Chapter 13 - The Girl at Grayhaven Lighthouse
Grayhaven was a narrow coastal town built between black cliffs and a restless sea.
The lighthouse stood on a rocky island connected to the mainland by a causeway that disappeared at high tide.
Mark, Anna, Leo and Detective Moreno arrived shortly before sunset.
Anna had refused to remain in the hospital after the theater attack. She moved slowly and kept one arm pressed against her bandaged side, but nothing could convince her to stop.
Leo held her hand as they crossed the causeway.
At the lighthouse door, Mark used the brass key from the lake house.
It opened.
Inside, the rooms were clean and recently occupied.
A kettle remained warm on the stove.
Schoolbooks covered a small table. A blue jacket hung beside the door.
On the wall were paintings of fires.
Dozens of them.
Houses burning.
Cars burning.
A woman standing inside flames.
Anna studied one painting.
“The house fire.”
Footsteps sounded above.
A teenage girl descended the spiral staircase holding a flare gun.
She had auburn hair, gray eyes and Anna’s cautious expression.
“Don’t move,” she said.
Mark stopped.
“Are you Lily?”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Mark Harrison.”
Her face changed.
Daniel had clearly told her that name.
“Where is my father?”
Mark did not answer quickly enough.
The girl’s hand began trembling.
“What happened to him?”
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“He tried to protect Anna.”
“You killed him.”
“I didn’t.”
“You brought the people who did.”
She raised the flare gun.
Anna stepped forward.
“Elise.”
The girl flinched.
“My name is Lily.”
“You were born Elise Harrison.”
“Daniel said people would tell me that.”
“What else did he tell you?” Mark asked.
“That the Harrison family kills anyone who knows the truth.”
Leo moved from behind Anna.
“We don’t.”
Lily looked at him.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Leo.”
She stared at his face.
Something in her expression softened.
“You look like the pictures.”
“What pictures?”
“Daniel had photos of you.”
Leo stepped closer.
“Are you my sister?”
Lily’s eyes filled with tears, but she did not lower the weapon.
“I don’t know.”
Moreno remained near the door, allowing the family to speak.
Anna carefully took out the photograph from the lake house.
It showed Evelyn holding baby Elise.
“You were loved,” Anna said. “We hid you because dangerous people wanted to use you.”
“You abandoned me.”
“I tried to save you.”
“Then why didn’t you come back?”
Anna’s voice broke.
“I was captured.”
Lily looked at the scar on Anna’s face and the bandage beneath her coat.
Mark saw the girl’s anger weakening.
Then a boat engine roared outside.
Gerald’s men had approached from the sea.
Bullets shattered the lighthouse windows.
Moreno returned fire while Mark pulled the children behind the stone staircase.
Anna reached for Lily.
“Come with us.”
Lily hesitated.
A bullet struck the wall inches from her head.
She finally dropped the flare gun and took Anna’s hand.
They climbed the spiral staircase toward the lantern room.
Below, armed men entered the lighthouse.
Moreno fired from the landing.
“We need another exit!”
Lily pointed upward.
“There’s a maintenance cable to the cliff.”
At the top, wind and rain struck them as they stepped onto the narrow exterior platform.
A steel cable stretched from the lighthouse to an old rescue station on the mainland cliff.
A small maintenance basket hung beneath it.
It could carry only two people at a time.
“Leo and Lily first,” Mark said.
Lily shook her head.
“I can stay.”
“No,” Anna said. “You go.”
Leo climbed into the basket.
Lily joined him reluctantly.
Mark released the brake.
The basket began moving across the dark water.
Gunfire erupted from below.
One bullet struck the cable mechanism.
The basket stopped halfway.
Leo screamed.
Lily grabbed the side rail.
Mark tried to restart the winch.
The motor had failed.
Gerald appeared at the lantern-room doorway with a pistol.
Moreno lay injured on the stairs behind him.
Anna stepped between Gerald and Mark.
“It ends here.”
Gerald smiled.
“It ends when both heirs are gone.”
He aimed toward the suspended basket.
Mark charged him.
They crashed into the railing.
Gerald fired.
The bullet struck the cable support.
Metal snapped.
The basket dropped several feet and swung above the waves.
Lily climbed onto the outer frame.
“What are you doing?” Leo shouted.
“There’s an emergency release.”
“You’ll fall!”
“I can reach it.”
She moved across the shaking basket and pulled a lever beneath the cable wheel.
The secondary brake released.
The basket rolled toward the mainland.
Gerald saw the children escaping and struck Mark across the face.
Anna grabbed the flare gun from the platform floor.
Gerald turned toward her.
She fired.
The flare struck his coat.
Flames erupted across his chest.
Gerald screamed and stumbled backward through the broken railing.
He fell into the black sea below.
Mark reached the edge.
No body surfaced.
Across the water, Leo and Lily reached the rescue station.
Police vehicles appeared on the cliff road.
The children were safe.
Anna lowered the empty flare gun.
Mark looked at her.
“Is it over?”
Anna stared at the waves.
“No.”
A helicopter rose from behind the cliffs.
Vanessa sat inside.
May you like
She looked down at them through the open door.
Then she held up the Bellweather ledger.
