Chapter 6 - The Girl in the Kitchen
Maya had worked at the Vale lodge for six weeks.
She was twenty-three, studying nursing and saving money for her final year of university. The winter position paid well because the lodge was remote and Helena Vale demanded absolute privacy from employees.
Maya had signed three confidentiality agreements.
None of them said anything about helping a kidnapped woman.
She discovered the memory card when she tried to sew the rabbit’s torn seam. Curious, she inserted it into her laptop during the night shift.
The first photograph showed a newspaper article about a missing child.
The second showed Emma as a little girl.
The third showed bank payments connected to Helena Vale.
Maya looked toward the ceiling.
Emma’s room was two floors above.
She copied the files onto her laptop and hid the original card beneath the lining of her shoe. The lodge internet had been disabled, but staff radios still connected to a local emergency frequency.
At six in the morning, Maya carried a breakfast tray upstairs.
Victor Hale stood outside Emma’s door.
“I’ll take it,” he said.
“Mrs. Vale requested ginger tea.”
“Leave it.”
Maya smiled nervously.
“She also needs a blood-pressure check. I’m a nursing student.”
Victor’s eyes moved across her face.
“No one enters.”
The bedroom door opened behind him.
Julian stepped into the hallway.
“My wife is awake.”
Maya lifted the tray.
“I can help her eat.”
Julian hesitated. He was more concerned with appearing reasonable than Victor was.
“Five minutes.”
Inside, Emma sat near the window wearing the same cardigan from the previous day. Her face looked pale.
Maya placed the tray down and began arranging the cups.
“I found the rabbit,” she whispered.
Emma’s eyes lifted.
Maya continued speaking at normal volume.
“The oatmeal is plain, but I brought honey.”
“Thank you.”
“The memory card is safe.”
Emma’s fingers tightened around the blanket over her knees.
“Can you contact the police?”
“The internet and outside telephone lines are down.”
“Helena controls the staff radios.”
“I copied everything.”
“Get away from the lodge before they find out.”
“I can’t leave without a vehicle.”
Emma looked toward the closed door.
“Is there another way down the mountain?”
“A maintenance trail. It leads to the ranger station, but the snow is getting worse.”
“Can you send a radio message?”
“Victor monitors every channel.”
Emma lowered her voice further.
“Then we need him to hear something he expects.”
Maya understood.
At breakfast, Helena announced that the family would walk to Falcon’s Edge before the storm became too strong.
Maya stood near the kitchen doorway and listened.
Emma remained calm.
“Julian is right,” she said. “I have been emotional. A walk may help.”
Helena watched her carefully.
“I’m pleased you understand.”
“I want to talk privately when we reach the overlook.”
“Of course.”
Maya carried coffee to the table.
As she passed Emma, Emma deliberately knocked a spoon onto the floor.
Maya bent to retrieve it.
“Twenty minutes,” Emma whispered.
Then louder, she said, “I’m sorry.”
Maya returned to the kitchen and waited.
When the family left through the rear doors, she took a staff radio and switched to the mountain rescue frequency.
“This is Vale Lodge,” she said. “We have a guest hiking toward Falcon’s Edge. No emergency. Repeat, no emergency.”
She released the button.
A male voice answered through static.
“Vale Lodge, identify the guest.”
Maya looked around.
“No emergency,” she repeated. “Pregnant guest accompanied by husband. Trail conditions acceptable.”
The voice changed immediately.
“What is the guest’s name?”
Maya could not answer directly without alerting anyone listening.
She remembered the newspaper clippings.
“The guest requested the old Mercer route.”
Silence.
Then the man replied, “Message received.”
At the rescue base below the mountain, Daniel Mercer stood beside the radio operator.
He had been waiting since before dawn.
“That was her,” he said.
Agent Reyes studied the trail map.
“Or a trap.”
“Either way, Emma is going toward Falcon’s Edge.”
The storm prevented the helicopter from launching immediately. Daniel began climbing with a ground team while the pilot waited for a break in the cloud cover.
At the lodge, Maya returned the radio.
Victor entered the kitchen seconds later.
“Who were you speaking to?”
“A supplier.”
“The supply road is closed.”
“I didn’t know.”
He held out his hand.
“Give me the radio.”
Maya obeyed.
Victor examined the frequency display.
Mountain rescue.
His expression darkened.
Maya stepped backward.
Victor locked the kitchen door.
“Where is the memory card?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
He moved toward her.
Maya grabbed a metal tray and struck the fire alarm mounted beside the door.
The alarm began ringing throughout the lodge.
Sprinklers activated in the entrance hall. Staff members shouted and ran from their rooms.
Maya threw open a service window and climbed onto the lower roof. Snow reached above her ankles.
Victor caught the edge of her coat.
The fabric tore.
She slid down the roof and landed in a snowbank beside the maintenance path. Pain shot through her ankle, but she could stand.
She ran.
Behind her, Victor spoke into his radio.
“Julian, she contacted mountain rescue.”
At Falcon’s Edge, Julian received the message.
He walked several steps behind Emma while Helena remained near the trail entrance.
The overlook was surrounded by a steel safety barrier. Beyond it, the mountain dropped into white emptiness.
Emma heard Julian’s radio.
She stopped walking.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Who contacted rescue?”
Julian looked toward Helena.
The older woman’s calm disappeared.
“Search her,” Helena ordered.
Julian grabbed Emma’s arm.
She pulled away.
“Do not touch me.”
“Where is the memory card?”
“I sent everything.”
Julian’s face drained of color.
Helena stepped closer.
“To whom?”
“My mother.”
It was a guess, but Helena reacted.
Emma saw fear in her eyes.
Claire Mercer was alive.
The realization nearly weakened her knees.
Helena turned to Julian.
“We cannot take her back to the lodge.”
Julian stared at his mother.
“What are you saying?”
“The storm will erase the trail.”
“She’s pregnant.”
“And she has destroyed our family.”
Emma backed toward the barrier.
Julian looked from her to Helena.
For a moment, she believed he might refuse.
Then Helena said, “If she speaks, you lose the company, the estate and your child.”
Something hardened in Julian’s face.
He moved toward Emma.
She placed both hands protectively over her stomach.
“Julian, think about your daughter.”
He stopped.
Helena’s voice sharpened.
“Do it.”
Julian looked at Emma with tears in his eyes.
May you like
“I’m sorry.”
Then he pushed her.
