A man’s voice called for the keeper.
Daniel waited until the last person reached the yard.
Then he followed, closing the kitchen door behind him.
They reached the wagon as footsteps sounded on the gravel path.
Jonah urged the horses forward without a shout.
The wheels rolled through wet leaves and onto the narrow track.
From the wagon bed Margaret watched the upstairs lamp disappear between the trees.
She had been officially dead for nearly four years.
Now she was breathing cold night air beside strangers who had risked their lives to bring her out.
Daniel knew the rescue was only a beginning.
Richard would soon learn that the room was empty.
And when he did, everyone connected to Margaret would be in danger.
Chapter 17: A House Without a Name
Jonah drove through the woods until the wheels reached a rutted road bordered by tall pines.
Margaret sat upright despite her exhaustion, one hand braced against the wagon side.
The boy who had escaped with her slept beneath a borrowed blanket.
Lydia watched every turn, as though the darkness might open and return them to Briar House.
Daniel heard horses once far behind them and made Jonah leave the main track.
They crossed a shallow stream where the water concealed wheel marks.
Beyond the stream, a low farmhouse stood behind a neglected orchard.
No sign identified the owner.
A woman carrying a lantern opened the door before Jonah reached the porch.
Her name was Sarah Price, and she was Jonah’s aunt.
She had lost a brother to an unlawful detention years earlier and now offered temporary shelter to people moving out of danger.
Her house was not a permanent refuge.
It was a place where frightened travelers could sleep long enough to make choices.
Sarah brought water and asked no questions until everyone was indoors.
Then she examined the sick boy and sent Jonah for a local physician she trusted.
Daniel hesitated at the doorway.
He knew returning to Blackwood after the rescue could be fatal.
He also knew Hannah, Isaiah, Samuel, and others remained on the estate.
Margaret followed his gaze toward the road.
“You’re going back.”
“Yes.”
“Richard will know you helped me.”
“Not yet.”
“He notices every change in his household.”
“Then we need him to notice the wrong changes.”
Sarah set a kettle on the stove.
“Tell us exactly what he can prove,” she said.
Daniel described the broken kitchen latch and the carriage that had arrived after them.
