“Where?”
A pause.
Then Emma spoke a strange sentence.
“When Fairview celebrates itself, the bell will remember.”
The recording ended.
Bear looked toward Jasmine.
“What does that mean?”
Nobody knew.
Except Avery.
She stared at the recorder.
“The bell.”
“What bell?”
“The big one by town hall.”
Fairview Falls’ Founders Bell.
The centerpiece of Founders Square.
A bronze bell cast in 1891, mounted above a stone pedestal.
Every Founders Weekend, the grand marshal pulled its rope at noon to officially begin the parade.
Avery looked at Bear.
“Mommy used to take me there.”
Bear leaned closer.
“She told me something.”
“What?”
Avery thought hard.
“If the town forgets how to listen…”
Her voice became softer.
“…the bell remembers.”
Bear looked at the brass key lying beside the recorder.
Saturday morning arrived bright and beautiful.
Exactly the kind of morning Fairview Falls loved showing strangers.
Red-white-and-blue banners lined Main Street.
Children carried balloons.
The high school marching band assembled outside the library.
Vendors sold lemonade and cinnamon rolls.
Thousands of residents crowded the sidewalks.
And despite an active state investigation, the Founders Weekend committee refused to cancel the parade.
Judge Lorraine Vale appeared on the grandstand wearing white.
Marian Bell stood beside her.
Sheriff Rourke was nowhere to be seen.
At 10:40 a.m., Bear arrived at Founders Square with Jasmine Cole, two state investigators, Elias Ward and Avery.
Avery’s ankle was wrapped.
She walked with crutches.
Behind them came nearly thirty motorcycles.
Iron Haven did not block the road.
They didn’t threaten anybody.
They simply parked legally along the square and stood together.
The crowd began whispering.
Judge Vale saw Avery.
For the first time, her perfect public smile disappeared.
“Avery should not be here.”
Jasmine displayed her credentials.
“Avery is currently in state protective care. She requested to accompany us.”
Lorraine looked at Bear.
“You are exploiting that child.”
Bear almost laughed.
“You lost the right to lecture anybody about children.”
The brass key fit a small maintenance lock behind the Founder’s Bell pedestal.
Inside was a narrow steel compartment.
Empty.
Jasmine’s face fell.
Bear swore.
Lorraine smiled.
“Are we finished?”
Avery stared inside.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
She lowered herself awkwardly beside the pedestal.
“Mommy wasn’t tall.”
Bear understood first.
The compartment was waist-high to an adult.
But Emma had often visited the monument while carrying Avery.
A child saw things from below.
Bear crouched.
Under the steel compartment was another panel almost completely hidden by decorative molding.
Four screws.
Mateo produced a multitool.
Lorraine suddenly shouted:
“Do not damage town property!”
Everyone turned.
It was the panic in her voice.
Not the words.
Jasmine stepped between Lorraine and the pedestal.
“Open it.”
Mateo removed the screws.
Behind the panel sat a sealed plastic envelope.
Inside was a flash drive.
And a red ledger.
Marian Bell ran.
She made it six steps.
Two state troopers caught her near the lemonade stand.
The crowd erupted.
Lorraine remained motionless.
