Page 118 of Silent Bones
Dale had positioned himself and Avery near the platform's edge, where a single push would send them both plummeting to the rocks below.
"I know," Noah said softly. "But I also know we can't change the past."
The observation platformwas smaller than Noah had expected, barely wide enough for three people with the cramped cabin taking up most of the space. The wind was stronger up here, making the entire structure sway gently and creating an eerie whistling sound through the steel framework below.
Dale held Avery against the platform railing, one arm wrapped around her throat, the other gripping the steel bar that was all that stood between them and a big drop. Her hands were bound behind her back with zip ties, and a strip of duct tape covered her mouth. Terror filled her eyes, but she was alert and alive.
Noah kept his hands visible and non-threatening, his body language open despite every instinct screaming at him to assess tactical options. The platform was maybe eight feet by eight feet, with a waist-high cabin wall behind Dale and the deadly drop in front of him. No room to maneuver, no angle for a safe takedown.
"Is this where it started for you?" Noah asked, genuinely curious. "Was I right about the tower?"
Dale's grip on Avery shifted slightly, and for a moment his eyes lost focus as he looked out over the wilderness spread below them. "Summer of 1989. A year before they closed this place. I was eighteen, just graduated high school. My dad got me thejob through a friend at the DEC. Thought it would teach me responsibility."
"What was it like?"
"Magical," Dale said, the word coming out like a confession. "Sitting up here for ten hours a day, watching over hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness. Feeling like I was the guardian of something important. Something worth protecting."
Noah nodded, taking a small step closer. "That's a big responsibility for an eighteen-year-old."
"I loved it. Every sunrise, every storm, every season change. I knew I'd found my calling." Dale's voice hardened again. "Then they shut it down. Said aerial surveillance made towers obsolete. Progress, they called it."
"But you kept the dream alive and became a forest ranger."
"For twenty-three years," Dale said, nodding. "Twenty-three years of protecting these forests, keeping people safe, enforcing rules that existed for good reasons." His voice cracked. "Until menaces like her came along."
He jerked Avery closer to the edge, making her whimper behind the tape. Noah fought every instinct to lunge forward.
"Dale, listen to me," Noah said, putting a hand out. "I know what happened at Wallface. I know those kids caused the death of that family. I know you tried to report it and got destroyed for telling the truth."
"They killed four people," Dale said, his voice rising.
“Is that why you killed four and took Stephen alive?”
“I needed him for the confession.”
“But why kill those teens?”
"Four innocent people died because these spoiled brats thought warning signs were a joke. That could have been my family. And when I tried to get justice, they buried me instead."
"You're right," Noah said, and meant it. "The system failed completely. Those kids should have faced consequences. You should have been listened to, not silenced."
Dale stared at him, searching for deception. "Then why are you trying to stop me?"
"Because this isn't the way. This isn’t justice," Noah replied. "This is revenge. And there's a difference."
"Is there?" Dale's laugh was harsh. "Four murders went unpunished. Now five murderers are dead. Sounds like justice to me."
"Five? What about Miles Banning?" Noah asked, watching Dale's reaction carefully. "The podcaster. And Logan Forrester, the other camper? Why did you kill them?"
Dale's expression shifted, confusion flickering across his features. "What? I never... I don't know what you're talking about."
"Miles was found dead of an overdose. Logan was hanged in a motel room. Both were in the area."
"That wasn't me," Dale said, his voice carrying genuine bewilderment. "I killed the five who were there that night. The ones who caused the landslide. Why would I kill some random podcaster? And I have no idea about the other."
Noah filed that information away, his detective instincts noting the ring of truth in Dale's denial. Someone else had been cleaning up loose ends.
Noah took another small step, closing the distance slightly. “Listen to me Dale. Don’t do this. What about the system that failed you? Luther Ashford, the officials who covered it up, Bill Calder who protected his daughter? They're all still alive, still protecting the corrupt system that destroyed you."
