Homeless At 22, He Found An Abandoned $20 Farm Deep In The Pines – Then Everything Changed
Chapter 5
The next morning, Ethan called every number he could find connected to Emily Carter.
Most were dead ends.
Then he found an obituary.
Emily Carter had changed her last name after marriage.
Emily Hayes.
She lived three states away.
Ethan almost gave up.
Then Rose surprised him.
“I know where she is.”
Ethan looked up.
“You do?”
“She sends me letters.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know whether I trusted you.”
“Fair.”
Rose opened a drawer.
Inside was a stack of envelopes.
She handed him one.
The latest was dated three weeks earlier.
“I don’t think Emily knows James’s journal survived,” Rose said.
Ethan stared at the letter.
“Can I contact her?”
Rose nodded.
“Tell her the truth.”
He called.
A woman answered.
“Hello?”
“Emily?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Ethan Cole.”
She went silent.
“How do you know my name?”
“I bought your father’s farm.”
Another silence.
“You need to sell it.”
Ethan frowned.
“Why?”
“They’re still looking for what your father found.”
“Who?”
“You know who.”
“Morgan Ridge?”
She inhaled sharply.
“How much do you know?”
Ethan told her about the journal.
The hidden tunnel.
The mineral surveys.
There was a long pause.
Then Emily said,
“My father wasn’t crazy.”
“I figured.”
“He discovered the deposit.”
“What happened?”
“He refused to sell.”
“To Morgan Ridge?”
“Yes.”
She told Ethan what she knew.
Morgan Ridge’s predecessors had tried to pressure James into selling.
When he refused, they spread rumors that the land was contaminated.
Banks stopped lending to him.
Suppliers stopped doing business with him.
Then one night, James disappeared.
The police called it an accident.
Emily never believed them.
“What happened to the mine?” Ethan asked.
“My father sealed it.”
“Why?”
“Because he realized extraction would poison the river.”
Ethan looked toward Pine Hollow.
“That explains everything.”
“No.”
Emily’s voice became urgent.
“It explains why they’ll do anything to get the land.”
Before Ethan could reply, he heard a vehicle outside.
He stepped to the window.
A black SUV.
Caleb Morgan.
“How did they find you?” Emily asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Listen to me.”
“What?”
“There is an original environmental report.”
“Where?”
“My father’s old cabin.”
“Do you still have access?”
“Yes.”
“Can you get it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the cabin is owned by Morgan Ridge now.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“They took it?”
“They took everything.”
The line went quiet.
Then Emily said,
“Ethan, if you really own that farm, you need to understand something.”
“What?”
“You aren’t just protecting a piece of land.”
“You’re protecting the only evidence that can prove what they did.”
The call ended.
Ethan looked outside again.
Caleb was standing by the front porch.
He was no longer smiling.
