Chapter 8
I don’t remember leaving Robert’s room.
I remember running.
I remember Jason shouting my name.
I remember a nurse trying to stop me near the elevators.
Then nothing until I was inside Detective Brooks’s car with the city moving past the windows.
“My daughter is gone.”
Brooks drove faster.
“We have units at the hotel.”
“My daughter is gone.”
“We’re pulling cameras.”
“She is five years old.”
“I know.”
“You told us that hotel was safe.”
Brooks’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“You told us.”
“I did.”
Jason sat beside me in the back.
He looked completely empty.
I grabbed his hand.
He held mine so hard it hurt.
The hotel parking lot was filled with emergency vehicles.
The fire alarm had been false.
Someone had remotely triggered it.
Again.
Just like the bank.
Nora ran toward us.
She was sobbing.
“I’m sorry.”
I hugged her.
I didn’t blame her.
I couldn’t.
“This isn’t your fault.”
“I had her hand.”
“Nora.”
“I should’ve held tighter.”
“They planned this.”
Jason looked at Brooks.
“Cameras.”
The detective took us inside.
Security footage showed the evacuation.
Hundreds of people moving down stairwells.
At 6:41 p.m., Nora appeared holding Lily’s hand.
At 6:42, a man in a baseball cap stepped between them.
Another person bumped Nora from behind.
For three seconds, Lily disappeared from view.
Then the man carried her down a service hallway.
Three seconds.
That was all it took.
The camera caught part of his face.
Calvin Price.
Jason punched the wall.
Brooks grabbed him.
“Control yourself.”
“Find him!”
“We are.”
“Find my daughter!”
Every police agency in the county seemed to move at once.
An Amber Alert went out.
Calvin’s photograph appeared on television.
Roadblocks were established.
Thomas Reed’s house was searched.
Empty.
His office was sealed.
Empty.
His phone was off.
Evelyn was still in custody.
Brooks went to question her personally.
I demanded to go.
He refused.
Jason demanded too.
Also refused.
We waited in a hotel conference room guarded by officers.
Every second felt like an hour.
At 8:10, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Brooks had instructed us not to answer anything alone.
I put it on speaker.
“Hello?”
Lily’s crying came through immediately.
Real this time.
I knew.
“Mommy!”
I nearly collapsed.
“Baby!”
“Mommy, I want you!”
“I’m coming!”
A man took the phone.
Thomas.
No voice distortion now.
“Sarah.”
I hated how calm he sounded.
“You let her go.”
“I will.”
“Now.”
“When you cooperate.”
Jason leaned toward the phone.
“You want the necklace.”
“Yes.”
“It’s in police evidence.”
“Then retrieve it.”
“We can’t.”
“That is unfortunate.”
Lily cried in the background.
I closed my eyes.
“Please.”
Thomas laughed softly.
“You pushed Evelyn’s face into a cake.”
My eyes opened.
“What?”
“I wish I had seen that.”
“You think this is funny?”
“Not at all.”
“Then let my daughter go.”
“I need the pendant.”
“For the archive?”
A pause.
Then he said, “Robert talks too much.”
“He’s alive.”
“Yes.”
“You tried to kill him.”
“If I wanted Robert dead, he would be dead.”
“You kept him drugged for eighteen months.”
“That was mostly Evelyn.”
I glanced at Brooks, who was listening through another phone line from the station.
“Why?”
“Because she couldn’t bring herself to finish what she started.”
“You’re blaming her?”
“I’m describing her.”
“You’re Lily’s biological grandfather.”
Silence.
Jason looked at me.
Thomas’s voice became colder.
“Who told you?”
“Robert.”
“Then Robert told you about Jason.”
“Yes.”
Jason leaned forward.
“If I’m your son, prove you care about me by releasing my daughter.”
Thomas laughed.
“You think biology creates love?”
Jason flinched.
“No,” he said. “Robert taught me it doesn’t.”
That silenced Thomas.
For the first time, Jason had hurt him.
Thomas spoke again.
