Chapter 10 - The House Beneath the Lake)
Police traced the message for eleven seconds.
Then the signal vanished.
But eleven seconds were enough.
A cell tower placed the device near Lake Arden, a remote winter vacation area seventy miles north.
Daniel knew the place.
Richard had taken him and Michael fishing there when they were children.
“There was a cabin.”
Bennett looked at him.
“Address?”
“I don’t know. Dad sold it years ago.”
“He may not have.”
Property records showed Richard transferred the cabin to a shell company eighteen years earlier.
The company still owned it.
Police moved immediately.
Claire insisted on staying with Emma.
Daniel wanted to go.
Bennett refused.
“You are emotionally involved and Richard specifically asked for you. That makes you bait.”
“He has my daughter.”
Bennett held his gaze.
“He has a child who may be your biological daughter. I understand that.”
“No. You don’t.”
“What I understand is that if you rush into that cabin, he controls the situation.”
Daniel’s hands clenched.
“Then use me.”
Bennett studied him.
“That may be exactly what we do.”
The plan was simple.
Daniel would approach the cabin wearing a concealed transmitter.
Tactical officers would remain hidden in the tree line.
If Richard appeared, Daniel would keep him talking.
Nobody told Claire the full details until Daniel was already preparing to leave.
She stared at him.
“You’re going.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me again.”
“I didn’t want you worrying.”
“I am past worrying.”
“I need to help Lily.”
Claire looked toward Emma’s bedroom.
“And Emma needs her father.”
Daniel touched her hand.
Claire pulled away.
“Bring that girl home.”
Not bring your daughter home.
Not bring Lily home.
That girl.
Daniel understood.
At 8:12 p.m., snow began falling over Lake Arden.
Daniel walked alone toward the cabin.
One light burned inside.
The front door opened before he reached it.
Richard stood there.
Gray sweater.
Dark trousers.
No coat.
Almost as if Christmas morning had never ended.
“You came.”
Daniel stopped fifteen feet away.
“Where is Lily?”
Richard smiled.
“You mean your daughter?”
Daniel fought the urge to rush him.
“Let her go.”
“Which one?”
Daniel stared.
Richard laughed softly.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
Richard stepped aside.
“Come inside.”
Daniel entered.
The cabin smelled of dust and wood smoke.
No Lily.
“Where is she?”
Richard poured himself coffee.
“You always were impatient.”
Daniel looked around.
A trapdoor was visible beneath a rug.
Richard noticed.
“Go ahead.”
Daniel moved toward it.
“Open it.”
Daniel lifted the door.
Wooden stairs descended into darkness.
“Lily?”
A faint sound answered.
Daniel rushed down.
At the bottom was a concrete room.
A mattress.
A chair.
A child’s pink scarf.
No child.
Daniel spun around.
Richard stood at the top of the stairs.
“You said she was here.”
“She was.”
“Where is she?”
Richard smiled.
“You came too late.”
Daniel lunged upward.
A loud crash exploded outside.
Police.
Richard slammed the trapdoor.
Daniel hit it from below.
Then he heard Richard’s voice through the wood.
“You should ask Claire what happened at the hospital, Danny.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
“She remembers more than she told you.”
Footsteps moved away.
Daniel pounded the door.
“Richard!”
Outside, officers breached the cabin.
Richard had vanished through a rear tunnel built beneath the kitchen.
But they found something he left behind.
A recorder.
Daniel listened to the first thirty seconds.
Claire’s voice filled the room.
Nine years younger.
Terrified.
“Please don’t take her.”
May you like
Then Richard’s voice.
“You already agreed.”
