Chapter 12 - Rosewood Lane)
The house at 17 Rosewood Lane was empty.
Not abandoned.
Empty.
Food remained in the refrigerator.
Beds were made.
A cup of coffee sat cold beside the sink.
Someone had left recently.
Claire walked through the small coastal house while investigators searched.
One bedroom belonged to a child.
Books.
School papers.
Paintings.
A blue sweater.
On the desk sat a photograph of Sophie.
Taken from a distance.
Claire’s eyes filled.
Emily had known about them.
The closet contained clothing sized for an eight-year-old girl.
Claire touched a jacket.
Hayes appeared in the doorway.
“We found blood.”
Claire turned.
“Whose?”
“Too early to know.”
“Where?”
“Back door.”
Outside, tire tracks led toward the road.
Signs of struggle marked the garden.
A broken bracelet lay near the steps.
Claire picked it up before an agent stopped her.
Silver letters spelled:
EMILY.
Claire felt the world tilt.
They had arrived too late.
A neighbor named Judith Mason had seen a vehicle leave around midnight.
“Dark van,” she said. “Two men.”
“A girl?” Hayes asked.
Judith nodded.
“She was fighting.”
Claire gripped the chair.
“Did you call police?”
Judith looked ashamed.
“I thought it was family.”
Claire walked away before saying something unforgivable.
Agents found a hidden basement beneath the garage.
Inside were monitors connected to surveillance feeds.
Sophie’s school.
Claire’s house.
Blackwood Capital.
Margaret’s estate.
Preston’s apartment.
Someone had been watching everyone.
On a desk sat photographs of Arthur Blackwood.
Recent ones.
He was alive.
Claire picked up one image.
Arthur standing outside Rosewood Lane three weeks earlier.
Another showed him meeting Daniel five years ago.
The final photo showed Arthur with an unknown woman.
On the back:
ELIZABETH HALE.
KEEPER 4.
Vanessa recognized the surname.
“Hale.”
Claire remembered Emily’s false passport.
Emily Hale.
They searched records.
Elizabeth Hale had been a neonatal nurse at the hospital where Sophie and Emily were born.
She disappeared eight years ago.
Her employment file had been erased.
Hayes called federal analysts.
Twenty minutes later they found a match.
Elizabeth Hale currently lived under the name Beth Ward.
The registered resident of 17 Rosewood Lane.
Emily’s guardian.
Then a noise came from upstairs.
Agents drew weapons.
Claire remained behind Hayes.
A closet door opened.
A woman stepped out.
Fifty.
Thin.
Terrified.
Hands raised.
“Don’t shoot.”
Vanessa stared.
“Elizabeth?”
The woman looked at Claire.
“You’re her mother.”
Claire rushed forward.
“Where is Emily?”
Elizabeth began crying.
“They took her.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire grabbed her shoulders.
“WHO?”
Hayes intervened.
Elizabeth shook violently.
“Arthur was supposed to come yesterday.”
“Arthur Blackwood?”
“Yes.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“Who came instead?”
“Two men.”
“Names?”
“I didn’t know them.”
“Where did they take her?”
Elizabeth looked directly at Claire.
“Emily let them.”
Claire stopped.
“What?”
“She fought at first.”
Elizabeth wiped her eyes.
“Then one of them showed her something.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
“Of who?”
“You.”
Claire’s blood turned cold.
Elizabeth continued.
“He told her you had been taken too.”
“She believed him?”
“He had your wedding ring.”
Claire looked at her hand.
Her ring was gone.
She had stopped wearing Daniel’s wedding band around her neck only once in four years.
At the Blackwood wedding.
Because the clasp had broken.
She had placed it in her purse.
Claire opened her purse.
The ring was missing.
Someone had stolen it during the chaos.
Not to rob her.
To lure Emily.
Elizabeth handed Claire a folded note.
“Emily left this.”
Claire opened it.
The handwriting was childish but careful.
Mom,
If you find this, I’m sorry.
They said they have you.
Mr. Arthur said if anything ever happens, I should remember that Blackwoods lie.
But the man knew Daddy’s secret word.
So I went.
I hope I did the right thing.
Love,
Emily
Claire read the last line three times.
“What secret word?”
Elizabeth looked confused.
“I don’t know.”
Claire did.
Daniel had used one word whenever he wanted Sophie to know something was truly safe.
Homebird.
Claire’s eyes hardened.
Only three people knew it.
Claire.
Daniel.
And Sophie.
May you like
Unless Daniel had told someone else.
Somebody Emily trusted enough to walk into a van.
