Chapter 12 - the man at the end of the dock)
Martin had been moved from the hidden room less than an hour before officers arrived. He left blood on the pipe and tapped from somewhere beyond the wall, but when police opened the dock cavity, they found only a tunnel leading to the old boat sheds.
At the mouth of the tunnel lay a white hospital bracelet printed with Caroline's name.
Luke wanted her to know where he was.
Soto ordered everyone away from the marina. Audrey refused to leave the salvage boat until officers physically escorted her to shore. Caroline watched through the remote feed from Saint Anne's, furious at the distance Luke continued to place between her and her own life.
At 3:20 p.m., her private phone rang.
Luke's number appeared.
Soto had left a recording line connected. Caroline signaled the technician and answered.
"Where is Martin?"
Luke sounded rested. "Still beginning conversations without hello. Your sister has made you rude."
"If you hurt him, the recording from the cabin will bury you."
"The recording proves only that your father enjoyed melodrama. A good attorney will call it coercion, editing, or dementia. Martin is the witness who can make the board believe you. Come to the north dock alone, and he walks away."
"You know I am in a hospital."
"You climbed out of a burning room. I trust your resourcefulness."
The line ended.
Soto said the demand was a trap. Audrey said Luke would kill Martin whether Caroline went or not. Dr. Ward said Caroline was in no condition to travel. Nia said nothing until everyone stopped arguing.
"Luke chose the north dock because he controls the cameras," she said. "He expects police. The question is what he does not expect."
What Luke did not expect was that Caroline would stop obeying the terms of his stories.
She went to Lake Ellery, but not alone. State officers concealed themselves in maintenance vehicles. Soto rode beneath a blanket in the rear of Caroline's transport van. Audrey wore Caroline's coat and approached the north dock from the public path while Caroline entered through the submerged cabin tunnel in a rescue boat hidden beneath the marina platform.
At dusk, Luke appeared at the end of the dock.
He held Martin upright with one arm and pressed a pistol beneath his jaw. Martin's face was bruised, and one sleeve was dark with blood, but he was conscious.
"Stop there," Luke called to the figure in Caroline's coat.
Audrey obeyed. Wind pulled the hood from her head.
Luke swore and dragged Martin backward toward a waiting speedboat.
Caroline climbed from the rescue boat onto the lower platform behind him.
"You asked for me."
Luke turned.
For the first time since she had known him, he looked genuinely surprised.
"You should be resting," he said.
"You should be in prison."
His pistol shifted from Martin to Caroline. Officers had no clean shot. Soto's voice murmured through the receiver hidden beneath Caroline's collar, telling her to move left. Caroline remained still.
"Give Martin to Audrey," she said. "Then I will go with you."
"Do you imagine this ends with the police? Half the board signed my declaration. Three judges owe Mercer Health favors. Cole has files on people you have never heard of."
"Then why are you running?"
His face tightened.
Caroline took one slow step closer. "You could control me while I believed I was alone. You could control the board while they believed I was ill. You could control the police while they believed the fire was an accident. Every power you had depended on someone accepting your version first."
"I made you."
"You made paperwork."
Luke struck Martin across the head with the gun. Martin fell against the dock rail. Audrey moved, and Luke fired toward her feet. The shot splintered wood.
Soto ordered officers forward.
Luke seized Caroline and pulled her against him. His forearm crossed the bandages on her ribs. Pain nearly folded her, but she stayed upright.
"Call them off," he whispered.
"No."
"I can end both pregnancies with one bullet."
Both.
Caroline heard the word distinctly.
"What do you mean?"
Luke's eyes moved toward Audrey.
The distraction lasted less than a second. Martin drove his shoulder into Luke's knees. Caroline twisted free. The gun fired into the lake. Soto and two officers reached the dock as Luke stumbled over the rail.
He caught the edge with one hand.
Caroline stood above him. Water churned below, black beneath the last evening light. Luke looked up at her, and for one terrible moment she saw the old bedroom, the pills beside the water, and every morning she had waited for his approval to begin living.
"Help me," he said.
Caroline knelt, not to take his hand but to look directly into his face.
"Tell me where my daughter is."
"Pull me up."
"Where is she?"
His fingers began to slip. "Cole never told me the family. I swear. The woman chose them. Elaine Ross. Find her."
Soto secured a rope around Luke's wrist and hauled him onto the dock. Officers handcuffed him before he stopped coughing.
Martin was carried to an ambulance. Audrey held Caroline carefully beneath the emergency lights.
Luke lay face down on the wet boards while Soto read the charges.
May you like
As officers lifted him, he looked at Audrey and smiled.
"Ask your sister," he told Caroline. "Ask Audrey why I said both."
