Chapter 8 - The Quarry Night
Nine years earlier, Michael had not gone home after Daniel’s phone call.
He had driven to the quarry.
That was the first new lie.
Hannah told Detective Nolan the truth from a hospital bed while Lauren sat beside her, holding her hand.
“Michael was there,” Hannah said.
Michael sat across the room with his lawyer.
He looked like he had not slept in years.
Nolan turned to him.
“You said you never made it.”
Michael stared at the floor.
“I didn’t make it to Hannah.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No.”
Hannah’s jaw tightened.
She continued.
That night, she arrived near the quarry just after midnight. She saw Daniel’s truck. She saw Michael’s car.
Then she heard shouting.
Daniel was demanding the journal.
Michael was telling him to confess.
Anthony Ruiz’s body was already hidden somewhere else.
Hannah recorded part of the argument on a small digital recorder.
“I had it in my coat pocket.”
Lauren leaned forward.
“Where is it now?”
Hannah shook her head.
“Daniel took it.”
Nolan asked, “Then what happened?”
Hannah looked at Michael.
“He told me to run.”
Michael’s eyes filled.
“I tried.”
“Daniel grabbed me.”
Her voice became flat.
“He hit Michael with a tire iron. Michael went down. Daniel dragged me into his truck.”
Lauren looked at Michael.
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
Michael laughed bitterly.
“Because when I woke up, Daniel was gone and Anthony’s truck was in the quarry because I had helped put it there. I was terrified that if I told the truth, I’d go to prison too.”
“So you chose yourself.”
“Yes.”
The word landed hard.
Hannah continued.
Daniel kept her in an empty rental house for two days. Then he moved her to a hunting trailer. Then to the basement room when he finished building it.
“But you escaped once,” Nolan said.
“To Margaret.”
“And then Daniel found you again.”
Hannah nodded.
“He said if I ran again, he’d kill Emily.”
Lauren squeezed her daughter’s hand.
“What about Noah?”
Hannah looked toward the window.
“I met his father during one of the few times Daniel let me outside.”
Everyone waited.
“There was a man who delivered supplies to Daniel’s property. His name was Aaron Blake.”
Nolan typed the name.
“He figured out I was being held.”
Michael looked up sharply.
“Aaron Blake?”
“You know him?” Nolan asked.
Michael nodded slowly.
“He disappeared eight years ago.”
Hannah closed her eyes.
“He tried to help me escape.”
Lauren felt cold.
“What happened to him?”
Hannah began to cry.
“Daniel caught us.”
No one spoke.
Then Hannah whispered, “And I heard a gunshot.”
Nolan immediately asked, “Where was Aaron’s body?”
Hannah opened her eyes.
“I don’t know.”
Michael’s face had changed.
“What?” Lauren asked.
Michael looked at Nolan.
“Last night, when I went back to Daniel’s house, there was fresh blood in the tunnel.”
“So?”
“It wasn’t Emily’s.”
He swallowed.
May you like
“And it wasn’t Hannah’s.”
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