Chapter 3 - The Night Everything Went Wrong
Detective Cole drove while two county deputies followed in an unmarked SUV.
Sarah sat beside me in the back seat. She had insisted on coming because my father had given her a second envelope, one she had left at the hospice.
“It’s a medical record,” she explained. “Thomas said it might prove Abigail’s identity.”
I looked at her.
“You had more evidence?”
“I didn’t know what was inside until Detective Cole gave me permission to open it.”
“What does it say?”
She handed Marcus a photocopied laboratory report.
Marcus glanced at it at a red light.
“DNA analysis.”
My pulse raced.
“Whose?”
“Abigail’s and Victor Hale’s,” Sarah said. “It says Victor is not her biological father.”
I stared at the paper.
“So he knew.”
“The test was dated two weeks after she disappeared.”
Marcus gripped the steering wheel.
“Victor kidnapped a child to prove paternity. Then kept her after learning she wasn’t his.”
“Why?”
“No one keeps a kidnapped child for five years without a reason.”
I thought of Rebecca.
“He did it for her.”
Sarah lowered her voice.
“Your father believed Rebecca couldn’t have children.”
“She had surgery when she was twenty-seven. The doctors told her pregnancy would be difficult, not impossible.”
“Did she want children?”
“More than anything.”
Memories returned with painful clarity.
Rebecca holding Abigail at her first birthday.
Rebecca buying her expensive dresses.
Rebecca joking that Abigail looked more like her than me.
At the time, I had thought she was simply an affectionate aunt.
Now each memory felt poisoned.
Marcus called the Redfield County sheriff and arranged for officers to meet us near the lake.
“No sirens,” he instructed. “We don’t want anyone at the cabin alerted.”
My phone vibrated.
A text from Daniel.
I heard about your father. I’m sorry. Do you need anything?
Daniel and I had divorced two years after Abigail disappeared.
We had loved each other, but grief had turned every room in our house into a battlefield.
He blamed my father.
I defended him.
Daniel wanted to keep searching.
I became obsessed with theories that led nowhere.
Eventually, we could barely look at each other without remembering the child who should have been standing between us.
I typed:
The police may have found evidence Abigail is alive.
I hesitated before pressing send.
The phone rang almost instantly.
“Claire?”
Daniel’s voice cracked.
“Where are you?”
“On the way to Pine Lake.”
“I’m coming.”
“Daniel, the police are with me.”
“I asked where you are.”
I gave him the route.
Marcus looked at me in the mirror.
“Was that her father?”
“Yes.”
“You should have waited.”
“He has the right to know.”
“He also has the ability to turn this into chaos.”
“Daniel won’t interfere.”
Marcus said nothing.
That was not agreement.
We arrived near Pine Lake shortly after sunset.
The lake was larger than I expected, surrounded by dense woods and private vacation properties. Fog hovered above the water.
A sheriff’s deputy met us beside a closed bait shop.
“Cabin 17 is part of an old rental complex on the eastern shore,” he said. “Most units are empty this time of year.”
“Who is registered there?” Marcus asked.
“According to county records, Helen Price uses it as a private residence.”
“Any children enrolled nearby?”
“One girl. Ten years old. Name is Lily Price. Homeschooled.”
My chest tightened.
“Lily?”
The deputy nodded.
“Birth records list Helen as her grandmother. Parents deceased.”
“It’s Abigail,” I said.
Marcus held up a hand.
“We still need confirmation.”
A black pickup pulled into the lot.
Daniel jumped out before the engine stopped.
He was thinner than when I had last seen him. His hair was longer, and the grief that had once made him look angry now made him look exhausted.
He crossed the gravel toward me.
“Tell me everything.”
I handed him the photograph.
He stared at it for several seconds.
“That’s her.”
“Daniel—”
“That is our daughter.”
Marcus stepped between us.
“We are approaching the property carefully. Neither of you leaves this area until we secure the cabin.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You had five years.”
Marcus did not flinch.
“And tonight I have one chance to bring her out safely.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“What if they move her?”
“We have officers watching the road and shoreline.”
“What about boats?”
The deputy answered. “Patrol unit is on the water.”
A radio crackled.
“Vehicle approaching Cabin 17. Blue sedan. Two occupants.”
I grabbed Marcus’s sleeve.
“Rebecca?”
The officer listened.
“Female driver. Male passenger.”
“Victor,” I said.
Marcus drew his weapon and addressed the deputies.
“We move now.”
Daniel started forward.
Marcus pointed at him.
“You stay here.”
“That’s my daughter.”
“And the people holding her may be dangerous.”
