Chapter 13 - The River Under Stone.
The current dragged Amelia through a tunnel beneath the mill.
She struck the wall, lost the ledger, and surfaced long enough to hear Lucas calling her name.
He caught her hand before the river pulled her under a rusted gate.
Together they clung to an iron ladder while water rose around them.
The gunshot above replayed in Amelia's mind.
She did not know whether Margaret or Vanessa had fallen.
Lucas climbed first and forced open a maintenance hatch.
They emerged inside the mill's old assay room, soaked and shivering.
Through a cracked window, they saw Harlan dragging Gideon toward a truck.
Daniel followed with blood running from his wrist.
Margaret lay on the platform, motionless.
Vanessa knelt beside her.
The bullet had entered Margaret's side when she stepped in front of her daughter.
“Go,” Margaret whispered.
“He will kill all of you.”
Vanessa pressed both hands against the wound.
“You do not get to die before telling the truth.”
Margaret laughed weakly.
“You finally sound like me.”
“No.”
Vanessa took the memory card from her necklace.
“I sound like myself.”
She ran toward the control room and inserted the card into the mill's ancient monitoring system.
Gideon had modernized the cameras during his investigation, creating a satellite link Daniel did not know existed.
Vanessa activated the broadcast.
Every camera in the mill began streaming to the board, the press, and federal investigators.
Lucas saw the red lights switch on.
He stepped from the assay room with his hands raised.
“Daniel, the entire mill is live.”
Daniel stopped beside the truck.
Harlan looked up at the nearest camera and finally understood that he had been abandoned.
He lowered his gun.
Daniel shot him in the leg without hesitation.
That decision ended Harlan's loyalty.
The officer rolled behind the truck and fired into its tires.
Gideon threw himself sideways as Daniel returned fire.
Amelia crawled beneath the conveyor and reached the old man's chair.
She cut his ropes with a shard of green glass.
Daniel seized Vanessa inside the control room and pressed his gun beneath her chin.
“Stop the broadcast.”
Vanessa looked through the glass at Margaret.
Her mother had pulled herself upright against the railing.
“Tell them,” Vanessa said.
Margaret stared into the nearest camera.
At last, she confessed that Daniel ordered Eleanor's abduction, forged Vanessa's age, bribed the orphanage, and directed the nursery fire.
Then she confessed her own crimes.
She admitted striking Amelia, imprisoning Ruth, poisoning Gideon, and helping Daniel conceal Eleanor for more than two decades.
Her words traveled beyond the mill before Daniel could stop them.
Sirens rose in the distance.
Daniel dragged Vanessa toward a side door.
Amelia followed through the steam while Lucas helped Gideon outside.
The side door opened onto a narrow path above the river.
Daniel forced Vanessa toward an idling motorcycle.
Eleanor stood in the path ahead of him.
She had left Marcus's vehicle and carried no weapon.
“You already stole twenty-two years,” she said.
“You will not take another child from me.”
Daniel aimed at her.
Amelia stepped between the gun and her mother.
The hammer struck again.
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This time, Vanessa was the one holding it.
THE JADE SNAIL | A VALE FAMILY THRILLER
