Chapter 16 - The Woman at the Motel
Maya called Emily Reed from a number she trusted. No answer. A second call went straight to voicemail. Owen remembered that Emily had helped his family fight an illegal eviction the previous winter.
"She stays at the Willow Bend Motel when she's working here," he said. "Room twelve, usually."
Maya couldn't leave the Mercers' case in local hands. She called state investigators, explained the compromised sheriff, and gave the motel address. But Evelyn could hear the delay in every polite reply. They were coming; nobody could say exactly when.
"Grant knows we're trying to find her," Evelyn said. "We don't have time for polite."
Maya drove. Evelyn rode in the passenger seat, a folded towel beneath her, the lake still in her hair. Owen insisted on coming and sat in back with his phone ready to stream to his sister's private evidence account.
The motel sign blinked VACANCY in failing red neon. Room twelve stood open. Inside, a suitcase lay spilled on the floor. A chair had been knocked over. On the bathroom mirror someone had written in lipstick: SHE SHOULD HAVE STAYED LOST.
"Emily!" Maya called.
A faint knock came from the wall. They followed it to the adjoining linen closet. A woman with dark curls and a bruised cheek was trapped inside, wrists bound with duct tape. Her eyes were clear and furious.
"They took my files," she said after Maya cut her free. "Two men. One called the other Sheriff."
"Where'd they go?" Maya asked.
"The old cannery. They said they'd make an example out of the man who kept me hidden."
Evelyn told Emily about Lucy, about Daniel's video. The younger woman sat very still. "I always knew I was adopted. I didn't know my mother was killed for trying to protect me."
"We don't know she was killed," Maya said gently.
Emily met Evelyn's eyes. "You do, though. Don't you?"
Evelyn looked away. She remembered a storm, a closed casket, and Daniel scrubbing his hands in the kitchen sink long after midnight. Had she mistaken terror for guilt?
May you like
Owen stepped into the hall and came back pale. "Someone just sent me a live video."
On his phone, Daniel sat tied to a chair beside a dark conveyor belt, and water was rising around his shoes.
