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“You returned her to me?”

“You were helping Hazel after she scraped her knee. You didn’t see us come through the trees. Daniel told you Calle had wandered too close to the lower trail.”

“I remember.” Tears fill Mom’s eyes. “I was furious with her.”

“I didn’t wander away.”

“No,” Thomas says. “You saved your father’s life.”

“Only for six days.”

Ben’s fingers tighten around mine.

Mom’s face crumples.

Nathan puts his arm around her, and this time she leans into him.

“What happened to Kessler and Vail?” Keating asks.

“Vail fled when hikers came up the trail. Kessler claimed he had been trying to stop him.”

“And you believed him?” I ask.

“I didn’t. Not after I saw him grab the canister.”

“Did Dad?”

“No.”

“Then why didn’t you report him?”

“We tried. Daniel called Kessler’s supervisor that night. He was told Charles Kessler had never been assigned to investigate Blackwater.”

Marquez looks up from her phone.

“That doesn’t mean Kessler wasn’t operating unofficially.”

“It meant Daniel had exposed himself to a federal agent who might be protecting Vail,” Thomas replies. “By then, it was too late.”

“Did Daniel know the film was still in my jacket when he died?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t he take it back?”

“He believed you were safer if he left it where no one would look.”

“That didn’t keep her safe,” Ben says.

“No,” Thomas answers. “It didn’t.”

I release Ben’s hand.

Anger pushes away the fear.

“You and Grandpa took my jacket after Dad died.”

“James did.”