Chapter 7 - THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
Detective Ortiz traced Noah’s call to a remote area north of Elkhorn.
The signal covered nearly eight square miles of wooded land.
Daniel refused to remain at the lake house.
“That boy called me.”
“I am going with you.”
The detective tried to stop him.
“You could interfere with the search.”
Daniel held her gaze.
“Then put me in the back seat.”
“But I am not sitting beside a fireplace while my son is alone in the dark.”
Ivy and Skye stayed with Rosa under police protection.
Ethan joined the search too.
Neither brother spoke during the drive.
Near dawn, officers found tire tracks beside an abandoned logging road.
The tracks led to a boarded hunting cabin.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, the air smelled of gasoline and damp wood.
A child’s blue backpack sat on the floor.
Daniel grabbed it.
“Noah!”
There was no answer.
Then Ethan found a small toy car beneath the table.
“He never sleeps without this.”
Daniel opened the backpack.
Inside were clothes, crackers, a passport, and an envelope containing twenty thousand dollars.
The passport carried Noah’s photograph.
But the name was different.
Nolan Reese.
Margaret had planned to make him disappear under a new identity.
Detective Ortiz examined the cabin.
“Someone moved him after the phone call.”
Daniel looked toward the dirt road.
“How did they know we were coming?”
The detective’s expression darkened.
“Someone had access to our location.”
An officer checked the search vehicles.
A tracking device was discovered beneath Detective Ortiz’s unmarked SUV.
Calvin had been following them.
Daniel found fresh footprints near the rear window.
One set belonged to an adult.
The other belonged to a small child.
They led into the trees.
The group followed them for nearly half a mile.
Then they reached the edge of a narrow creek.
Noah’s footprints ended at the water.
Ethan stared at the rushing current.
“No.”
Daniel searched the muddy bank.
He found a child-sized shoe caught between two rocks.
Ethan collapsed to his knees.
“This is my fault.”
Daniel grabbed his jacket.
“Do not say that yet.”
A faint sound came from the opposite side of the creek.
It sounded like knocking.
Three slow knocks.
Then three more.
Daniel crossed the shallow water and followed the noise to an old metal storage shed.
The door had been chained from the outside.
Officers cut it open.
Noah sat inside, wrapped in an old blanket.
Daniel rushed toward him.
Noah recoiled.
“Do not touch me.”
Daniel stopped immediately.
Ethan appeared behind him.
Noah looked past Daniel and held out both arms.
May you like
“Daddy.”
He was reaching for Ethan.
