“If they find us with Vale’s body, we’re done,” Sophia said. “Wade will shoot us on sight and call it self-defense.”

I reached onto the desk, grabbing the flash drive and Vale’s encrypted laptop.

“We have to go,” I said. “Out the back.”

“The woods lead to the Reed estate,” Sophia said, crawling toward the door.

“There’s a hidden cabin on the eastern ridge,” I said. “Emily wrote about it in her diary.”

“We can decode the final file there,” Sophia said.

We scrambled out of the study and ran down the back hallway.

Behind us, the heavy front door of the estate was kicked open with a loud crash.

“State Police! Hands in the air!” Sheriff Wade’s voice boomed from the foyer.

We reached the kitchen door and burst out into the cold night rain.

The dark woods loomed ahead of us, a wall of black pine.

We sprinted into the trees as the first searchlights cut through the fog behind us.

The branches tore at my face as we pushed deeper into the darkness.

Behind us, the barking of police dogs began to echo through the wet trees.