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they went galumphing back.” Vanessa paraphrased the line from Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky,” the poetry bringing back a flood of forgotten dreams. They’d both been going to be high-school teachers, he in science, she in English. Their dreams had been so bright before Jeff had extinguished them.
    “Can we?” Eric asked again after a long pause.
    Reluctantly, Vanessa stopped remembering those old dreams and instead focused on the nightmare she was living. How could they possibly track down the criminals when she didn’t know who was really behind everything? Jeff would have known, though he’d never said a word in eight long years. But Jeff was dead now. She didn’t have any way of accessing—
    She stood abruptly.
    “What?” Eric looked startled but hopeful.
    Vanessa ran back outside and pulled the keys from where she’d left them in the Sequoia’s ignition. Besides the chip that started the SUV, there were half a dozen other traditional keys, plus a couple of smaller ones that looked as if they might go to a file cabinet or desk drawer.
    Eric waited on the porch, watching her as she ran back, examining the keys.
    “I took Jeff’s keys.”
    “What do the keys go to?”
    “Lots of things. His office building, his office—these look like they might open some files. I know he had files, incriminating files. He was extremely protective of them whenever he had to bring some home. He never wanted me to touch them.” She paused on the porch, holding the keys between them, and looked into his face, awaiting his verdict, wondering what he would think of her idea. Jeff always hated her ideas, hated that she ever thought for herself, but Eric wasn’t Jeff. “Those files would expose Jeff. We might even learn who the real head of the monster is.”
    “Do you know where Jeff’s office is?”
    “Yes. I’ve been inside the building several times when he needed to run in for something. Assuming he still works in the same place, I can find it again. I made it a point to remember, if only because I knew he didn’t want me to.”
    “Good for you.” Eric gave her half a smile.
    “So, you think it’s a good idea?”
    “To let you walk into the dragon’s lair?”
    “How else am I going to cut off its head?” She met his eyes, challenging him, hopeful for the very first time. Could she really find and destroy the head of the crime ring that had ruined her life? If it was possible, she’d do whatever she had to do. It was either that or spend the rest of her life hiding in fear.
    “You’re not going.” Eric shook his head, everything on his face saying he thought she was crazy. Then he finished, “Not alone, not without someone to stand guard, to watch out for you. And you’re definitely not taking your kids. They can stay here with Debbi. We can’t take your Sequoia—it’s all over the news. We’ll hide it in the garage and take my car, but we need to do it tonight, while it’s still dark, before they have a chance to realize we might come looking and destroy the evidence before we get there. I’ll drive.”
    Hope surged inside her, and Vanessa’s arms flew up, ready to hug Eric for agreeing with her plan—for wanting to be a part of it, even. But she caught herself just in time, and instead she gripped the keys harder and turned, following him back into the cabin.
    “Stop right there,” Debbi ordered as they entered.
    Vanessa looked up to see Eric’s sister, now in her early twenties, dropping a pair of buckshot shells into the hunting shotgun Eric had been holding earlier.
    Debbi clicked the barrel into place and stared them down. “Neither of you is going anywhere. I’m calling the police.”

FOUR
    “D ebbi, no.” Eric addressed his sister in a calming tone. She wouldn’t shoot. She didn’t even like hunting. The gun shook in her trembling hands. He’d known she was terrified about having Vanessa at the cabin, but he’d hoped she’d give him a little more time before her fears