Chapter 5 - The Cabin Beyond Hawthorne
The photograph had been taken that morning.
Snow covered the forest behind Sophie even though the city was warm enough for an outdoor birthday party. A wooden cabin stood between tall pine trees.
Megan was visible through a side window.
Her hand rested against the glass.
She was holding up four fingers.
Detective Bennett believed it was a location clue.
The Hawthorne Recovery Institute owned four remote properties. The fourth was an abandoned therapy lodge fifteen miles beyond the main facility.
We drove through the night.
Lily remained with Mrs. Harper under police protection. Leaving her after she had begged me not to go was one of the hardest things I had ever done.
But Sophie was missing.
Megan was alive.
And Marcus had spent years learning that I would back away whenever he frightened someone I loved.
I was done backing away.
The abandoned lodge sat beyond a locked forestry gate. Detective Bennett called for tactical support, but the nearest team was more than an hour away.
A light glowed inside the cabin.
We approached through the trees.
The front door was unlocked.
Sophie’s pink birthday ribbon lay on the floor.
“Tessa?” I called quietly.
No answer.
The cabin contained one bed, a medical cabinet, and a wall covered with photographs.
There were pictures of Megan at different clinics. Pictures of Lily entering preschool. Pictures of Tessa and Sophie at home.
There were also pictures of me.
At work.
At Lily’s dance class.
Standing beside Megan’s grave.
Marcus had not merely hidden my wife.
He had watched me mourn her.
Detective Bennett found a laptop on the table. The screen displayed a live video feed from another room.
Sophie sat inside a locked glass enclosure. Tessa was beside her, holding a cloth against a bleeding wound on her shoulder.
Marcus stood outside the enclosure.
“Megan is not here,” I said.
A voice answered from the dark hallway.
“She was moved before you arrived.”
My father stepped into the room.
Richard Carter looked older and thinner, but he was unmistakably alive. The wedding ring remained on his hand.
Every childhood fear I had buried returned at once.
He smiled.
“You finally stopped obeying your mother.”
I moved toward him.
Detective Bennett raised her weapon.
“Keep your hands visible.”
Father ignored her.
“Daniel, your wife misunderstood what she found. The foundation transfers money to protect people whose names cannot appear in public records.”
“You imprisoned her.”
“Marcus became emotional.”
“He hit my daughter.”
“That was careless.”
Not cruel.
Not unforgivable.
Careless.
I struck him before Detective Bennett could stop me.
Father fell against the table, blood appearing at the corner of his mouth.
He laughed.
“There you are.”
“Where is Megan?”
“Ask Evelyn.”
“Mother said she did not know.”
“Your mother has always been the better liar.”
The laptop speakers activated.
Marcus appeared on the screen beside the glass enclosure.
“Bring the memory card to the old family house before midnight.”
Detective Bennett spoke toward the camera.
“You are surrounded.”
Marcus smiled.
“No, Detective. Daniel is surrounded.”
Red laser points appeared across Bennett’s coat and my chest.
People were hidden in the forest outside.
Father removed her weapon and placed it on the table.
“Richard,” she said, “this ends with prison.”
He looked almost amused.
“You still believe your department is outside my foundation.”
A vehicle approached the cabin.
Mother entered carrying the original memory card in a plastic evidence bag.
I stared at Detective Bennett.
“The police had that.”
Mother gave a tired smile.
“Not all police officers work for justice.”
Father reached for the card.
She pulled it away.
“You do not receive this until Megan and the children are released.”
For the first time, my parents looked like enemies.
Father’s smile disappeared.
“You were told to bring Daniel.”
“I brought him.”
Mother turned toward me.
“I never saved you from the crash because I loved you more.”
The room became silent.
“I saved you because Megan was carrying another child.”
I could barely speak.
“What child?”
Mother looked toward the medical cabinet.
May you like
“A son.”
Continue to the next part: Daniel learns Megan was pregnant during the crash, and the missing child may be the real reason she was kept alive.
