Shelterwood

Four days after Edwin’s injury, Valerie visits Curtis at his house. They study a map of the area where the rockslide and Edwin’s accident occurred. Edwin has been under sedation as the doctors work to treat his serious wounds. The park’s official story is that Edwin’s horse spooked and threw him off. Although no one is talking about it, everyone familiar with the horse and the situation knows that this is an unlikely story. 

Valerie claims—and Curtis agrees—that she was being shadowed after Edwin’s injury when she went looking for his horse. Although Curtis believes Valerie and trusts her instincts, he warns her that the locals’ loyalty to each other might prevent this investigation from going any further. As he puts it, “a break in the stone wall might not happen” (260).

Valerie does not want to give up; she feels protective of Sydney, and even of the children whose skeletons were found in the cave. She is inspired by the stories of early female activists in the area, like Kate Barnard and Gertrude Bonnin, whose exploits she read about in the research packet that Mr. Wouda sent her. She tells Curtis that she must at least check the scene of Edwin’s accident more thoroughly.