Chapter 4 - Liam’s Suspicion
Liam knew the Vermont trip was a lie.
He contacted hotels near every town Sophia had once mentioned visiting.
None had a reservation under Sophia or Ethan Cole.
He called Ethan’s office and was told Ethan had attended meetings in Boston throughout the week.
When Liam confronted him, Ethan sounded amused.
“Our plans changed.”
“Why didn’t Sophia tell me?”
“She doesn’t report to you.”
“Let me speak to her.”
“She’s sleeping.”
“It’s two in the afternoon.”
“She had a migraine.”
“Put her on the phone.”
“No.”
The line went dead.
Liam drove to their house.
No one answered.
The curtains were closed.
Ethan’s car was gone, but Sophia’s car remained in the garage.
Liam walked around the property. The security cameras followed his movement.
Near the side garden, he noticed marks in the wet soil beneath the guest-bedroom window.
The grass was flattened.
A torn strip of bedsheet clung to a rosebush.
Liam placed it into his pocket.
He called the police.
Two officers arrived twenty minutes later.
Liam explained the unanswered calls, the inconsistent stories, and the signs beneath the window.
“Do you have evidence that she’s being held against her will?” one officer asked.
“I have reason to believe she’s in danger.”
“Has she told you that?”
“No.”
“Have you seen an assault?”
“No.”
“Has she filed a report?”
“No.”
The officer sighed.
“We can perform a welfare check.”
They knocked on the door.
After several minutes, Ethan answered.
He wore a gray sweater and held a cup of coffee.
“Is there a problem?”
“We’re checking on your wife.”
“My brother-in-law has been harassing us.”
Liam stepped forward.
“Where is Sophia?”
Ethan opened the door wider.
Sophia appeared at the top of the staircase.
She wore a long robe.
Makeup covered the wound near her temple, but Liam saw the swelling.
“There she is,” Ethan said.
The officer called up to her.
“Mrs. Cole, are you safe?”
Sophia looked at Liam.
Behind the officer, Ethan rested his hand against the doorframe.
One finger tapped slowly.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
A private warning.
“I’m fine,” Sophia said.
“Do you want to speak with us alone?”
Ethan stopped tapping.
Sophia imagined what would happen after the police left.
“No.”
Liam moved closer.
“What happened to your head?”
“I fell while packing.”
“Packing for a trip you never took?”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
Sophia saw it.
“Liam, please leave.”
“I’m not leaving without you.”
“I don’t want to go with you.”
The words nearly broke her.
Liam stared at her.
“Tell me where Dad hid the bicycle.”
Sophia’s eyes filled with tears.
Ethan looked between them.
“What bicycle?”
Sophia stepped down one stair.
“Under the old church stairs.”
Liam’s breath stopped.
It was the correct answer.
Ethan did not know what it meant.
Liam did.
Danger.
The police officers did not.
Liam moved toward Sophia, but Ethan blocked him.
“You need to leave my property.”
“She just told me she’s in danger.”
“She answered a childhood question.”
“It’s a code.”
Ethan laughed.
“Listen to yourself.”
The officer raised a hand.
“Dr. Bennett, your sister has stated that she is safe.”
“She’s afraid.”
“We cannot remove an adult from her home against her will.”
Sophia stood silently on the staircase.
Liam looked at her.
“I’m going to help you.”
Ethan smiled.
“She doesn’t need your help.”
The police escorted Liam outside.
Before the door closed, Sophia lowered her hand beside the banister.
Two fingers extended.
Then one.
Twenty-one.
Liam remembered a conversation from years earlier.
Their father’s old storage unit had been number twenty-one.
After their parents died, Liam and Sophia had kept a few boxes there because neither could bear to sort through them.
Sophia was telling him to search it.
Liam drove directly to the facility.
The unit smelled of cardboard and dust.
He opened boxes filled with family photographs, books, and furniture wrapped in plastic.
At the back stood an old wooden desk that had belonged to their mother.
One drawer was locked.
Liam broke it open.
Inside was a sealed envelope bearing Sophia’s handwriting.
For Liam, if I ever say everything is fine.
He tore it open.
The letter contained only one paragraph.
Ethan is watching my calls, accounts, and movements. I am not ready to leave because I am afraid he will hurt someone else. If I use our old bicycle answer, believe me even if I deny everything afterward. Find Rachel. She has the first key.
Beneath the letter was a small brass key.
Liam called Rachel.
She answered on the first ring.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” she said.
“For how long?”
“Six months.”
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
“Because Sophia told me Ethan was monitoring you too.”
“What does the key open?”
Rachel became silent.
“Not over the phone.”
“Where are you?”
“At my apartment.”
“I’m coming.”
“No,” Rachel said quickly. “He may be following you.”
Liam looked through the storage facility window.
A black sedan sat near the entrance.
May you like
Its engine was running.
“Rachel,” Liam whispered, “I think he already is.”
