Chapter 5 - The Lodge Above the Clouds
The Vale lodge stood among black pine trees beneath a sky heavy with snow.
From a distance, it looked peaceful. Warm light glowed behind tall windows. Smoke rose from stone chimneys. The building had twelve bedrooms, an indoor pool and a dining room large enough to seat forty guests.
Emma saw only locked doors.
Julian had taken her phone after leaving the storage facility. He claimed he wanted her to rest without distractions.
Helena greeted them in the entrance hall.
“You should have told me you were visiting Rowan County.”
Emma removed her gloves slowly.
“I wanted to see the lake.”
“Why?”
“To remember my parents.”
The words landed exactly as Emma intended.
Helena’s expression remained composed.
“Julian said you found some disturbing materials.”
“I found photographs.”
“Old photographs can be misunderstood.”
“I found a missing-child report with my face on it.”
Helena glanced toward Julian.
He had not told her everything.
That gave Emma a small advantage.
She had hidden the stuffed rabbit inside her overnight bag before Julian returned from collecting the scattered documents. The memory card remained inside its torn seam.
If she could reach a telephone or a member of staff who was not loyal to Helena, she could send the evidence.
Helena crossed the hall and took Emma’s hands.
“You’re exhausted. Pregnancy can cause vivid emotional reactions.”
“Did you kidnap me?”
Julian closed the front doors.
Helena did not release Emma’s hands.
“I rescued you from a dangerous home.”
“My parents were searching for me.”
“Your mother was unstable.”
“Where is she?”
“Emma, this conversation is harming you.”
“Where is Claire Mercer?”
Helena’s eyes sharpened.
“You have spent thirty years as my daughter. Do not let a box of stolen documents erase your life.”
“My name was Emma Mercer.”
“Your name is whatever I protected it to become.”
Emma pulled her hands away.
A man entered from a side corridor.
He was tall, gray-haired and wearing a dark green outdoor jacket. A thin scar marked the corner of his mouth.
Victor Hale.
Emma remembered his photograph from one of Samuel Reed’s files.
“Victor will make sure you remain comfortable,” Helena said.
Emma looked at him.
“Is that what he did when I was five?”
Victor’s face did not change.
Helena turned toward Julian.
“Take your wife upstairs.”
Emma did not resist.
She needed them to believe she had become frightened and uncertain.
The bedroom assigned to Emma and Julian overlooked the northern cliff. A telephone sat beside the bed, but its cord had been removed. The windows were sealed.
Emma placed her overnight bag near the wardrobe.
Julian locked the bedroom door from the inside.
“Mother wants us to stay here until the storm passes.”
“You mean until she decides what to do with me.”
“She wants to protect the family.”
“By imprisoning me?”
“You can walk anywhere in the lodge.”
“Can I leave?”
“The road is dangerous.”
“It hasn’t started snowing.”
Julian poured water into a glass.
“Take your medication.”
Emma looked at the white tablet beside the glass.
“What is it?”
“For anxiety.”
“I don’t take anxiety medication.”
“Dr. Patel prescribed it.”
“My appointment was moved.”
“He spoke to Mother.”
Emma picked up the tablet, pretended to swallow it and hid it beneath her tongue. She turned toward the bathroom and spat it into a tissue.
When she returned, Julian appeared relieved.
Within twenty minutes, Emma pretended to become drowsy.
Julian waited until her breathing slowed, then left the bedroom.
He locked the door from the hallway.
Emma sat up immediately.
She retrieved the stuffed rabbit and removed the memory card. Her phone was gone, but the room contained a smart television with a memory-card slot.
She inserted the card.
The screen displayed every photograph she had taken in the storage unit.
Emma connected the television to the lodge’s wireless network. The signal was restricted, but a guest access page allowed messages to be sent to lodge management.
She attached the files and entered the only email address she remembered from the newspaper clippings.
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
She pressed send.
The screen showed a loading symbol.
Then the connection failed.
Someone had disabled the network.
Footsteps approached outside.
Emma removed the memory card and returned to the bed.
The door opened.
Helena entered alone.
She sat in the chair beside Emma.
“You were always a clever child,” Helena said.
Emma kept her eyes closed.
“You would hide food beneath your pillow and wait until everyone was asleep before giving it to the stray cat outside. Do you remember?”
Emma did remember the cat.
She also remembered Helena punishing a housekeeper for leaving the kitchen window open.
“You watched people,” Helena continued. “You noticed doors, keys and conversations. That is why adjustment took so long.”
Emma opened her eyes.
“What did you do to me?”
Helena looked toward the snow beginning to touch the windows.
“I gave you a new life.”
“You drugged me.”
“A doctor helped you forget a traumatic childhood.”
“My childhood became traumatic because you took me.”
Helena’s composure finally cracked.
“I could not have children.”
Emma stared at her.
There it was.
Not rescue. Not protection.
Desire.
“You saw me at the festival,” Emma said.
“You were dancing near the music stage. Your mother looked away for less than a minute.”
“And you decided I belonged to you.”
“I decided I could give you more.”
“You destroyed my parents.”
“I gave them opportunities to move on.”
“They spent years searching.”
“Because they were selfish.”
Emma felt the baby move beneath her hand.
“What are you planning to do now?”
Helena stood.
“You will remain here until you understand that public accusations would damage your child’s future.”
“And if I refuse?”
Helena looked toward the window.
“Tomorrow, Julian will take you to Falcon’s Edge. The fresh air may help you think clearly.”
Emma understood the threat hidden inside the calm words.
Helena walked toward the door.
“Sleep well.”
After she left, Emma crossed the room and tested the bathroom window.
It opened only a few inches.
Not enough for her to escape.
But enough for her to push the stuffed rabbit through.
The toy fell onto a lower section of roof and slid into the snow beside the service entrance.
Emma had no idea who might find it.
She only knew the evidence could not remain in the room with her.
Minutes later, a young kitchen employee stepped outside to empty a bag of recycling.
She saw the rabbit in the snow.
Thinking it belonged to a guest’s child, she picked it up and placed it in her apron.
May you like
Her name was Maya Chen.
By morning, she would become the first person inside the lodge to believe Emma.
