
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“I heard Grandma crying before we went hiking.”
I turned.
“When?”
“That morning.”
“What happened?”
“She was talking to Grandpa.”
“About what?”
Noah hesitated.
“She said they shouldn't leave us.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did Grandpa say?”
May you like
Noah looked directly at me.
“He said they didn’t have a choice.”
