Chapter 15 - The Lake House

Detective Ortiz said no.

Ethan went anyway.

Not alone. He wore a wire, and Ortiz followed at a distance with two county deputies.

The lake house had been empty for nearly a year. Rain hammered the roof. The dock moved against black water with a slow wooden groan.

Martin Vale sat in the living room beside the cold fireplace.

He looked older than Ethan remembered.

"You brought police," Martin said.

"You expected me not to?"

"I expected you to remember who taught you everything you know."

"You stole from my daughter."

Martin's eyes hardened. "I borrowed against money that wasn't being used. Sofia noticed. Then she got sick, and I thought the problem would disappear."

Ethan nearly crossed the room.

"Careful," Martin said. "You're wearing a microphone."

Ethan stopped.

Martin smiled without humor.

"I know because you keep touching your collar every time Ortiz speaks in your ear."

A floorboard creaked upstairs.

Ethan looked toward the staircase.

Beatriz stepped into view.

She held Sofia's trust file against her chest.

"You should have stayed in Chicago," she said.

"You should have stayed away from my child."

Beatriz's face twisted. "Your child? I cooked for her. Took her to school. Sat through the nightmares while you sent heart emojis from airports."

"You locked her in a shed."

"I was trying to break the behavior before it broke our family."

"You were trying to break her."

For the first time, Beatriz shouted.

"Because she never stopped comparing me to a dead woman!"

The room went still.

There it was.

Not just greed.

Resentment.

Martin stood. "Enough. Give me the file."

Beatriz stepped backward.

"No."

Martin's expression changed.

"Beatriz."

"You said we'd leave together."

"That was before you turned this into a felony parade."

She laughed, high and broken. "So now I'm the problem?"

Outside, Ortiz's voice sounded faintly in Ethan's earpiece: Hold position.

Martin moved toward Beatriz.

She pulled a lighter from her pocket.

"Come closer," she said, "and Sofia's originals burn."

Then Ethan's earpiece crackled.

A dispatcher cut through the static. "Detective Ortiz, urgent call from Rachel Cole."

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