Chapter 14 - The Burning Decoy
The marine unit found no bodies in the lake.The boat had been rigged with fuel cans and a remote ignition. Ethan had left it on autopilot before escaping in a second vessel hidden beneath the dock.The waterproof case contained a live feed from Rowan’s hospital sensor.“He has been routing the signal through the lake house,” the technician said. “The baby is somewhere else.”Madison sat on the floor of the boathouse because her legs had stopped obeying her.“The cannery,” she said.Reyes shook her head. “We have officers there.”“Not if the message was sent from the lake house.”“He could be anywhere.”Madison played the recorder again. Ethan’s voice had been edited, but beneath it she heard a second sound: a train horn.“There’s a freight line near Unit fourteen,” she said.Nora checked the map. “The cannery is beside the old rail spur.”Reyes issued new orders.They reached the cannery at 3:40 a.m. Its windows were boarded, and rainwater poured through holes in the roof. A single light glowed inside Unit fourteen.Madison remained in the car until Reyes returned.“We found a room,” the detective said. “There are blood traces.”Madison opened the door.“No.”“You can’t go in.”“I can identify what belongs to me.”“You can identify it from photographs.”“If Rowan is there, she needs me.”Reyes looked toward Nora.Nora said, “She’s going in.”The room smelled of bleach and metal. A medical cot stood against one wall. Beside it was a portable oxygen unit, a tray of syringes, and a camera aimed at the bed.Blood had soaked into the cot’s mattress.Madison reached toward it.“Don’t touch,” Reyes said.Madison did not need to touch. She recognized the floral fabric beneath the blood.“That’s my nightgown.”The one she had worn the morning of the emergency. It had disappeared from the hospital laundry.On the far wall, a projector displayed a series of photographs. Madison asleep. Madison showering. Madison sitting in the nursery with her hands over her face.The images were not from the house cameras.They were from hidden lenses inside ordinary objects.“He documented a narrative,” Nora said.“He documented my life.”“No. He documented what he wanted a court to believe.”A door slammed somewhere beyond the room.Reyes drew her weapon. “Stay behind me.”They followed a corridor into a storage area. A television played a live image of Rowan in an incubator.Madison ran toward it.“That’s the hospital,” she said.The image shifted. Rowan was not in the neonatal unit. She was in a private room with blue walls.“Where is that?” Reyes asked.Madison recognized the wallpaper. “Patricia’s guest suite.”“At the lake house?”“At her main residence.”The image cut to Ethan.He sat in a chair beside the baby, speaking directly to the camera.“Madison, you wanted proof,” he said. “Here it is. Your daughter is alive because I made difficult choices. Bring the original server to Patricia’s house, and this ends.”Madison stepped close to the screen. “Why are you doing this?”“Because you won’t accept the truth.”“The truth is that you tried to kill us.”“The truth is that you were going to destroy everything I built.”“You built a prison.”“I built protection.”“You built a room under the nursery.”His expression shifted. “You were never supposed to find that.”“Owen did.”At the sound of Owen’s name, Ethan looked away.Madison saw it. The flinch. The involuntary tightening around his mouth.“You killed him,” she said.The image froze.Then Ethan’s voice came through the speakers.“Bring the server.”The screen went black.Reyes inspected the equipment. “We can trace the live feed.”“He’ll move her.”“We need a warrant for Patricia’s house.”“Patricia is already in custody.”“Then we use her property records.”Madison picked up a small object from beneath the cot. It was a brass key engraved with a number.14.Owen’s recording had mentioned a private key.On the reverse side, someone had scratched three words.Forty-eight hours only.Madison looked at the time.The cloud archive from the morning of the emergency had expired.But the key suggested another archive was about to disappear.
