Chapter 10 - The Lake Photo
I ripped the ribbon from the fence and nearly tore it in half with how hard I clenched it.
Detective Ortiz arrived two minutes later with uniformed officers. They swept the storage buildings while I kept looking at the dirt for tracks, broken stems, anything.
“Mr. Mercer,” one officer called. “You need to see this.”
Inside a metal storage unit, propped against a bucket, was Emma’s backpack.
Her rabbit was inside.
So was my stomach.
There was also my old lake cabin key.
Ortiz took one look and swore under her breath. “This is a transfer point.”
My phone buzzed again. This time it was a text.
Come to the cabin if you want to hear her call you Daddy again.
Attached was a photo.
Emma sat on a floral couch I recognized instantly from the cabin living room. Her face was pale, but she was alive. Behind her, the plaid curtains Melissa had once picked out hung crooked in the window.
The sight of those curtains nearly brought me to my knees.
That cabin was supposed to be sacred ground.
Claire had turned it into a threat.
Ortiz read the message over my shoulder. “We go together.”
“She told me to come alone.”
“She kidnapped your child. She doesn’t get conditions.”
We moved fast. One unmarked car in front, two marked units hanging back. I rode with Ortiz and did everything in my power not to claw through the dashboard.
“Listen to me,” Ortiz said on the road. “Kidnappers escalate when they feel cornered. I need you controlled.”
I laughed once. It sounded sick. “I’m trying.”
She studied me. “What’s the motive?”
“Control. Jealousy. Money maybe. She’s been hiding debt.”
“Debt?”
I nodded. “Collection notices. I found one in the office last month. She said it was a mistake.”
Ortiz wrote that down.
Halfway up the mountain road, my mother called.
I almost ignored it.
I answered on speaker. “What?”
Diane sounded breathless. “Claire came by earlier. She was upset. She said you were poisoning Emma against her.”
“You spoke to her?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
I felt every muscle in my back go rigid.
“Did you tell her about the cabin?” I asked.
May you like
The silence that followed gave me my answer.
By the time we turned the last curve and saw the cabin through the trees, the front door was standing open.
