Chapter 8 - THE NIGHT THEY CAME FOR LILY
Rebecca's phone was found inside a restaurant bathroom.
Her car was abandoned two blocks away.
Grant Holloway didn't show up for work.
Federal agents searched his house.
Empty.
At 11:43 p.m., Marco called me.
“Sir, we've got a problem.”
I was staying at Ruth's hotel because something about the situation felt wrong.
“What?”
“Grant's company has a private aircraft.”
“Where?”
“Midway.”
“When does it leave?”
“Flight plan says tomorrow morning.”
I looked toward the adjoining room.
Lily and Owen were asleep.
Then the hotel fire alarm went off.
My instincts reacted before my thoughts did.
I opened the door.
Smoke?
None.
People began entering the hallway.
I saw a man wearing a hotel maintenance uniform.
He wasn't looking toward the exit.
He was looking toward Lily's room.
I moved.
“Marco.”
“I see him.”
The man turned.
Ran.
Marco followed.
I entered the twins' room.
Ruth was awake.
“What happened?”
“Get them dressed.”
Lily sat up.
Then the lights went out.
Emergency lighting activated.
A second man appeared at the connecting door.
He had somehow entered the room next door.
I stepped between him and the children.
He stopped.
Wrong room.
Wrong night.
Wrong man.
“Leave.”
He looked toward Lily.
That was his second mistake.
I moved forward.
Hotel security arrived seconds later.
The man ran.
He didn't get far.
Marco and two officers caught him near the stairwell.
Inside his pocket was a photograph.
Lily.
On the back were three words.
SHE KNOWS WHERE.
I stared at them.
Where.
Not what.
Grant wasn't only afraid of Lily's memory.
He believed she knew where Ethan had hidden something.
I returned to the room.
Lily was shaking.
I knelt.
“You're safe.”
She looked at me.
“Colonel?”
“Yes?”
“I know what they want.”
My heartbeat slowed.
“What?”
“The red book.”
She pointed toward Owen's teddy bear.
“Daddy didn't hide it in the bear.”
“Where did he hide it?”
Lily looked toward Ruth.
Then back at me.
“In the place Mommy sleeps.”
Ruth went pale.
Their mother had been dead for three years.
May you like
She was buried outside Grand Rapids.
And Ethan had hidden his final evidence in her grave.
