PART 94 — THE KEY IN JONATHAN VALE’S HAND

Jonathan Vale.

The name seemed to pull every shadow of the past back into the room.

Nora stared at Isabella.

“You’re telling me Miriam Cole gave Jonathan the final piece of the key?”

Isabella nodded.

“She believed he was helping Eleanor protect the records.”

“But Jonathan was already working against the Whitmores.”

“Not openly. Not then.”

Thomas Ashford stood near the window, his face lined with exhaustion.

“Jonathan was a different man when he was young,” he said.

Nora turned sharply.

“Or he was simply better at pretending.”

Thomas did not answer.

Outside, the three riders remained near the gate.

One of them lifted a lantern.

Three flashes.

A pause.

One more.

Silas recognized the signal.

“They’re waiting for orders.”

“From Jonathan?” Nora asked.

“Possibly.”

Isabella looked toward the road.

“Jonathan always preferred to make other people take the risks.”

Nora examined the two pendants lying on the table.

The mountain.

The line.

The circle.

Three pieces that had been separated for decades.

She could almost hear Thomas Whitmore’s voice from her childhood.

The answer is never in one piece, little bird. You have to know how the pieces belong together.

Her grandfather had called it a game.

Now she understood.

“He taught me how to read the symbols,” Nora whispered.

Silas turned.

“What?”

“My grandfather. He used to draw mountains and circles on paper. He would ask me what came between them.”

“What did you say?”

“A road.”

Isabella’s eyes widened.

Nora continued.

“But he always corrected me. He said the line wasn’t a road.”

Thomas Ashford leaned closer.

“Then what was it?”

Nora touched the pendant.

“A river.”

Silence.

Then Isabella slowly nodded.

“Samuel Ward was a railway surveyor. The mountain, the river, and the circle marked the original crossing.”

“The bridge,” Silas said.

“Yes.”

Nora looked toward the three riders.

“Then Jonathan doesn’t simply have a key. He has the final coordinate.”

A gunsH๏τ rang out.

The bullet struck the fence outside.

Everyone ducked.

Silas drew his revolver and moved toward the door.

The rider nearest the gate shouted, “Miss Whitmore! You have one minute to surrender the pendants!”

Nora stepped toward the window.

“No.”

Silas caught her arm.

“Don’t let them see you.”

“They already know we’re here.”

Another sH๏τ shattered the glᴀss.

James pulled Isabella behind the staircase while Daniel closed the shutters.

Silas fired once toward the empty ground beside the riders, forcing them to retreat behind their horses.

“Stay down!” he shouted.

Nora looked around the room.

There was a rear door leading into the orchard.

A narrow path continued beyond the trees toward the abandoned freight line.

She turned to James.

“Do you know that path?”

“Yes.”

“Can it reach the old bridge?”

“Not directly. It ends at the service road.”

“Then we’ll use it.”

Isabella shook her head.

“Jonathan will be watching the bridge.”

“Good,” Nora replied.

Everyone looked at her.

“If he believes we’re going there, he’ll bring the third piece.”

Silas frowned.

“You want to lure him out.”

“I want to make him think we cannot open the compartment without him.”

“And can we?”

Nora looked at the pendant again.

“I don’t know yet.”

Silas gave her a long look.

“That isn’t reᴀssuring.”

“Neither is surrendering everything to Jonathan.”

For a moment, he almost smiled.

Then another bullet struck the shutters.

The decision was made.

They escaped through the orchard as darkness settled over the northern settlement.

James led them along a narrow path behind the old freight station. Daniel carried the documents, while Isabella kept the pendants hidden beneath her coat.

Silas remained close to Nora.

“You’re quiet,” he said.

“I’m thinking.”

“About Jonathan?”

“About my grandfather.”

Silas waited.

“He knew the code. He knew there were three pieces. And somehow, he knew Jonathan had one of them.”

“Perhaps.”

“Then why didn’t he tell me?”

Silas looked ahead.

“Maybe he hoped you would never need to use it.”

Nora shook her head.

“He taught me too carefully for that.”

They reached the service road shortly before midnight.

A lone figure waited beside the old railway sign.

Samuel Dyer.

Nora stopped.

“Samuel?”

He turned.

His coat was torn, and his face was marked by fresh bruises.

“I heard you were coming north.”

Silas raised his revolver.

“Who told you?”

Dyer looked at the weapon.

“Put that away. If Jonathan wanted you ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, he wouldn’t have sent only three riders.”

Nora stepped forward.

“Where is he?”

Dyer hesitated.

“Closer than you think.”

“Does he have Miriam’s key?”

“Yes.”

“Have you seen it?”

Dyer reached into his coat.

He removed a small folded paper.

On it was a drawing of a silver pendant bearing a single curved line.

Nora stared.

“The river.”

Dyer nodded.

“Jonathan carries it in a metal case. He believes it is the only thing preventing anyone from opening Samuel Ward’s compartment.”

“Why are you helping us?”

Dyer looked toward the darkened tracks.

“Because I have spent enough years helping men like him.”

Silas did not lower his weapon.

“Words are cheap.”

Dyer nodded.

“Yes. Mine have been especially cheap.”

He handed Nora another paper.

It was a note written in Jonathan’s hand.

Meet me at the first railway bridge before dawn. Bring both pendants and the original map. Come without officers, or the final piece will be destroyed.

Nora read it carefully.

Then she looked up.

“He wants the records.”

“He wants what Samuel Ward hid,” Dyer replied.

“Does he know what’s inside?”

“No.”

“Then why risk everything to obtain it?”

Dyer’s expression darkened.

“Because Jonathan’s family helped finance the first illegal purchases. He believes the original account contains the names of the men who began the theft.”

Nora folded the note.

“And he wants to destroy it.”

“Or use it to bargain for his freedom.”

Silas stepped closer.

“We’re not going without protection.”

Dyer nodded.

“Jonathan expects that. He’s already placed men along the main road.”

Nora looked toward the hills.

“Then we don’t use the main road.”

Dyer’s expression changed.

“There is another way.”

“Where?”

“Beneath the bridge.”

Isabella stepped forward.

“My father used to inspect the supports from a narrow maintenance tunnel.”

Dyer nodded.

“It still exists.”

Nora felt a small surge of hope.

“Can we reach it?”

“Yes. But the river is rising, and the tunnel floods during storms.”

Silas glanced at the clouds.

“Then we move before the rain comes.”

Nora looked at the two pendants.

The mountain.

The circle.

And somewhere ahead—

the river.

She тιԍнтened her coat.

“Let’s find out what Samuel Ward wanted the world to know.”

Far away, beneath the broken railway bridge, Jonathan Vale stood beside an iron door set into the stone foundation.

In his hand was the third silver pendant.

He smiled.

Because he knew Nora would come.

And he had already decided what would happen when she did.

To be continued…