“So am I.”
I stepped in front of Daniel.
“Please.”
He looked at me, furious and terrified.
“Claire—”
“If you rush in, they could use her as leverage.”
His expression changed.
I had finally said the one thing capable of stopping him.
He stepped back.
Marcus and the deputies disappeared into the trees.
The next three minutes felt longer than the previous five years.
Then a gunshot cracked through the woods.
Daniel ran.
I ran after him.
Sarah shouted our names, but neither of us stopped.
Branches struck my face as we followed the narrow trail toward the lake.
Cabin 17 appeared through the trees.
Its front door stood open.
A deputy was crouched behind a vehicle.
Marcus shouted, “Get back!”
Another shot came from inside the cabin.
Daniel pulled me behind a pine tree.
“Abigail!” I screamed.
A girl appeared in an upstairs window.
Only for a second.
She had long brown hair and a pale face.
Then someone dragged her away.
“Abigail!” Daniel shouted.
A woman’s voice screamed from inside.
“Her name is Lily!”
Rebecca stepped onto the porch holding the girl against her chest.
She pressed a pistol beneath the child’s chin.
My sister’s face looked nothing like the woman who had stood beside me at our father’s coffin that morning.
“Put the gun down!” Marcus ordered.
Rebecca backed toward the railing.
“You don’t understand.”
The child was trembling.
I stepped from behind the tree.
“Abigail.”
Her eyes found mine.
Confusion crossed her face.
Rebecca tightened her grip.
“Don’t call her that.”
“Let her go.”
“She is my daughter.”
“No,” I said. “She is my daughter, and you stole her.”
The girl looked up at Rebecca.
“Mom?”
The word struck me, but I did not look away.
Rebecca kissed the top of her head.
“I’m your mother, Lily. Don’t listen to them.”
Victor appeared behind them.
Blood stained his shoulder, but he held another gun.
“Get the car,” he told Rebecca.
Marcus aimed at him.
“You will not reach it.”
Victor smiled.
“You’re standing between a desperate mother and her child.”
I looked at my sister.
“You’re not her mother.”
Rebecca’s face twisted.
“You never deserved her.”
Daniel stepped beside me.
“You destroyed all of us.”
“I saved her,” Rebecca shouted. “Claire was miserable. You two were fighting. Dad was old and careless. Abigail needed someone who wanted her.”
“I wanted her every second of every day.”
“You had everything!” Rebecca screamed. “Dad loved you more. Victor loved you more. Then you had a child while I had nothing.”
Victor turned toward her.
“Rebecca, stop talking.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You said the DNA test would prove she was ours.”
“I said get the car.”
“And when it didn’t, you wanted to send her back.”
Victor’s eyes hardened.
“Be quiet.”
Rebecca looked at me.
“I begged him to let me keep her.”
The girl began crying.
“Mom, I’m scared.”
Rebecca’s expression softened.
“It’s all right, baby.”
“No,” I said quietly. “It has never been all right.”
I took another step.
Marcus warned me to stop.
I ignored him.
“Abigail, when you were little, you had a rabbit named Captain Blue.”
The girl stared at me.
“You couldn’t sleep unless he was under your left arm.”
Rebecca shook her.
“Don’t listen.”
“You hated peas, but you loved strawberry pancakes. Your favorite song was ‘You Are My Sunshine.’ Your daddy used to change the words and sing, ‘You are my Abby.’”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“You would laugh every time.”
The girl looked at him.
Then at me.
Her lips parted.
“I know that song.”
Rebecca began pulling her toward the steps.
Victor raised his gun.
Everything happened at once.
The girl twisted away.
Rebecca lost her grip.
Daniel lunged forward.
Victor aimed at him.
And from behind the cabin, Helen Price struck Victor’s arm with a fireplace poker.
The gun fired into the roof.
Marcus and the deputies rushed the porch.
Rebecca screamed as an officer pulled her away from the child.
Victor fell beneath two deputies.
I ran up the steps.
The girl stood frozen beside the railing.
I stopped several feet from her.
Every part of me wanted to hold her.
But she did not know me.
Not yet.
“My name is Claire,” I said through my tears. “I’m your mother.”
She stared at my face.
Then she whispered, “Why didn’t you come sooner?”
I fell to my knees.
“Because I didn’t know where you were.”
Her chin trembled.
“Did you stop looking?”
“Never.”
Daniel knelt beside me.
“Not for one day.”
The girl looked from him to me.
Behind us, officers placed Rebecca and Victor in handcuffs.
May you like
Then Abigail took one uncertain step forward.
And placed her hand in mine.
