Sure enough, the next photos on the camera showed the farmhouse, barn, and fields. Then the woods. Close-ups of a path, of gnarled old apple trees, of rocks jutting up into the sky.
“He was here,” Ruthie said. “That’s the Devil’s Hand. It’s up on the hill behind our house.”
Gary had been here. Had visited this place on the last day of his life. She flipped through the pictures of the rocks quickly.
“Wait,” Candace said. “Go back.”
She arrowed back through.
“There,” Candace said, jabbing her finger at the screen on the back of the camera. “What does that look like to you?”
Katherine stared down. It was a close-up of one of the large finger-shaped rocks that made up the hand formation. Gary had taken the photo in low light, and it was hard to make out what she was seeing.
“There’s something there,” Ruthie said, pointing to what appeared to be a squarish hole just along the left edge of the finger.
“It’s an opening of some kind,” Candace agreed. “A cave, maybe? That map at the bottom of the page, it could be tunnels, right?”
“There’s no cave up there,” Ruthie said, moving closer for a better look. “Not that I ever heard of.”
The next set of four pictures were dark and blurry.
“Jesus, did he go down into it?” Candace said. “Is that why the pictures are so dark?”
“I can’t tell,” Katherine said. “Like I said, with a computer I could play around and enhance them so we could get a better look.”
“We don’t need a computer,” Candace announced. “Our next move is pretty obvious, isn’t it?”
They all looked at her, waiting. She still held the gun, but it was down by her side.
“We’re going into the woods. If there’s some kind of secret door or cave or something back there, we’ve got to check it out. Who knows, maybe that’s where your mother is; if not, maybe we’ll find a clue about where to find her. And if we can find her, there’s a chance she’s still got all the missing pages—not just the ones Tom and I found, but maybe the ones from Gary as well. Then we’ll all get what we want, right? I’ll get the pages, you girls just may find your mom there, and Katherine will find out what Gary did here in West Hall.”
“I don’t think—” Ruthie started to say.
Candace cut her off. “You don’t have a choice. We’re all going.”
“But my sister’s been sick,” Ruthie protested. “She has a fever.”
Candace glanced at Fawn. “She looks fine now. You’re well enough, aren’t you, Fawn? Don’t you want to go up into the woods and see if we can find your mom?”
The little girl gave an enthusiastic nod.
“We’re not leaving anyone behind,” Candace said, looking right at Ruthie.
Katherine knew Candace was right—the answers they were all seeking might well be out there, under those rocks. She thumbed through the last few blurry photos stored on Gary’s camera.
“So what are we waiting for?” Candace barked, raising the gun to remind them that she was in charge. “Everyone—coats and boots—let’s go! We’ll need flashlights, headlamps, whatever you’ve got. Maybe some rope. And I saw some snowshoes and skis out in the barn—the snow’s pretty deep out there. Let’s move. And remember, everyone needs to stay where I can see them. No surprises or I start shooting.”
Katherine got to the final photo. Ruthie leaned in, pointed. “There’s something there.”
The picture was dark and blurry, but definitely taken outside. It was focused right at the little hole in the shadows beneath one of the finger rocks.
But this time, there was someone else in the photo. Someone crouched in the opening in the earth beneath the rock.
“What the hell is that?” Candace asked, squinting down.
The figure was small and fuzzy around the edges.
“Why, it looks like a little girl,” Katherine said.
