“Yes.”
“What happened?”
He remained standing.
“Black Hollow happened.”
Her heart quickened.
“My father never spoke about Black Hollow.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“What was it?”
“A tunnel project.”
“I thought Black Hollow was maintenance land.”
“Afterward.”
He opened notebook.
The pages were browned.
Writing faded.
“Twenty-four years ago Beaumont Continental was building a mountain connection west.”
“A tunnel beneath Black Ridge.”
“Your father wanted it.”
“Investors wanted it.”
“Everybody wanted the route.”
“I was engineer.”
Lavinia stared.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“You were an engineer?”
“Before I became this.”
She ignored the bitterness.
“What happened?”
Amos sat.
“The rock was bad.”
“Worse than surveys said.”
“Fractured granite.”
“Water pockets.”
“Unstable roof.”
“I wrote reports.”
“Recommended abandoning east bore.”
“Company superintendent ignored me.”
“Who?”
“Gideon Crane.”
Lavinia recognized name.
“My father’s partner.”
Amos nodded.
“Crane insisted we continue.”
“He had contracts tied to completion.”
“Bonuses.”
“Land speculation.”
“I sent reports to your father.”
“Did he respond?”
“At first.”
“What did he say?”
“Stop work.”
Lavinia frowned.
“Then why—”
“Order never reached site.”
Amos looked toward fire.
“Crane produced another order two days later.”
“Your father’s signature.”
“Continue immediately.”
“I believed it.”
“You think it was forged?”
“I know it was.”
“How?”
“Because later I saw original.”
Amos’s jaw tightened.
“Too late.”
Lavinia whispered:
“What happened?”
“The roof came down.”
Thirty-seven men died.
Among them Amos’s younger brother.
Eli.
His best friend.
And for three days, Amos believed seven more trapped workers might still be alive behind the collapse.
Crane ordered the bore sealed.
Amos refused.
A fight.
Threats.
Then dynamite.
“He blasted it shut?”
Lavinia whispered.
“Yes.”
“With men inside?”
“I heard them.”
His voice broke for first time.
Lavinia stopped breathing.
“We could hear tapping.”
“Three taps.”
“Pause.”
“Three more.”
“Crane said rock shifting.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Men were alive.”
“What did you do?”
“I attacked him.”
“Nearly killed him.”
“Your father arrived next morning.”
“Too late?”
“Yes.”
Amos looked down.
“He was furious.”
“He demanded Crane arrested.”
“He had documents proving work order was forged.”
Lavinia’s eyes filled.
“So my father tried to stop it.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you disappear?”
Amos’s face became stone.
“Because the documents vanished.”
“What?”
“Company office burned that night.”
“Your father left before dawn.”
“Crane told sheriff I caused collapse through negligence.”
“That I destroyed office to hide reports.”
“That I assaulted him because he discovered it.”
Lavinia stared.
“Did my father defend you?”