Chapter 11 - THE HOUSE ON MILLER ROAD
Police traced one of Michael’s burner phones to a rural tower.
A property on Miller Road sat inside the coverage area.
It had been purchased through another shell company.
Hale didn’t let me go.
Obviously.
I still tried.
“That man has a daughter.”
“And you have a son.”
“I can help identify Vanessa.”
“So can photographs.”
“I know how she thinks.”
“No, Daniel. You thought you did. That’s the problem.”
I hated that sentence because it was true.
Police left before dawn.
I stayed with Noah and Mom.
Every minute felt like an hour.
At 4:47 a.m., Hale called.
“They found Jason.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“And Lily?”
Pause.
My heart stopped.
“Hale.”
“We haven’t found her yet.”
“What happened?”
“Jason was tied up in a basement. The house had been prepared for a fire.”
“Vanessa?”
“No sign.”
“Michael?”
“No.”
“Natalie?”
“Gone.”
I closed my eyes.
“Lily?”
“We’re searching.”
Then Noah came into the kitchen.
He had overheard.
“Is the girl gone?”
I covered the phone.
“They’re looking for her.”
He looked terrified.
“Vanessa takes kids to the quiet house.”
Every hair on my arms rose.
“What quiet house?”
Noah blinked.
“The place with no windows.”
I put Hale on speaker.
“Tell him.”
Noah hesitated.
“Vanessa took me there once.”
My knees weakened.
“When?”
“When you went to Chicago.”
A business trip.
Four days.
I remembered FaceTiming every night.
Vanessa always positioned the camera against a blank wall.
I thought they were home.
“Where was it?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did you see outside?”
“Trees.”
“Anything else?”
“A big white ball.”
Hale asked, “A water tower?”
Noah nodded quickly.
“And trains,” he said.
“Trains?”
“I heard them.”
Hale began issuing orders.
I crouched beside Noah.
“Think. Anything else?”
His forehead tightened.
“There was a picture on the wall.”
“What picture?”
“A bird.”
“What kind?”
He shrugged.
“Red.”
A rural property near train tracks, a water tower, and some kind of red bird emblem.
Hale searched maps.
Then an officer found a possible match.
An abandoned feed mill twelve miles outside town.
Its old logo was a red cardinal.
Police moved.
At 6:08 a.m., they entered the property.
Nobody inside.
But they found children’s clothes.
Old toys.
Several cages.
And fresh tire tracks.
Lily had been there.
So had Vanessa.
Then they found a handwritten note on a table.
It wasn’t addressed to police.
It was addressed to me.
Daniel,
You always were easy to predict.
You’ll come looking for Noah’s truth.
When you do, come alone.
Below that was an address.
I stared at it.
May you like
I knew the place.
It was the cemetery where Rachel was buried.