“Bring the pendant to the old Carter textile plant at midnight.”
Brooks typed something quickly.
Jason said, “It’s evidence.”
“Figure it out.”
“What guarantee do we have?”
“None.”
“Let me speak to Lily.”
“Briefly.”
“Lily?”
“Daddy!”
Jason closed his eyes.
“Baby, listen to me.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”
“There’s a bad man.”
“I know.”
“He says Grandma helped him.”
Jason’s face changed.
Thomas grabbed the phone.
“That’s enough.”
The line ended.
I stared at the screen.
Lily had said Evelyn helped him.
Brooks called.
“We heard.”
“What does it mean?”
“We’re asking Evelyn.”
Thirty minutes later, he entered the conference room.
His face looked strange.
“What?”
Brooks shut the door.
“Evelyn wants to talk to you.”
Jason stood.
“She knows where Lily is?”
“She says she can help.”
We were driven to the county detention facility.
Evelyn entered the interview room wearing a plain jail uniform.
Without expensive clothes, perfect hair, jewelry, and makeup, she looked smaller.
Older.
But I felt no sympathy.
She had thrown my child into a pool.
She sat across from us.
Jason didn’t say hello.
“Where is Lily?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
I slammed my hands on the table.
“You helped him take her.”
Evelyn flinched.
“I helped Thomas arrange the custody case.”
“You helped him follow us.”
“Yes.”
“You stole Lily’s necklace.”
“Yes.”
“You shoved her into the pool.”
Her face tightened.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Evelyn looked down.
“I lost my temper.”
I laughed in disbelief.
“You nearly killed her.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t get to say that like you spilled coffee.”
Her eyes filled.
“I know what I did.”
“You called her worthless.”
“I was angry.”
“She’s five.”
“I know.”
“You put your hands on my child.”
Evelyn looked at me.
“And you put my face into a cake.”
“I wish I’d used the table.”
Jason said, “Sarah.”
I looked away.
He leaned toward his mother.
“Tell us about Thomas.”
Evelyn’s expression changed.
“I loved him when I was twenty-six.”
Jason closed his eyes.
“Please spare me the romance.”
“He was ambitious. Brilliant. He made me feel like Robert never could.”
Jason stared.
“Robert loved you.”
“Yes.”
“And you drugged him.”
Evelyn’s lower lip trembled.
“That wasn’t how it started.”
“How does drugging your husband start?”
“Thomas told me Robert was going to leave me with nothing.”
“So you poisoned him.”
“I gave him medication.”
“Medication that wasn’t prescribed.”
“I thought it would make him easier to reason with.”
“Listen to yourself.”
“I was afraid!”
“You were greedy.”
“Yes!”
The word exploded from her.
Everyone froze.
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“Yes. I was greedy. I was jealous. I was angry. I was terrified of becoming irrelevant.”
Jason stared at her.
“And Lily?”
“At first, the custody case was about controlling the trust.”
“At first?”
“Thomas told me the evidence archive could destroy Jason too.”
Jason frowned.
“How?”
“He said Robert had documents showing Jason signed off on illegal company transfers.”
“I never did.”
“I know that now.”
“You believed him?”
“I believed what I wanted to believe.”
Jason leaned back.
“That should be written on your grave.”
Evelyn cried quietly.
I didn’t care.
“Where is Lily?”
Evelyn wiped her face.
“Thomas has properties Robert never knew about.”
“Where?”
“I only know one.”
She looked at Brooks.
“There’s an old private airstrip southwest of Rosenberg.”
Brooks’s expression sharpened.
“Address?”
“I can give directions.”
I felt sick.
“Airstrip.”
Jason understood too.
“He’s taking her somewhere.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Probably before midnight.”
“Then why tell us to meet at the textile plant?”
“To draw police away.”
Brooks was already texting officers.
I looked at Evelyn.
“Why help us now?”
She stared at the table.
“Because Lily called me Grandma when Thomas brought her to me.”
My stomach twisted.
“You saw her?”
