Chapter 12 - the woman in the red coat
Michael chased her down the hillside.
Rain blurred the parking lot lights. The woman moved quickly despite a slight limp, weaving between parked cars.
“Evelyn!”
She did not stop.
Michael reached the edge of the lower parking structure just as a black sedan pulled forward.
The rear door opened.
The woman entered.
The car accelerated toward the service road.
Michael memorized the license plate before it disappeared.
Samuel arrived behind him, breathing heavily.
“Was it her?”
Michael stared at the empty road.
“I saw her face.”
“Are you certain?”
“I would know her anywhere.”
Owen and the officer joined them.
Michael gave the officer the plate number.
The officer radioed dispatch.
Within minutes, the response came back.
The plate belonged to a vehicle registered to the Cross Foundation.
Samuel looked toward the hospital.
“Victor knew she was alive.”
Michael’s face hardened.
“He may have been holding her the same way he held me.”
“Then why did she run?”
“Maybe she wasn’t running from us.”
Samuel remembered the distorted phone call.
The child is not safe upstairs.
“She was warning us,” he said.
They returned to the hospital.
Victor and Lenora had been separated for questioning.
Lenora refused to speak.
Victor demanded his attorney and insisted the van was part of an abandoned hospital program.
Then officers found Samuel’s forged signature.
The claim became harder to maintain.
Lily had been moved to an intensive-care room on another floor under a different patient number.
Dr. Patel allowed Samuel and Michael to enter after changing into dry clothes.
Lily was sleeping.
Her breathing remained assisted, but her color had improved.
Michael stood near the foot of the bed, afraid to move closer.
Samuel watched him.
“You can sit.”
“I don’t want to wake her.”
“She sleeps through thunder.”
Michael sat beside her.
For several minutes, he said nothing.
Then Lily opened one eye.
“You came back.”
“I told you I would.”
“Grandpa says promises are heavy.”
Michael smiled faintly.
“He’s right.”
“So don’t make too many.”
Samuel laughed quietly from the corner.
Lily looked at Michael’s scar.
“Did the accident do that?”
“Yes.”
“Did it hurt?”
“For a while.”
“Grandpa said terrible lies kept us apart.”
Michael looked toward Samuel.
“They did.”
“Are the lies gone now?”
“Some of them.”
Lily reached toward the locket.
“Mommy gave me this.”
“I gave it to her.”
“She kept it.”
Michael swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Does that mean she loved you?”
“It means I loved her.”
Lily’s eyes grew serious.
“Do you still?”
Michael answered without hesitation.
“Yes.”
Lily closed her eyes again.
“Then find her.”
Michael sat silently after she fell asleep.
Samuel moved beside him.
“I saw her too,” Samuel said. “At the tunnel entrance.”
“You think she knew about tonight?”
“She sent the envelope.”
“The handwriting wasn’t hers.”
“She may not have written it.”
Michael looked toward Lily.
“If Evelyn has been alive all this time, why leave Lily with you?”
“To keep her hidden.”
“And now?”
“Now Lily owns something Victor cannot steal quietly.”
A detective entered.
“We traced the sedan,” she said. “It was found abandoned near the river.”
Michael stood.
“Was anyone inside?”
“No.”
“Any sign of Evelyn?”
The detective handed him a plastic evidence sleeve.
“We found this on the back seat.”
Inside was an old photograph.
Michael, Evelyn, and Samuel stood in front of the Hart family house.
Someone had recently written on the back.
May you like
Michael survived the first crash.
Lily will not survive the second.
