Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN IN THE BASEMENT
Ruiz read the message twice.
“It’s bait.”
Victor nodded.
“I know.”
Lily stood.
“I’m going.”
“No,” Victor and Ruiz said together.
Lily crossed her arms.
“Then why did they ask for me?”
Ruiz answered, “That’s exactly why you’re not going.”
“Rebecca may be alive.”
“She may also already be dead.”
Lily flinched.
Victor shot Ruiz a look.
Ruiz didn’t apologize.
“This person has already framed you for child abuse, kidnapping, financial crimes, and possibly murder. You don’t walk into a location she chooses.”
Lily’s voice shook.
“If she is my sister—”
“You don’t know that.”
“But if she is, then I’m the only person she might talk to.”
Victor looked at her.
The fear in Lily’s face was real.
So was the determination.
He recognized it.
It was the same look Claire used to have when she had decided to do something reckless and impossible.
Victor hated the memory.
“I’m coming with you,” he said.
Ruiz rubbed his temples.
“No.”
Victor didn’t move.
Ruiz muttered something that sounded unprofessional.
Twenty minutes later, an unmarked police team surrounded the address.
It was an abandoned pediatric clinic forty miles outside the city.
The windows had been painted black.
The front sign still read:
MARROW FAMILY WELLNESS.
Lily stared at the faded name.
“Marrow.”
Ruiz nodded.
“Your biological mother used to own this place.”
They entered through the rear.
The smell hit first.
Dust.
Mold.
Old disinfectant.
The lights were dead.
Victor used a flashlight.
They passed examination rooms with peeling animal stickers on the walls.
A yellow giraffe smiled above a broken sink.
Lily whispered, “This place is horrible.”
Ruiz raised one hand.
Quiet.
A sound came from below.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Someone was hitting metal.
They found stairs leading to a basement.
Two officers went first.
Then Ruiz.
Victor followed despite instructions.
Lily stayed directly behind him.
At the bottom was a steel door.
The tapping came from inside.
Ruiz forced it open.
A woman lay on a mattress.
Thin.
Bruised.
Alive.
Lily gasped.
“Rebecca?”
The woman lifted her face.
Victor barely recognized her.
Rebecca Hall had once been energetic and outspoken.
Now her cheeks were hollow.
Her hair had been cut short.
Her wrists were scarred from restraints.
She stared at Victor like she was seeing a ghost.
“Mr. Blackwood?”
Victor dropped beside her.
“You’re safe.”
Rebecca started crying.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No!”
She grabbed his jacket with shocking strength.
“You don’t understand. She wanted you to find me.”
Ruiz crouched.
“Who?”
Rebecca’s eyes moved to Lily.
She froze.
Her mouth opened.
“No.”
Lily stopped.
“What?”
Rebecca tried to crawl backward.
“No, no, no.”
“It’s okay. I’m Lily.”
Rebecca screamed.
“GET HER AWAY FROM ME!”
Two officers rushed in.
Lily stumbled backward.
Victor caught her.
Rebecca shook violently.
“She took me. She took me from the house.”
Lily’s face broke.
“That wasn’t me.”
Rebecca stared.
Then she saw something.
Lily’s necklace.
A tiny silver bird.
Rebecca stopped screaming.
“Where did you get that?”
Lily touched it.
“My mother gave it to me.”
“Your adoptive mother?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca began to cry harder.
“She had one.”
“Who?”
“The other woman.”
Lily’s knees nearly gave out.
Ruiz asked, “Did she tell you her name?”
Rebecca nodded.
“Lauren.”
Lily whispered, “Laura.”
Rebecca corrected her.
“No. Lauren Marrow.”
Ruiz and Victor exchanged a look.
“Did Serena know her?” Ruiz asked.
Rebecca laughed weakly.
“Know her?”
She looked at Victor.
“Serena is afraid of her.”
Victor’s entire understanding shifted.
He had assumed Serena was running everything.
“What did Lauren want?”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“Your son.”
Victor leaned forward.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“She kept asking about his schedule. His food. His medications. The trust.”
Victor’s heart pounded.
“She wanted Ethan’s money?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“She kept saying the money was just leverage.”
“Leverage for what?”
Rebecca looked toward Lily.
“To get her back.”
Lily’s face went blank.
“Me?”
Rebecca nodded.
“Lauren thinks you were stolen from her.”
Lily shook her head.
“We were babies.”
Rebecca swallowed.
“She doesn’t mean stolen as a baby.”
“What does she mean?”
“She thinks someone has been watching you your whole life.”
Ruiz frowned.
“Who?”
Rebecca whispered, “Your mother.”
“Evelyn?”
Rebecca nodded.
“She’s alive.”
Lily stared at her.
The room went silent.
“My biological mother is alive?”
Rebecca’s answer came slowly.
“She’s the one who hired you.”
Lily stopped breathing.
“Fairmont Domestic Staffing?”
Rebecca nodded.
“It was never an agency. It was her.”
Victor’s voice became hard.
“Why put Lily in my house?”
Rebecca looked directly at him.
“To protect Ethan.”
Victor felt his skin crawl.
“From Serena?”
“No.”
Rebecca’s eyes filled with terror.
“From you.”
Before anyone could respond, a sharp beep sounded from the corner.
Ruiz turned.
A red light began blinking on the wall.
Rebecca screamed.
“RUN!”
Victor grabbed Lily.
“What is that?”
Rebecca shouted one word.
May you like
“GAS!”
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