Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO FOUND HER
Mara Ellis found the blood first.
Not much.
A dark streak against the snow.
She was a park ranger with nineteen years of experience and enough sense to know that people did not usually leave blood twenty feet below a closed overlook.
She called dispatch.
Then she saw fabric.
Gray wool.
Far below.
“Possible fall victim.”
The response took time.
Weather was worsening.
Mara climbed down using a maintenance route known mostly to forestry crews.
She found Elena half-conscious on a frozen ledge beside a twisted pine.
Pregnant.
Bruised.
Breathing.
Barely.
Mara swore.
Elena’s hand moved.
“Baby.”
“I know.”
“Don’t…”
“Don’t what?”
Elena’s eyes opened.
“Don’t tell Victor.”
Mara stared.
“Who’s Victor?”
But Elena was gone again.
The nearest hospital was over forty minutes away.
A small private clinic used by the park service was closer.
Mara made a choice that would later complicate everything.
She took Elena there first.
By the time local authorities expanded their search, Victor Hale had already identified Elena as his missing wife and insisted she had fallen from a different area of the overlook.
Mara heard his name on the radio.
She looked through the clinic window at Elena.
Then turned off her phone.
Elena woke twenty hours later.
Her first question:
“Is my baby alive?”
The doctor nodded.
“For now. But you’re having contractions.”
Elena started crying.
Her second question:
“Does Victor know?”
Mara answered.
“No.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Keep it that way.”
“You need police.”
“I need proof first.”
Mara stared.
Elena opened her fist.
Inside:
A black coat button.
Threads still attached.
“He pushed me.”
Mara looked at the object.
“That proves you grabbed his coat.”
“I know.”
“Then why hide?”
“Because he already has the story ready.”
“How do you know?”
Elena looked toward the radio on the counter.
Victor’s voice had just come through a news report.
“My wife had been struggling emotionally. I tried to stop her from going near the edge.”
Elena went completely still.
The reporter said search teams believed Elena may have slipped during a private marital argument.
Victor’s story already existed.
Mara turned off the radio.
“You were right.”
Elena touched her stomach.
Then the contractions intensified.
The doctor stepped in.
“We may not have time to move you.”
Elena grabbed Mara’s wrist.
“If my daughter is born alive, Victor loses the trust.”
Mara stared.
“What trust?”
May you like
Elena looked at her.
“The reason he tried to kill me.”
