Chapter 15 - Footprints in the Snow

Ethan was outside before anyone could stop him.

"Lily!"

Snow fell hard enough to erase footprints within minutes.

Daniel grabbed a coat and ran after him.

"Ethan, stay where I can see you!"

"Lily!"

Near the side garden, Ethan found one pink slipper half-buried in snow.

He picked it up.

His sister had been wearing those slippers in the house.

"Dad."

Daniel saw it and went pale.

Security lights swept across the hedge maze behind the mansion. Officers spread out. Detective Ruiz shouted commands into her radio.

Then Ethan heard a sound.

Three knocks.

Pause.

Three knocks.

It was the signal Lily used at night in Hope House when she was scared and needed Ethan to answer through the wall.

Ethan turned toward the old greenhouse.

"She's there."

"How do you know?"

Three knocks came again.

Ethan ran.

The greenhouse door was chained from the outside.

Daniel grabbed a shovel from the garden wall and slammed it against the latch.

"Back up!"

The third strike broke the chain.

They rushed inside.

Rows of dead winter plants cast long shadows beneath the emergency lights.

"Lily!"

A muffled cry came from below.

Ethan found a trapdoor under a worktable.

Locked.

Daniel kicked it twice until the wood split.

Lily sat at the bottom of a narrow storage stairwell, hands tied with a plastic cord.

Ethan jumped down.

"Are you hurt?"

She shook her head violently.

"He wanted the key."

"Victor?"

"I couldn't see his face. He had a scarf."

Daniel cut the cord with garden shears.

"What did he say?"

Lily was shaking too hard to answer.

Then she pointed to the wall.

Someone had written in black marker:

THE BOY HAS UNTIL SUNRISE.

Ruiz entered with two officers.

"He is still on the property. Lock every gate."

Lily grabbed Ethan's sleeve.

"There's more."

"What?"

"He said the key wasn't enough."

"What does he want?"

Lily looked toward Margaret, who had just reached the greenhouse.

"He said Grandma has to tell him where the original will is."

Margaret's expression changed.

Thomas noticed.

"Mom?"

She did not answer.

"You know where it is," Ethan said.

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Margaret looked at the children.

Then she whispered, "Yes."