Chapter 10 - The House With the Yellow Door
Police triangulated the final seconds of Madison’s phone connection.
A rural area near the Massachusetts border.
Ethan insisted on going.
Ross refused.
Ethan went anyway.
The search found an abandoned farmhouse near midnight.
No Madison.
No Sophie.
No Richard.
Blood on the kitchen floor.
Not enough to indicate fatal injury.
A child’s blue hair ribbon lay near the back door.
Sophie’s.
Ethan picked it up with trembling fingers.
Brooks spoke softly.
“We don’t know whose blood that is.”
“I know.”
“You need to stay functional.”
“I know.”
Outside, agents found tire tracks from two vehicles.
Richard had apparently been followed.
One car escaped north.
The other west.
The farmhouse basement contained equipment.
Printers.
Document laminators.
Blank passports.
Birth certificate stock.
Grayhaven had used the property as an identity workshop.
A map on the wall showed several former Haven House properties.
One was circled.
Hawthorne, Massachusetts.
Ross checked old property records.
A children’s home operated there until 1996.
Photographs showed a faded yellow front door.
They drove there before dawn.
The building had become a private residence.
Or appeared to be.
No one answered.
Agents entered under emergency authority after detecting recent tire marks and an open rear entrance.
Inside, the house was empty.
But beneath the stairs was a steel door.
The basement contained hospital beds.
Old files.
Cameras.
Computer servers recently removed.
On one wall were height marks for children.
Names written beside them.
Many had been painted over.
One remained.
EMILY.
Ethan touched the letters.
Dates beneath them showed growth measurements from ages six through ten.
Emily had lived here.
Laura’s first daughter.
Sophie’s sister.
On a desk lay a photograph.
Laura with a ten-year-old girl.
Laura was crying.
The girl looked uncertain.
The picture had been taken roughly two years before Laura died.
Laura had found Emily.
She had met her.
Ethan’s chest hurt.
Behind the photo was another message.
Not Laura’s handwriting.
SHE CHOSE THE YOUNGER ONE.
Ethan stared.
Ross said, “Psychological manipulation.”
“Or accusation.”
“What do you think it means?”
“I don’t know.”
A noise came from upstairs.
Agents raised weapons.
A woman shouted.
“Don’t shoot!”
Celeste appeared at the basement door.
Barefoot.
Her champagne dress torn.
Blood dried along one arm.
Ethan stared.
“Where is Sophie?”
“I don’t know.”
He crossed the room and stopped inches from her.
“Wrong answer.”
“I came here looking for her.”
“Why?”
“Because Richard called me.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
She looked around.
“He said the extraction failed.”
“Extraction?”
“The Lisbon plan.”
Ethan’s jaw clenched.
Celeste raised both hands.
“I never intended to put Sophie on that flight.”
“You bought the ticket.”
“Yes.”
“You packed her passport.”
“Yes.”
“You locked her in a suitcase.”
Celeste looked ashamed for the first time.
“I panicked when she found Laura’s photograph. I was waiting for Richard. She was screaming. I needed her quiet.”
Ethan’s eyes went cold.
“So you put her in luggage.”
“Yes.”
“I will never forgive you for that.”
Celeste’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why are you useful?”
Celeste reached into her dress pocket.
She removed a phone.
“Because Richard sent me this before the shooting.”
A video.
Madison sat inside a moving vehicle with Sophie beside her.
Richard was driving.
The timestamp was twenty-three minutes after the gunshots.
They had survived.
Sophie was crying but appeared unharmed.
Richard looked into the dashboard camera.
“Ethan, if Celeste gets this to you, understand that we were hit by Vale’s people. Madison is injured but stable. Sophie is safe.”
The camera shook.
“We are going to Emily.”
Richard looked over his shoulder.
“And Ethan, Laura’s accident reconstruction officer is with her.”
The video ended.
Celeste whispered.
“He knows where Laura’s daughter is.”
May you like
Ethan looked toward the empty yellow doorway.
“Then we find him before Vale does.”
