Chapter 5
Chapter 5: The Oak and the Ash
Barby, Ken, and Laura meet at the old oak stump and dig up a leather pouch containing a deed. Ken then takes Barby to visit Aunt Clara, who reveals that The Sharge had a hidden vault in the old house, where more evidence may lie. The chapter ends with Barby determined to search the house before it is too late.
The night air was thick with the scent of rain as Barby watched Ken’s truck disappear down the street. She stood on her porch, the porch light casting a pale glow on the worn steps. The text message from the unknown number echoed in her mind: Be careful. She is not who she seems. But Laura had seemed genuine, her pain raw and her hope real. Barby shook her head. She could not afford to be swayed by fear now. She had come too far.
Inside, she made a pot of tea and sat at the kitchen table, the photograph of Margaret under the oak tree propped against the sugar bowl. The leather pouch in the image seemed almost alive, a promise of resolution. Barby traced her finger over the faded smile of the woman who had loved Thomas Hartley. What must it have been like to hold a secret that could destroy a powerful man? To run, leaving everything behind? Barby’s heart ached for her.
She tried to sleep, but her mind would not rest. The gears of the story turned: The Sharge—Jeremiah—had set the fire, Margaret had witnessed it, Thomas had been blamed, and the land had been stolen. And now, a deed might be buried under the stump of the old oak tree. It seemed too neat, too perfect. But Laura had the diary, the letters, the photograph. It was all there, waiting to be unearthed.
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