Chapter 3 

They waited until the diner closed.

Clara locked the doors.

Then she led Daniel into the storage room.

Old crates were stacked against one wall.

She moved three of them aside.

A wooden trapdoor appeared.

Daniel looked at her.

“You’ve never opened this?”

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’ve spent eighteen years wondering what was underneath it.”

“And you never looked?”

“My father was the only person I trusted completely.”

Daniel understood.

He had spent three years trying to honor his father’s last wishes.

Even when he didn’t understand them.

Clara inserted the key.

The lock clicked.

The trapdoor opened.

A narrow staircase descended into darkness.

They climbed down.

At the bottom was a small stone room.

There was an iron box on a table.

Daniel opened it.

Inside was a map.

A brass compass.

And another photograph.

This one was different.

Four men stood outside an old mine.

Daniel recognized his father immediately.

Clara recognized hers.

Thomas Cole.

Samuel Hayes.

Two other men.

One was young.

The other man’s face had been scratched away.

Clara whispered:

“My father never showed me this.”

Daniel turned the photograph over.

Six words were written on the back:

FOUR MEN ENTERED. THREE RETURNED.

Daniel frowned.

“Three?”

Clara looked at the photograph.

“But only two are here.”

Daniel turned it around.

The scratched-out man.

“He’s the fourth.”

“Then who was the third?”

Neither had an answer.

The map showed a route through the Black Pine Mountains.

One location was marked:

RAVEN’S MOUTH.

Daniel recognized the name.

His father had written it in an old notebook.

He had never understood what it meant.

Clara noticed something else.

A small number written beneath the map.

17 — 4 — 9 — 21.

Daniel touched the compass.

The needle spun.

Then pointed toward the map.

Clara looked at him.

“That’s your father’s compass?”

“Yes.”

“My father had the same numbers.”

Daniel looked up.

“You’re saying our fathers left the same clues?”

“No.”

She shook her head.

“I’m saying we just found out they were looking for the same thing.”

Above them, something creaked.

They froze.

Another sound.

A floorboard.

Someone was walking inside the diner.

Clara whispered:

“We’re closed.”

The footsteps continued.

Then stopped.

A man’s voice came from above.

“Clara?”

She shook her head.

“I don’t know him.”

The man spoke again.

“Clara, I know you’re down there.”

Daniel switched off his flashlight.

They stood silently in the darkness.

Then they heard the front door slam.

Whoever had come wasn’t looking for food.

He was looking for what was beneath the diner.