Chapter 10 - THE BLUE HOUSE
They left before sunrise.
Christopher refused to leave Emma behind.
Yvette came with them.
Marcus stayed at the estate, alive but headed for surgery.
Ross and Juliette were both in police custody.
Estelle had been detained for questioning.
For the first time in Christopher’s life, his mother did not control where anyone went.
The blue house stood at the edge of a frozen-looking lake, though it was early fall.
Old wood.
Peeling paint.
Tall trees.
Christopher stared at it from the car.
“It didn’t burn.”
Yvette looked at him.
“Someone lied.”
Emma was already unbuckling.
“I remember this place.”
Christopher turned.
“What do you remember?”
“Mommy was scared.”
His chest tightened.
“Did she hide something?”
Emma nodded.
“Maybe.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
They entered the house.
Dust covered everything.
The furniture had been wrapped in sheets.
Christopher found signs that someone had searched the place years ago.
Drawers opened.
Floorboards scratched.
Closet panels removed.
But nothing obvious.
Two hours passed.
Nothing.
Christopher sat on the old kitchen floor, frustrated.
Emma wandered toward the back porch.
Yvette watched her.
“Children remember spaces differently.”
Christopher looked up.
“What does that mean?”
“You’re searching for what an adult would hide.”
She nodded toward Emma.
“Rachel may have hidden it somewhere a child would remember.”
Christopher stood.
“Emma.”
She turned.
“When you came here with your mother, did you play anywhere special?”
Emma thought.
Then smiled faintly.
“The boat.”
“What boat?”
She ran outside.
At the lake was a small wooden dock.
Beneath it sat an old rowboat turned upside down.
Christopher and Yvette followed.
Emma crouched near the stern.
“Mommy let me draw a star.”
There was a faded red star beneath the wood.
Christopher flipped the boat.
A metal plate had been screwed into the underside.
His heart began pounding.
He removed it with a screwdriver.
Inside was a waterproof bag.
Yvette whispered, “Dear God.”
Christopher pulled it out.
Inside were copies of bank statements.
Photographs.
A flash drive.
And a letter addressed to Emma.
Christopher opened the envelope.
My sweet girl,
If you ever read this, I need you to know that your father loved you.
Christopher had to stop.
Emma looked at him.
“Keep reading.”
He swallowed.
I kept you away from him because I was afraid of his family, not because I doubted him.
Christopher closed his eyes.
Then another paper slipped from the envelope.
A photograph.
Rachel standing beside a dark sedan.
Behind her, barely visible, was a man opening the hood.
Christopher stared at the image.
Yvette leaned closer.
“Do you know him?”
Christopher did.
May you like
It was not Daniel Ross.
It was Marcus Hale.
