Chapter 13 - WHERE SHE TOOK MY DAUGHTER
For five minutes, I wasn’t a person.
I was rage wearing skin.
Agents searched roads.
Airports.
Bus terminals.
Traffic cameras.
Nothing.
Diane had planned it perfectly.
Then I remembered Lily.
The blue box.
Rachel’s tree.
Her tendency to hide when frightened.
She noticed things adults missed.
“She’ll leave something,” I said.
Cole looked at me.
“What?”
“Lily knows we look for clues.”
We returned to the safe house.
Her room looked almost untouched.
Blanket pulled back.
Crayon on the floor.
Stuffed dog missing.
On the windowsill was one pink hair clip.
Pointing outward.
Downstairs, another clip sat near the back door.
Outside, near the fence, Lily’s red bracelet lay in the grass.
“She dropped breadcrumbs,” Cole said.
“My girl.”
The last bracelet charm pointed toward the street.
Traffic cameras caught Diane’s SUV eight minutes later.
Heading north.
Toward St. Matthew’s Medical Center.
The hospital where everything began.
But Diane didn’t stop there.
She continued toward the old county road.
Then disappeared near a wooded residential area.
My father knew immediately.
“The cabin.”
“What cabin?”
“Diane’s family owned one.”
Twenty-five years earlier, he had spent weekends there with her.
The property had been abandoned for years.
We raced north.
Police arrived first.
No lights.
No vehicles.
But smoke rose from the chimney.
Inside the cabin, Lily sat at a table.
Diane sat across from her.
There was a birthday cake between them.
Vanessa’s name written in frosting.
Diane held a pistol.
“Happy birthday,” she whispered.
Lily was crying.
“I want my daddy.”
“He’s coming.”
I stepped into the doorway.
“I’m here.”
Diane turned the gun toward me.
“Ryan.”
“Let Lily go.”
“She’s all I have left.”
“You have Vanessa.”
“You took her from me.”
“She’s in jail because of you.”
Diane’s jaw tightened.
“You sound like Frank.”
“I sound like a father.”
Lily looked at me.
“Daddy?”
“I’m here, bug.”
Diane struck the table.
“Stop calling her that.”
It was Rachel’s nickname for Lily.
Bug.
Diane knew it from Rachel.
Everything came back to Rachel.
“You hated her,” I said.
“She thought she was better than us.”
“She was protecting her family.”
“She stole our family!”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“My father made mistakes. You made choices.”
“Stay back.”
“You chose to stalk Rachel.”
“Stay back!”
“You chose to sabotage her car.”
“STOP!”
“You chose to turn your daughter into a weapon.”
Diane’s gun trembled.
Lily suddenly pushed away from the table.
Diane grabbed her shirt.
I moved.
Gunshot.
The sound exploded through the cabin.
Lily screamed.
I hit the floor.
For one terrible second, I couldn’t feel my body.
Then I saw blood.
Not mine.
Diane stared at her shoulder.
A tactical officer had fired through the window.
I lunged.
Grabbed Lily.
Covered her with my body.
Police stormed the room.
Diane screamed as they pinned her to the floor.
“It was supposed to be ours!”
Lily buried her face in my chest.
“Daddy!”
“I’ve got you.”
“You came.”
“Always.”
Police dragged Diane away.
Outside, red and blue lights flashed between the trees.
I thought it was over.
Then Cole walked toward me carrying Diane’s phone.
His face was grim.
“Ryan.”
“What?”
“There’s a scheduled message on here.”
“To who?”
He turned the screen toward me.
Recipient:
VANESSA.
Delivery time:
12:01 A.M.
One minute after midnight.
One sentence:
May you like
IF I FAIL, TELL HIM WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO RACHEL.
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