Chapter 7 - The House Without Curtains
Lily remembered the route in fragments.
A gas station with a giant red rooster.
A white church beside railroad tracks.
A water tower with the word BELMONT painted across it.
Thomas combined those details with property records connected to Rebecca.
By midnight, he found the house.
It belonged to a shell company.
Rebecca had purchased it two months after Denise died.
Cash.
The property sat outside a small Wisconsin town less than fifteen miles from Lake Michigan.
Detective Ruiz arranged a warrant.
I wanted to go.
She said no.
I argued.
She said no again.
Lily ended the argument.
“I can show you where the box is.”
Ruiz stared at her.
“You’re not entering until officers clear the property.”
“That’s fine.”
So the next morning, we followed law enforcement north.
Daniel stayed with Sophie at the hotel.
I sat beside Lily in the back of Thomas’s SUV.
As we approached the town, she became quiet.
Then the water tower appeared.
Her hand grabbed mine.
“That’s it.”
“You’re safe.”
She stared through the window.
“I know.”
But her hand kept shaking.
The house stood at the end of a narrow road surrounded by bare trees.
Gray siding.
Detached garage.
No curtains.
Lily’s breathing changed.
I squeezed her hand.
“We can leave.”
“No.”
“You don’t have to prove anything.”
“Yes, I do.”
Officers entered first.
Nobody was inside.
When Ruiz finally allowed us through the front door, Lily stopped on the threshold.
I watched my daughter become smaller.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Her shoulders folded.
Her eyes dropped.
Her breathing became shallow.
I stood beside her.
“Tell me what you need.”
She whispered, “Don’t walk behind me.”
“Okay.”
I moved to her side.
We entered together.
The living room was nearly empty.
One couch.
One table.
No family photographs.
The kitchen cabinets contained canned food and little else.
Then Lily showed us the pantry.
There was a lock on the outside.
I stared at it.
“What was this?”
She didn’t answer.
She didn’t need to.
I stepped away because I was afraid I might destroy the door with my bare hands.
Ruiz photographed everything.
Upstairs, Lily showed us a bedroom.
A thin mattress rested on the floor.
The window had been screwed shut.
Scratch marks scarred the wooden frame.
My chest tightened.
“I tried to open it.”
I touched the marks.
“You did all this?”
“With a spoon.”
I closed my eyes.
My daughter had spent nights scraping at a window with a spoon while I slept in a house with twelve rooms.
I hated myself for the thought even though I knew it made no sense.
Lily must have seen something in my face.
“You didn’t put me here.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
“She did.”
I nodded.
“You’re right.”
That mattered.
The blame belonged where it belonged.
Rebecca.
Nobody else.
The blue metal box was hidden beneath loose boards in the bedroom closet.
Lily pointed.
“Under there.”
An officer lifted the boards.
There it was.
Blue.
Rust along one corner.
Broken handle.
Ruiz photographed it before opening it.
Inside was my past.
The yellow dress.
A tiny white shoe.
Copies of missing-person flyers.
Photographs of Lily sleeping as a toddler.
A disposable cell phone.
Several envelopes.
And a letter.
My name was written across the front.
AMELIA.
My hands trembled.
Ruiz opened it using gloves.
The letter was from Denise.
It had never been sent.
Amelia,
If you are reading this, then I finally did one decent thing.
Rebecca told me she only needed Lily overnight.
She said nobody would be hurt.
I believed her because I needed the money.
I have hated myself every day since.
I covered my mouth.
Lily stared at the paper.
Ruiz continued reading aloud.
Connor was supposed to make the demand.
When he was arrested, Rebecca panicked.
I told her we had to return Lily.
She said if we did, all three of us would go to prison.
She paid me to leave Illinois.
I accepted.
There is no excuse.
My daughter closed her eyes.
The letter continued.
Years passed.
Lily began asking questions.
Rebecca told me never to let her see the news.
She said Amelia had moved on.
I knew that was a lie.
I saw your interviews.
I saw you crying.
I still did nothing.
I am sorry.
I whispered, “Keep reading.”
Ruiz hesitated.
Then continued.
There is one thing Rebecca never told anyone.
The kidnapping was not only about money.
She hated you.
She believed your father loved you more.
She believed the company, the trust, and everything else would eventually belong to Lily.
She said taking Lily would break you enough that you would stop being the favorite.
My stomach turned.
Daniel had always said Rebecca resented me.
I called it sibling rivalry.
I had no idea hatred could grow teeth.
The last paragraph was worse.
When I became sick, I told Rebecca I would return Lily myself.
She threatened to kill me before she let that happen.
If anything happens to me, look at Connor.
He has recordings.
The room went silent.
Thomas immediately turned toward Ruiz.
“Connor.”
She was already calling.
Rockford police had arrested him that morning.
Possession of a stolen vehicle.
Fraudulent credit card.
But now we knew he had something else.
Recordings.
Evidence Rebecca believed still existed.
Hours later, Ruiz called from the station.
Connor had made a deal.
He wanted protection and reduced charges.
In exchange, he gave investigators access to a cloud storage account.
Dozens of recordings.
Calls.
Arguments.
Voicemails.
One was from three weeks earlier.
Rebecca’s voice was unmistakable.
“If the girl talks, everything ends.”
Connor laughed.
“You should’ve returned her ten years ago.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You mean you wouldn’t.”
Then Rebecca said the sentence that finally destroyed every excuse she could ever make.
“I took her to punish Amelia. The money was just a bonus.”
Lily listened beside me.
I wanted to turn it off.
She shook her head.
“No.”
Rebecca continued on the recording.
“She ruined my life without even trying. Dad gave her everything. The company. The house. His respect. Then she had Lily and suddenly there was another perfect little princess.”
Connor said, “She was two.”
Rebecca replied, “And Amelia loved her more than she loved anyone.”
The recording ended.
Lily stared at the laptop.
Then she looked at me.
“She hated me because you loved me.”
“No.”
I took her face carefully in my hands.
“She hated herself.”
Lily’s eyes filled.
“You were never the reason.”
My phone rang.
Ruiz.
I answered immediately.
“Did Connor give you anything else?”
Her voice was tense.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“A location.”
My heart began pounding.
“Rebecca contacted him this morning.”
I stood.
“Where is she?”
May you like
Ruiz paused.
“At your father’s old lake house.”
