Chapter 8 - The Beginning
Police reached the Bellweather farmhouse shortly before dawn.
The building stood alone behind overgrown trees. Its windows were boarded, and an abandoned barn leaned against the wind.
Sarah joined the operation after insisting that Lily remain under protection at the hospital with the child specialist.
No lights were visible inside the farmhouse.
Officers surrounded the property.
Sarah approached with Reed and a tactical team.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, the air smelled of dust and old paper.
They found Grace in an upstairs room.
She was exhausted and frightened but conscious. Evelyn had locked her there the previous afternoon after discovering that Grace had sent the final letter.
Grace burst into tears when Sarah told her Lily was safe.
“My daughter called you?”
“She saved herself,” Sarah said.
Grace covered her face.
“I should have gone to the police sooner.”
“You were trying to protect her.”
“I left her in that house.”
“Evelyn made you believe that returning would place Lily in more danger.”
Grace looked toward the open doorway.
“Where is Evelyn?”
The farmhouse was searched from top to bottom.
Evelyn was not there.
In the kitchen, officers found maps, cash, and multiple identification documents. A train schedule had been circled. A morning train would leave Bellweather for the Canadian border in less than forty minutes.
Units rushed to the station.
But Sarah noticed something strange.
Evelyn had left all the cash behind.
Her forged passport was also on the table.
“She isn’t running,” Sarah said.
Reed looked at the train schedule.
“This is a distraction.”
Sarah called the hospital.
No answer from the officer stationed outside Lily’s room.
She called again.
A nurse finally picked up.
“The officer was called downstairs because someone reported a disturbance,” the nurse said. “Lily is with her specialist.”
Sarah demanded that the room be checked immediately.
The nurse hurried down the hallway.
A moment later, her frightened voice returned.
“The specialist is unconscious. Lily is gone.”
Sarah’s heart seemed to stop.
Security footage showed Evelyn entering the hospital wearing medical scrubs and a surgical mask. She used a stolen identification card to access the children’s wing.
Lily had left with her willingly.
Evelyn must have told her something convincing.
Grace grabbed Sarah’s arm.
“She told Lily I was alive.”
Sarah understood.
Evelyn had used the one thing Lily wanted more than safety.
Her mother.
The security cameras showed Evelyn leading Lily into a parking garage.
They entered a dark sedan and drove east.
Sarah studied the route.
East led back toward the Carter neighborhood.
“She’s taking Lily home,” she said.
“To do what?” Grace asked.
Sarah remembered Evelyn’s demand.
May you like
She wants Lily returned to her home.
“She wants to finish the story the way she planned it.”
