[CHAPTER 13]
The backup recording gave prosecutors enough to intensify the search for Claire.
But Claire was still free.
And desperate people do dangerous things when every exit is closing.
Bennett placed deputies around Blackwood and my mother’s home.
I kept Ethan close.
Michael stayed with us.
For the first time in years, my brother and I sat at the same kitchen table.
Neither of us knew how to begin.
Finally, Michael said, “Laura called me the night she died.”
I looked up.
“I know.”
“No. After that recording.”
My chest tightened.
“What?”
“At 8:12 the next morning.”
“Why didn’t you tell Bennett?”
“I did today.”
I stared at him.
“What did she say?”
Michael looked toward Ethan, who was playing outside with my mother.
“She said her car had been moved.”
“What?”
“She left it near the barn. That morning it was parked near the front drive.”
My heartbeat quickened.
“Who moved it?”
“She didn’t know.”
“Did she mention Claire?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“That Claire texted her an apology and asked her to meet before Laura called the police.”
“Where?”
“The foundation office.”
Laura’s crash happened on the road leading there.
Michael continued.
“I told her not to go.”
“Why did she?”
“She said she wanted Claire to confess in writing.”
I closed my eyes.
Laura had been trying to build the case herself.
Always determined.
Always believing preparation could defeat danger.
“What happened next?”
“She said she would call me afterward.”
“She never did.”
“No.”
I looked at my brother.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
His eyes filled.
“Because after she died, I tried to call you.”
I remembered.
I had ignored him.
“I left messages.”
“I deleted them.”
“I came to the funeral.”
“I told security not to let you near me.”
Michael looked down.
“I thought you blamed me for distracting her.”
“I blamed everyone.”
“Including yourself?”
I could not answer.
He nodded.
“Laura knew you did that.”
“What?”
“She told me you carried every mistake like evidence against yourself.”
My eyes burned.
“She said one day Ethan would need you to forgive yourself for being human.”
I looked through the window at my son.
Maybe Laura had known me better than I knew myself.
My phone rang.
Bennett.
“We have Claire.”
I stood.
“You arrested her?”
“Not yet. We have her location.”
“Where?”
He hesitated.
“Near your mother’s street.”
My blood froze.
I ran outside.
“Ethan!”
He turned from Atlas’s fence.
“Dad?”
“Inside.”
The tone of my voice made him move immediately.
Michael followed.
Bennett arrived minutes later.
Claire had abandoned the gray ranch truck three blocks from my mother’s home.
No sign of her.
“She’s watching us,” I said.
“Probably.”
“Why?”
Bennett looked toward Ethan.
“Leverage.”
My stomach twisted.
“No.”
“We won’t let her reach him.”
But Claire knew our family.
She knew my mother.
Michael.
Sam.
The ranch.
Every place Ethan might feel safe.
I wanted to move him to a hotel.
Bennett disagreed.
“Unfamiliar location can create different risks. We can secure the ranch.”
Ethan overheard.
“I want to stay.”
I looked at him.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked toward Atlas.
“Because this is my home.”
I nodded.
“Then we stay.”
That evening, Michael cooked dinner badly.
Ethan laughed when he burned the bread.
My mother complained about the smoke alarm.
For twenty minutes, we felt almost normal.
Then the phone rang.
Landline.
No one used it anymore.
I answered.
Claire.
“Nice family dinner?”
My blood turned cold.
I looked at the windows.
Curtains closed.
“How do you know?”
She laughed.
“You should really stop assuming every camera belongs to you.”
Bennett had warned us about hidden devices.
Deputies searched immediately.
They found one outside the kitchen window.
Small.
Battery-powered.
Claire had placed it days earlier.
Ethan began shaking when he understood.
“She watched us?”
I crouched.
“It’s gone.”
“She was watching me eat?”
“Yes.”
His face changed.
Anger replaced fear.
“That’s weird.”
Despite everything, I almost laughed.
“Yes.”
“It’s really weird.”
“Yes.”
He crossed his arms.
“I hate her.”
I did not tell him not to.
He had a right to his feelings.
“You’re allowed to be angry.”
“I’m not supposed to hate.”
“Feelings are not rules.”
He considered that.
“Can I hate what she did?”
“Absolutely.”
“That’s what I mean.”
Then Bennett’s deputy entered.
“We found another device.”
“Where?”
“Barn.”
My stomach dropped.
“Which stall?”
“Midnight.”
We ran out.
The device was attached beneath the old nameplate.
Next to it was a note.
Ethan recognized Claire’s handwriting.
I opened it.
You keep finding Laura’s secrets.
Try finding your own son.
My body went cold.
I turned.
“Ethan?”
He was not beside me.
“Ethan!”
Michael looked around.
“He was right here.”
My mother screamed his name.
We ran toward the house.
Back door open.
A deputy shouted from the driveway.
“Movement at the south fence!”
I ran.
My lungs burned.
Then I heard Ethan crying.
Beyond the fence line, a woman was dragging him toward an old sedan parked beneath the trees.
Claire.
“Ethan!”
He fought her.
She turned.
Our eyes met.
For one second, she froze.
Then she shoved Ethan into the back seat.
I ran faster.
The car started.
Bennett’s vehicle tore across the pasture.
Claire accelerated toward the service road.
I reached the fence too late.
“Dad!”
Ethan’s face appeared in the rear window.
Then the sedan disappeared through the trees.
I stood in the dirt, unable to breathe.
Bennett stopped beside me.
“We will find him.”
I grabbed his jacket.
“You bring my son home.”
“We will.”
“No.”
May you like
My voice broke.
“You bring him home alive.”
