Chapter 6 - The Boy in the Garden
Maya reached the house in twelve minutes.
Police vehicles crowded the driveway.
Ryan stood near the front entrance, barefoot and pale.
He ran toward her car before she had fully stopped.
“Where were you?”
“Where is Oliver?”
“We don’t know.”
Maya shoved past him.
Upstairs, Oliver’s bedroom window stood open.
A streak of blood marked the white sheet.
His blanket was gone.
His stuffed rabbit lay beneath the window.
Evelyn stood in the hallway with an officer.
She looked devastated.
Too devastated.
Maya turned on her.
“What did you do?”
Ryan caught her shoulders.
“Not now.”
“She took him.”
“I did not,” Evelyn said.
Maya tried to reach her.
Ryan held her back.
“You said she was trying to take custody. You said she wanted him. Now he disappears while she is in the house.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled with tears.
“This is what she does, Ryan. She creates chaos and blames me.”
Maya stared at her.
“My son is missing.”
“Our son,” Ryan snapped.
The words struck harder than he intended.
Maya stepped back.
Ryan immediately regretted them, but before he could apologize, Jonah entered.
“We found footprints outside the window.”
“Adult?” Ryan asked.
“Child.”
Everyone went silent.
Jonah pointed toward the garden.
“The impressions suggest Oliver climbed out himself.”
“That’s impossible,” Maya said. “The window is too high.”
“There’s a chair beneath it.”
Ryan looked at the chair.
“I didn’t put that there.”
Neither did Maya.
Jonah examined the blood on the sheet.
“It may be from a nosebleed.”
Maya thought of the sedatives.
“Was he drugged?”
“We’ll know when we find him.”
A shout came from outside.
An officer had discovered a piece of Oliver’s blanket near the greenhouse.
Maya ran into the garden.
The night air was cold, and the grass was wet.
Beyond the greenhouse, a narrow path led toward an old stone wall at the edge of the property.
Ryan followed her.
“Oliver!”
No answer.
They reached the wall.
A small metal service gate stood open.
Evelyn appeared behind them.
“That gate has been locked for years.”
Jonah crouched near the latch.
“Not tonight.”
A trail of orange powder marked the ground.
Crushed pills.
Maya followed it through the gate.
The path beyond entered a wooded section of abandoned land.
After fifty yards, they heard coughing.
Maya ran toward the sound.
Oliver was curled beneath a cedar tree, wrapped in his blanket.
His nose was bleeding.
Beside him sat a woman in a dark coat.
She held one finger to her lips.
Maya stopped.
The woman was thin, with short brown hair and a pale scar along her jaw.
“Anna Vale?” Jonah said.
The woman looked at him.
“Get the boy away from the house.”
Maya rushed forward and lifted Oliver.
His body was warm, but he was conscious.
“Mommy,” he whispered. “The wall lady said Grandma was coming.”
Evelyn reached the clearing.
Anna stood.
For the first time in years, Evelyn Mercer looked genuinely shocked.
“You,” she whispered.
Anna’s hand moved inside her coat.
An officer raised his weapon.
“Show me your hands.”
Anna slowly withdrew a small silver key.
She threw it toward Maya.
“The drawer beneath the kitchen counter.”
Evelyn stepped forward.
“Do not listen to her. She is unstable.”
Anna laughed weakly.
“You used that word on everyone.”
Jonah approached.
“Anna, we need you to come with us.”
“No police station.”
“You contacted me.”
“I contacted you because they found me.”
“Who?”
Anna looked toward the dark road beyond the trees.
Headlights appeared.
A black vehicle stopped outside the property wall.
Anna’s face changed.
“They’re here.”
A gunshot cracked through the night.
The greenhouse glass shattered.
Officers pulled everyone down.
May you like
When Maya looked up again, Anna Vale was gone.
Only the silver key remained.
