Chapter 5 - THE HOUSE WHERE EMILY DIED
The lake house stood forty miles north of the city.
Emily had hated it after her mother drowned in the lake as a teenager. I hadn’t visited since Emily’s funeral, and Darren knew that.
Police units raced ahead without sirens.
Ortiz made me stay in the command vehicle. I hated her for it, but she was right. If Darren saw me first, he could panic.
We arrived with thirty-one minutes remaining.
The house looked abandoned. Curtains drawn. Dock empty. No vehicle outside.
Officers entered through the front and rear doors.
No gunshots.
No shouting.
Only silence.
Ortiz let me enter after they cleared the first floor.
In the upstairs bedroom, I found a paper cup of apple juice beside a child-sized handprint on the window.
Sophie had been there.
A television played a cartoon with the sound muted.
On the bed sat a tablet showing a countdown.
00:26:18.
A video file opened automatically.
Darren appeared on-screen.
He was in his forties, with silver at his temples and the relaxed smile of a man who believed he had already won.
“Hello, Ethan. If you’re watching this, Amanda failed to keep you at the venue.”
Amanda stood beside me in handcuffs.
Darren continued.
“Your wife Emily was smarter than the rest of you. Unfortunately, intelligence without caution can be fatal.”
My knees nearly gave out.
He held up a folder.
“The evidence she collected is worth far more than your house. Bring me the contents of the safe-deposit box, and I’ll trade them for Sophie.”
The screen changed to a live video.
Sophie sat in a wooden chair somewhere dark.
A chain-link wall stood behind her.
Darren leaned into the frame.
“You have twenty-six minutes to call me.”
The video ended.
Ortiz studied the background.
“Industrial location. Maybe the warehouse really is part of it.”
Amanda stared at the frozen frame.
“That isn’t Harbor Storage.”
“How can you tell?” I asked.
She pointed to a yellow symbol painted on the chain-link fence.
“I’ve seen it before. Darren took me there when we first started planning this.”
“Where?”
Her jaw trembled.
“The old water-treatment plant.”
Ortiz radioed her team.
Amanda caught my arm before an officer pulled her away.
“There’s something else. Darren has a rule.”
“What rule?”
“He never leaves witnesses.”
The second phone rang.
When I answered, Sophie whispered, “Daddy, there’s a lady here.”
May you like
A woman stepped into the frame behind her.
It was Emily.
