Chapter 13 - The Lake House
Madison did not go to the cannery. She went to the lake house.Reyes objected until Madison explained the map’s pulsing signal. The sensor connected to Rowan’s hospital device was not in the cannery. It was broadcasting from the lake.“If he has the baby there, he’s using the system to make us chase the wrong location,” Madison said.“Or he wants you to think that.”“Then we verify.”The road narrowed as they left the city. Rain struck the windshield in hard silver bursts. Nora drove. Reyes followed in an unmarked car with two officers.Madison sat in the back, holding Owen’s phone.“If we find Rowan,” Nora said, “you stay behind the officers.”“I know.”“Do you?”“I’m not going to trade myself for my daughter.”“That’s what I’m afraid you’ll do.”“I spent two days locked inside a house while my body failed. I’m not giving Ethan another decision.”The lake house appeared through the trees, dark and enormous. Ethan had inherited it from Charles, along with the property surrounding it. One upstairs window glowed.Reyes signaled the officers. They approached the front door.It opened before they reached it.Ethan stood inside holding Rowan.Madison’s heart stopped.The baby was wrapped in a pink blanket, a clear tube beneath her nose. Her eyes were closed.“Put her down,” Reyes ordered.“She’s receiving care,” Ethan replied.“Put the child down.”“You’ll shoot me?”“Don’t test me.”Ethan looked at Madison. “Come inside.”“No.”“Then your daughter stays here.”Madison saw the tube and the pale skin around Rowan’s mouth. “What did you do?”“She had another episode.”“You caused it.”“You can’t prove that.”The officers moved closer.Ethan pulled a small device from his pocket. The screen displayed Rowan’s oxygen level.It began to fall.Madison heard the alarm from the device. Ethan had connected it to the house speaker.“Stop,” she said.“Come inside.”“You’re manipulating the monitor.”“I’m monitoring her.”“You’re killing her.”“I’m keeping her alive.”Reyes raised her weapon. “Place the device on the floor.”Ethan smiled. “If I lose the connection, the pump stops.”Nora whispered, “Is that possible?”Madison watched the numbers. They were changing too smoothly, dropping by exactly one point every second.“It’s fake,” she said.Ethan’s smile faltered.“The sensor is simulating a decline,” Madison continued. “He wants us to believe the pump is linked.”Reyes shouted, “Take him!”Ethan slammed the door.The officers broke through. Inside, the house was empty except for a life-sized video projection of Ethan holding Rowan. The image flickered and vanished.On the floor lay a recording device.Madison ran upstairs despite the pain in her abdomen. The glowing window belonged to a television playing a loop. There was no baby.Reyes found a hidden door behind the linen closet. A stairwell led to a boat dock.At the end of the dock, a speedboat pulled away.Ethan stood at the controls. Rowan was strapped into a carrier beside him.“Ethan!” Madison screamed.He turned.The boat accelerated into the rain.Reyes called the marine unit. Nora held Madison back as she tried to run to the water.“He has her.”“We’ll get her.”“He has her!”The lake swallowed the boat’s lights.Madison dropped to her knees.Then Owen’s phone vibrated.A message appeared.You came to the wrong house.Another followed.Look beneath the dock.Reyes and an officer descended the wet steps. Beneath the dock, wedged between the supports, they found a waterproof case.Inside was a newborn monitor, a bundle of blankets, and a small recorder.The monitor beeped.The display showed Rowan’s oxygen level at ninety-eight.Madison seized the recorder and pressed play.Ethan’s voice spoke from the darkness.“If you’re hearing this, you finally understand. I never needed to take the baby. I only needed you to believe I had.”The recording ended.Madison looked across the black water.“He does have her,” she said.Reyes shook her head. “The signal is coming from the house.”“Then who was in the boat?”Far out on the lake, the speedboat exploded in a sheet of orange flame.
