They Took the Wrong Road in America — By Morning, the Entire Village Wanted Them Dead
Chapter 9
The message led them to an abandoned train station outside Bellweather.
There they found a metal locker.
Inside was a camera.
Ethan recognized it immediately.
His father’s old Nikon.
There was a roll of undeveloped film inside.
Ethan’s hands trembled.
They found a nearby darkroom and developed the photographs.
The first showed Bellweather.
The second showed Mercer.
The third showed Evelyn.
The fourth showed Ethan’s father meeting a federal agent.
Then came the final photograph.
A young girl.
Standing beside the church.
On the back, his father had written:
She’s the reason I couldn’t expose them.
Maya looked confused.
“Who is she?”
Lucas stared at the photograph.
Then his face changed.
“That’s Evelyn’s daughter.”
“She disappeared?”
Lucas nodded.
“Thirty-seven years ago.”
Ethan examined the image.
Something seemed wrong.
He enlarged it.
Behind the girl stood another person.
A man.
Wearing a sheriff’s uniform.
But not the sheriff.
A federal badge was visible beneath his coat.
Ethan recognized him from another file.
“That’s Agent Thomas Vale.”
Lucas frowned.
“Who?”
“My father mentioned him once.”
Maya looked at the photograph.
“He’s still alive?”
Ethan checked the documents.
The man’s name appeared repeatedly.
Witness protection.
Federal investigations.
Bellweather.
Then the realization hit.
“This isn’t a local conspiracy.”
Maya whispered:
“It’s federal.”
A noise came from the station.
Someone was outside.
Lucas looked through the window.
“There are too many.”
Ethan grabbed the camera.
“Where do we go?”
Lucas pointed toward the tracks.
“There’s a tunnel.”
They ran.
Behind them, gunshots echoed through the station.
