Chapter 8 - The Girl at Blackwater
The abandoned motel was empty.
Inside room eight, police found the stolen medical van’s tracking device, Grace’s gray blanket and a speaker connected to a timer.
The photograph had been staged there.
Evelyn had expected them to waste hours searching the building.
Mara redirected the team toward the old ferry terminal.
The structure stood at the edge of Blackwater Lake, abandoned since a flood damaged the docks. Fog moved across the water, hiding the opposite shore.
Daniel waited inside an unmarked vehicle while officers entered the terminal.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Mara’s voice came over the radio.
“The main tunnel is empty. We found recent tire marks leading north.”
Daniel looked through the windshield.
A narrow road curved behind the terminal toward the trees.
At its entrance was a locked chain.
The mud beside it showed fresh tracks from a large vehicle.
Daniel stepped out.
An officer ordered him to return to the car.
He pointed toward a small utility building near the water.
The bird symbol had been painted beside the door.
It was nearly invisible beneath peeling paint.
Mara joined him.
“The tunnel entrance may not be inside the terminal,” Daniel said.
The brass key from Lily’s rabbit fit the utility building.
Inside were electrical panels, old life jackets and a metal staircase descending beneath the dock.
The air grew colder as they moved down.
At the bottom, the staircase opened into a concrete passage.
A faint humming came from somewhere ahead.
Daniel recognized the melody.
Anna’s lullaby.
The officers moved quietly through the passage.
They found Grace in a locked maintenance room.
She was sitting on the floor beside an old heater. A loose restraint circled one wrist, but she was conscious and able to stand with assistance.
Her dark hair matched the childhood photographs.
Daniel stopped at the doorway.
Grace looked at him.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she asked, “Where is Lily?”
“She’s safe.”
Grace’s shoulders dropped with relief.
“Rebecca?”
“In custody.”
Grace closed her eyes.
“She’ll think I betrayed her.”
“She kept you in a basement.”
“She also kept me alive.”
Mara approached.
“Who brought you here?”
“Two men. I never saw their faces.”
“And Evelyn?”
Grace opened her eyes.
“She was here.”
“Is Evelyn Cross alive?”
Grace looked at Daniel.
“Yes.”
The answer should have shocked him.
Instead, it felt like confirmation of something his body already knew.
“Where did she go?”
“She left when she heard the police approaching.”
“How?”
Grace pointed toward the heater.
Behind it was a maintenance door opening to the lake.
An empty boat drifted beside the dock.
Evelyn had escaped across the water.
Grace was transported to the hospital under protection.
Doctors found no life-threatening injuries. She was weak, frightened and exhausted, but expected to recover.
By midnight, she agreed to speak with Daniel and Mara.
Grace described seven years spent moving between rented houses, remote cabins and concealed rooms.
Rebecca had been present during most of them.
Sometimes she was Grace’s guard.
Sometimes she was the only person who brought food, medicine or news from the outside world.
“Rebecca believed Evelyn would hurt me if I tried to escape,” Grace said. “She was right.”
“Why didn’t you contact the police?” Daniel asked.
“My father contacted the police. His report disappeared. Anna contacted a federal investigator. He died before their meeting.”
“Anna hid you beneath our house?”
“Only for eleven days at first. She planned to take me to another country.”
“What stopped her?”
“Evelyn found out.”
Grace looked toward the hospital door.
“Anna agreed to pretend I had been moved. Rebecca kept me hidden beneath the house whenever Evelyn’s people searched other locations.”
“For three years?”
“Not continuously. They moved me several times. Rebecca returned me six months ago because Evelyn believed Anna had hidden the original ledger in the basement.”
“Was it there?”
“No.”
“Do you know where it is?”
Grace looked at Mara.
“I memorized parts of it, but the original was hidden by Anna.”
Mara asked, “What bargain did Anna make with Evelyn?”
Grace became silent.
Daniel waited.
“Rachel said Anna offered someone else in your place.”
“She did.”
“Who?”
Grace’s eyes filled with guilt.
“You.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Anna told Evelyn that you had seen the ledger. She said you knew every name and account. It wasn’t true, but it redirected the Circle’s attention away from me.”
“Why didn’t anyone come after me?”
“Because Anna promised to deliver you when the time was right.”
Daniel stepped back.
“She would never do that.”
“She didn’t intend to. She planned to expose Evelyn before the meeting.”
“And then she died.”
Grace looked down at her hands.
“The night before the accident, Anna came to the basement. She said she had discovered someone inside the police department was helping Evelyn.”
“Who?”
“She wouldn’t tell me. She said speaking the name would place Lily in danger.”
Daniel’s heart tightened.
“Did Anna leave the house alone?”
“No.”
Grace lifted her head.
“Rebecca drove her to Ashford Bridge.”
Mara leaned forward.
“Did Rebecca cause the crash?”
“I don’t know. Rebecca returned after sunrise. She had blood on her coat and Anna’s wedding ring in her pocket.”
Daniel walked out of the room before anger overcame him.
Mara followed.
“Rachel needs to be questioned again.”
“She killed Anna.”
“We don’t know that.”
“She had Anna’s ring.”
“We still need evidence.”
Grace called from the hospital room.
“There is evidence.”
Daniel returned to the doorway.
“Where?”
“Rebecca kept a recording of that night.”
“Why?”
“Because it proves she didn’t kill Anna.”
“Then who did?”
May you like
Grace looked directly at him.
“Anna was alive when the car entered the river.”