“For five minutes.”
“When?”
“Before they moved her.”
“And you didn’t stop them?”
“Calvin had a gun.”
“You had five minutes with my terrified child.”
“I know.”
“You could have died trying.”
Evelyn looked at me.
“Yes.”
I leaned forward.
“That’s what I would have done.”
Her face crumpled.
For once, she had no answer.
Jason stood.
“We’re done.”
Evelyn grabbed his sleeve.
“Wait.”
He looked at her hand.
She released him.
“What?”
“Thomas is not planning to keep Lily alive after he opens the archive.”
My body went numb.
Jason’s voice became almost inaudible.
“What?”
“He told me she would remain a liability.”
Brooks stood immediately.
“How do you know?”
“I heard him talking to Calvin.”
“When?”
“This afternoon.”
I grabbed the table.
“Then why didn’t you tell anyone before now?”
Evelyn started crying harder.
“Because I thought I could still control Thomas.”
“You cannot control him!”
“I know!”
Brooks left the room while calling his team.
Jason turned toward his mother one last time.
“If anything happens to Lily, I will never forgive you.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“You already won’t.”
“You’re right.”
We left.
Police moved toward the airstrip.
Brooks refused to let us go.
We went anyway.
Not with the officers.
Mark picked us up two blocks away.
He had refused to leave Nora’s house after his attack.
When Jason called, he came immediately.
The airstrip sat beyond acres of dark farmland.
From a hill almost a mile away, we saw lights.
A small jet waited near a hangar.
Two black SUVs were parked beside it.
Jason whispered, “She’s there.”
I grabbed his arm.
“We wait for police.”
Then we heard sirens.
Too early.
Someone had alerted them.
The jet engines started.
“No!”
Jason ran down the hill.
“Jason!”
I followed.
Mark followed me.
Shots cracked through the night.
We dropped behind a drainage ditch.
Police vehicles came from the east.
The SUVs began moving.
One sped toward the highway.
The other toward the runway.
Then I saw a small figure near the hangar.
Pink sweatshirt.
Blonde hair.
“Lily!”
She heard me.
“Mommy!”
Calvin grabbed her.
Jason stood.
“Let her go!”
Calvin pointed a gun.
I screamed.
Then another figure stepped from behind the SUV.
Evelyn.
I stared.
“What?”
She was supposed to be in custody.
Jason looked equally stunned.
Evelyn moved toward Calvin.
He shouted at her.
She ignored him.
Then she grabbed Lily and pulled her away from him.
Calvin raised the gun.
Evelyn turned her back and covered Lily with her body.
A shot exploded.
Evelyn fell.
Lily screamed.
Jason ran.
Police opened fire toward Calvin’s vehicle.
He fled.
I reached Lily first.
She crashed into my arms.
I held her.
Kissed her face.
Her hair.
Her hands.
Everything.
“You came.”
“I came.”
“I knew you would.”
Jason wrapped us both up.
Then Lily suddenly looked past us.
“Grandma.”
Evelyn lay on the pavement.
Blood spread across her shoulder.
She was still conscious.
Barely.
Paramedics rushed toward her.
Jason stared.
His mother had helped create the nightmare.
Then she had taken a bullet protecting his daughter.
Evelyn looked at him.
“Don’t forgive me.”
Jason’s face twisted.
She whispered, “Just keep her safe.”
Then her eyes closed.
As paramedics carried her away, Brooks approached us.
“Thomas escaped.”
I tightened my grip on Lily.
“And Calvin?”
“Escaped too.”
Jason looked toward the empty highway.
“So it’s not over.”
Brooks shook his head.
“No.”
Lily touched her neck.
“My necklace.”
I looked down.
“What?”
“The bad man wanted my necklace.”
“I know.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Then she reached inside her sweatshirt.
From beneath the fabric, she pulled out the silver heart pendant.
I froze.
Jason stared.
“That’s impossible.”
The necklace police had recovered was still in evidence.
May you like
Lily looked confused.
“Grandpa gave me two.”
