Chapter 8 - THE GIRL IN THE RED COAT
Police found Charles’s abandoned SUV outside Kenosha.
Blood stained the rear seat.
Ruth nearly collapsed when she saw it.
Marcus stopped her.
“We don’t know whose blood it is.”
A child’s red coat lay on the floor.
Emma owned an identical one.
Because Lucy and Emma were twins.
Margaret confirmed Lucy had been wearing it.
Search teams spread across the area.
Dogs.
Helicopters.
State police.
Nothing.
Then Emma received a video call.
Unknown number.
Ruth answered.
Lucy appeared.
Her face was bruised.
Her hands were tied.
Ruth whispered,
“Lucy?”
The little girl stared.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Ruth.”
Lucy swallowed.
“Margaret told me about you.”
Ruth’s eyes filled.
“I’m your aunt.”
Behind Lucy, Charles appeared.
Ruth’s entire body went rigid.
“Hello, little sister.”
“Let her go.”
Charles smiled.
“You always were impatient.”
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“We don’t have it.”
“Thomas gave it to Emma.”
“No.”
Charles’s smile vanished.
“Then ask her.”
Emma stood behind Ruth.
She had heard everything.
She stepped toward the phone.
“Uncle Charles?”
Charles stared at her.
For a moment, he looked shaken.
The twins were nearly identical.
Emma whispered,
“Why did you take my sister?”
Charles’s expression hardened.
“Because your grandfather made a mistake.”
Emma began crying.
“You killed Grandpa.”
Silence.
Charles smiled.
“Who told you that?”
“You just did.”
Marcus looked sharply at Emma.
Charles realized his mistake.
His face twisted.
“Give me the ledger by midnight.”
“Where?”
“I’ll call.”
The screen went black.
Emma looked at Ruth.
“I know where Grandpa hid it.”
Ruth froze.
“Where?”
Emma touched Bunny.
“Not inside him.”
She turned the rabbit over.
Then she pointed to the faded manufacturer’s label.
There was handwriting beneath it.
An address.
May you like
Ruth recognized it.
Thomas’s old lake house.
