Chapter 11 - The Cabin at Blackwater Lake
The cabin stood on the northern shore of Blackwater Lake, forty miles from the nearest city.
Gabriel had not visited it since his father's funeral.
As a boy, he had spent nearly every summer there.
Thomas taught him to swim in the cold green water.
They fished from the wooden dock.
They built a crooked treehouse that collapsed during a thunderstorm.
Gabriel remembered laughing so hard that he couldn't breathe while his father stood beneath the broken boards, soaked to the skin.
For years, Blackwater Lake had meant safety.
Now it was the place where his daughter's kidnappers wanted him to surrender.
Gabriel stood in the library, staring at the photograph on Elena's phone.
Daniel watched him carefully.
"You cannot go there alone."
Gabriel shook his head.
"They specifically told me to."
"That doesn't mean you should obey."
Gabriel looked up.
"She's six years old, Daniel."
"I know."
"She's never spent a night away from the people she trusts."
"I know."
Gabriel's voice cracked.
"She's probably wondering whether I'm coming."
Daniel stepped closer.
"And if they kill you, who brings her home?"
Gabriel looked away.
The question silenced him.
He wanted to run.
He wanted to break down every door in the state until he found Izzy.
But a father was supposed to protect his child, not make the danger worse.
Marcus entered the room with two investigators.
They had reviewed the text messages and believed the cabin might be a genuine location rather than a distraction.
One investigator, Detective Sarah Keene, spoke calmly.
"We need you to cooperate with a controlled response."
Gabriel looked at her.
"Will you be able to get her out?"
"We'll do everything we reasonably can."
He studied her face.
She wasn't making grand promises.
He appreciated that.
"What do you need from me?"
"First, don't contact the kidnappers without coordinating with us."
Gabriel nodded.
"Second, we need everything you remember about the property."
Gabriel took a sheet of paper and began drawing.
The main cabin.
The dock.
The boathouse.
The gravel access road.
The old storage shed.
Then he stopped.
Something about the layout bothered him.
Detective Keene noticed.
"What is it?"
Gabriel stared at the drawing.
"The cabin has a second entrance."
"Where?"
He pointed toward the woods.
"My father had an old service path built behind the storage shed."
Marcus leaned closer.
"Does it reach the road?"
"No."
Gabriel frowned.
"It connects to another property."
"Whose?"
Gabriel remembered the old wooden sign nailed to a tree.
Cross Timber Holdings.
He felt cold.
"Nathaniel Cross."
Detective Keene exchanged a look with her partner.
Gabriel stared at the map.
His father and Nathaniel had shared ownership interests around Blackwater Lake for decades.
And Gabriel had never questioned it.
He touched the paper.
"There are two ways out."
The detective nodded.
"We'll account for that."
Gabriel looked toward the window.
For the first time since the kidnapping, he felt a small measure of hope.
Then his phone vibrated.
Another message.
A photograph of Izzy's sketchbook.
On an empty page, someone had written:
Twenty minutes.
Gabriel showed the detectives.
They immediately began coordinating with the officers already heading toward the lake.
Gabriel paced the room.
Twenty minutes.
The distance from his estate to Blackwater Lake was almost an hour.
Then he realized something.
The kidnappers weren't expecting him to arrive in twenty minutes.
They expected him to call.
He looked at Detective Keene.
"They want to know whether I'll obey."
She nodded.
"Possibly."
Gabriel opened the message thread.
He typed carefully, after consulting with her.
I want proof that Isabelle is safe.
A response came almost immediately.
A short video.
Izzy sat beside a wooden table.
A man stood just outside the frame.
"Tell him," the man ordered.
Izzy looked at the camera.
Her lower lip trembled.
"Daddy?"
Gabriel's chest tightened.
"I finished another picture."
She lifted a page from her sketchbook.
It showed Gabriel, Olivia, and Izzy standing together beneath a tree.
Then the child whispered:
"I made Mommy's face from my memory."
Gabriel bent forward.
The video ended.
He pressed a hand against his chest.
Detective Keene waited.
Finally, Gabriel looked up.
"She's alive."
The detective nodded.
"And we're going to use every piece of information in that video."
One officer enlarged a still frame.
Behind Izzy stood an old wooden clock.
Gabriel recognized it instantly.
His father had carved the clock himself.
It had hung above the fireplace in the Blackwater Lake cabin for thirty years.
"That's the cabin," Gabriel said.
The detective studied the image.
"You're certain?"
"Absolutely."
Within minutes, Gabriel was seated in the back of an unmarked SUV.
Detective Keene rode beside him.
Marcus followed in another vehicle.
Other officers were already moving into position.
Gabriel stared at the dark road.
He remembered teaching himself to skip stones on the lake.
He remembered Thomas laughing when his first stone sank.
"Try again, son."
His father had said it so many times.
When Gabriel failed a test.
When he lost a baseball game.
When he broke his arm trying to climb the old oak tree.
"Try again."
Gabriel whispered the words.
Then his phone rang.
An unknown number.
Detective Keene nodded for him to answer.
Gabriel put the call on speaker.
"Hello?"
A man's voice answered.
"You're coming."
Gabriel recognized Adrian Cole.
"Where's Isabelle?"
"She's safe."
"Let me talk to her."
"Not yet."
Gabriel clenched his fist.
"What do you want?"
Adrian was silent.
Then he said, "I want you to understand something."
Gabriel stared at the phone.
"What?"
"Your mother told me you were responsible for everything that happened to my family."
Gabriel frowned.
"Adrian, I was a child when your brother's warehouse burned."
"I know that now."
Gabriel blinked.
"What?"
Adrian's breathing became audible.
"I found the files."
"What files?"
"Your father's."
Gabriel sat forward.
"Where?"
Adrian ignored the question.
"My father lied to me."
Gabriel felt a chill.
"Nathaniel?"
"Yes."
Gabriel waited.
"He told me Thomas Whitmore burned that warehouse to destroy evidence."
Adrian's voice shook.
"But it was Nathaniel who ordered the fire."
Silence filled the vehicle.
Gabriel looked at Detective Keene.
She was writing quickly.
Adrian continued.
"My father let everyone think I died."
Gabriel swallowed.
"Why?"
"Because a dead child couldn't tell the police what he saw."
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Adrian's voice broke.
"I spent twenty-nine years believing your family destroyed mine."
Gabriel leaned toward the phone.
"Then help me end this."
Silence.
"Adrian."
"What?"
"Whatever Nathaniel told you, Isabelle had nothing to do with it."
The man didn't answer.
Gabriel's voice softened.
"She's six."
A long pause.
Then Adrian whispered:
"I know."
Gabriel heard a door open in the background.
Another man's voice barked, "Who are you talking to?"
Adrian cursed softly.
The phone rustled.
Then Nathaniel Cross spoke.
"Gabriel."
His voice was cold.
"I hope you're enjoying the drive."
Gabriel gripped the seat.
"Let my daughter go."
Nathaniel laughed.
"Your father said something similar."
Gabriel went still.
"What did you say?"
Nathaniel lowered his voice.
"Thomas was always so dramatic when it came to family."
Gabriel felt his heart pounding.
"Where is he?"
"Closer than you think."
Then Nathaniel added:
"Your daughter is sitting in the same room where your father begged me to let him see you."
Gabriel's breath caught.
"He's alive?"
Nathaniel paused.
"For the moment."
The call disconnected.
Gabriel stared at the phone.
Detective Keene looked toward the driver.
May you like
The vehicles accelerated along the winding road.
And through the trees ahead, Gabriel saw the lights of Blackwater Lake.
