Chapter 7 - THE HOUSE ACROSS THE LAKEMrs. Parker’s house stood twenty minutes from the Cole estate.
Small.
White.
Quiet.
It looked like the kind of home where nothing terrible had ever happened.
Flowers near the porch.
A bicycle beside the garage.
Children’s chalk drawings on the driveway.
Mara saw the drawings and stopped walking.
A blue stick figure.
A taller woman.
And a bird.
The silver bird symbol.
Adrian saw it too.
Thomas whispered, “Federal team is two streets away.”
Adrian nodded.
They approached the door.
Mara knocked.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then a child screamed inside.
Mara pushed past Adrian.
The door was unlocked.
She entered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then running footsteps.
A little boy appeared at the end of the hallway.
Three, maybe four years old.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
He stared at Mara.
She stared back.
There was something painfully familiar about his face.
Not Owen.
Different features.
But the same expression Owen made when frightened.
Mara crouched.
“Elias?”
The boy’s eyes widened.
He ran.
“Wait!”
They followed him into the kitchen.
Mrs. Parker stood there.
A knife in her hand.
Not raised.
She had been cutting apples.
She looked at Adrian.
Then Mara.
Then Thomas.
Her shoulders dropped.
“Oh,” she whispered.
“You found us.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Put the knife down.”
Mrs. Parker looked at it as if she had forgotten she was holding it.
She placed it on the counter.
Elias hid behind her legs.
Mara could barely speak.
“You knew.”
Mrs. Parker nodded.
“You knew Emily.”
“Yes.”
Mara’s eyes filled.
“Where is she?”
Mrs. Parker closed her eyes.
“I don’t know.”
Mara’s hope fell.
“When did you last see her?”
“Eighteen months ago.”
Cassandra had told the truth.
“What happened?”
“She came here at midnight.”
Mrs. Parker lifted Elias into her arms.
The child buried his face against her shoulder.
“She had been moving constantly for years.”
“With him?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she contact me?”
“She wanted to.”
Mara shook her head.
“No.”
“She wrote you hundreds of times.”
“Then where are the letters?”
“She burned them.”
Mara’s anger exploded.
“Why?”
“Because every person she contacted became a risk.”
“I’m her sister!”
“That’s exactly why.”
Mara stepped backward.
Adrian touched her arm.
She pulled away.
Mrs. Parker continued.
“Emily loved you enough to let you hate her.”
Mara began crying.
“She thought I hated her?”
“She thought it would be easier than you getting killed.”
That silenced her.
Elias peeked over Mrs. Parker’s shoulder.
Adrian stared at him.
“Does he know who he is?”
“He knows he’s Elias.”
“Does he know Jonathan?”
“No.”
“Claire?”
Mrs. Parker hesitated.
“He knows Aunt Claire.”
Adrian reacted.
“She has been here?”
“Twice.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
“And?”
“This morning.”
Adrian went still.
“She came here after entering my house.”
“Yes.”
“Where is she now?”
Mrs. Parker shook her head.
“She didn’t tell me.”
“Why did she go to the nursery?”
“I don’t know.”
Mara looked around.
“How are you involved?”
Mrs. Parker sighed.
“My daughter was seventeen when Haven House found her.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“Pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“They promised help.”
Mrs. Parker’s voice trembled.
“Instead, they tried to convince her that signing adoption papers was her only option.”
“What happened?”
“She changed her mind.”
Mrs. Parker looked toward Elias.
“They told her it was too late.”
Mara whispered, “They took the baby.”
“Yes.”
“Did you find the child?”
“No.”
Tears appeared in Mrs. Parker’s eyes.
“My daughter died two years later without ever knowing where her son went.”
Adrian lowered his voice.
“I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t want sympathy.”
Mrs. Parker looked at him.
“I wanted revenge.”
She had taken the job in his house for the same reason Mara had.
Answers.
Secrets were becoming crowded beneath Adrian Cole’s roof.
“Did Claire recruit you?” Mara asked.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After Owen arrived.”
“You’ve been protecting him.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you tell Adrian?”
Mrs. Parker gave him a sad look.
“Claire didn’t trust him.”
Adrian flinched.
“Why?”
Mrs. Parker stared at him.
“Because somebody inside your federal unit was Shepherd.”
Thomas stiffened.
Adrian slowly turned toward him.
Thomas lifted both hands.
“Don’t.”
Mrs. Parker continued.
“Claire didn’t know who.”
Adrian looked back.
“Did she suspect me?”
“No.”
That seemed to hurt him even more.
“Then why keep me in the dark?”
“Because your phone was monitored. Your office was monitored. Your house was monitored.”
Mara thought about the hidden repeater.
“By someone inside the task force.”
Mrs. Parker nodded.
A sound came from the living room.
Everyone turned.
The television switched on by itself.
Static.
Then a live image.
The Cole mansion.
Nursery.
Mara whispered, “They still have access.”
The camera view changed.
Pool.
Kitchen.
Adrian’s office.
Then Mrs. Parker’s kitchen.
Their kitchen.
Mara looked upward.
A tiny lens sat inside the smoke detector.
Thomas reached for it.
Mrs. Parker shouted.
“Don’t!”
Too late.
The television went black.
Then text appeared.
THANK YOU FOR BRINGING HIM HOME.
Mrs. Parker clutched Elias.
“What does that mean?”
A vehicle engine roared outside.
Thomas ran to the window.
Black SUV.
No plates.
Adrian shouted, “Back room!”
Glass shattered in the front of the house.
Federal agents rushed from both directions.
Chaos filled the driveway.
Mara grabbed Elias from Mrs. Parker and carried him toward the rear bedroom.
Adrian followed.
They locked the door.
Elias did not cry.
That frightened Mara.
A four-year-old child who knew how to stay silent during danger had learned that lesson too early.
Mara held him.
“It’s okay.”
He looked at her.
“You’re Mara.”
Her heart stopped.
“How do you know my name?”
“Emmy has your picture.”
“Emmy?”
“My mommy.”
Mara could not breathe.
“Emily?”
Elias nodded.
“She said you’re her sister.”
Mara sank to the floor.
“Where is she?”
The boy looked confused.
“I don’t know.”
“When did you see her?”
He held up fingers.
Children’s time meant little.
“Was it recently?”
He nodded.
Mrs. Parker whispered, “Elias…”
The child reached inside his shirt.
Around his neck was a tiny cloth pouch.
He opened it.
A key.
Mara recognized it.
Emily’s apartment key.
The one Mara had given her when she moved out at nineteen.
“Where did you get this?”
“Mommy.”
“When?”
He thought.
“Yesterday.”
Mara stopped breathing.
Mrs. Parker stared at him.
“What?”
“Yesterday?”
Elias nodded.
“She came when you went to the store.”
Mrs. Parker almost dropped into the chair.
“Emily was here yesterday?”
“She said secret.”
Mara laughed and cried at once.
Emily was alive.
Not eighteen months ago.
Yesterday.
Adrian crouched beside Elias.
“What did Emily say?”
The boy looked at him.
“She said bad people were coming.”
“What else?”
“She said give Mara the key.”
“Why?”
Elias shrugged.
Mara turned the key over.
Tape covered one side.
She peeled it away.
Tiny numbers had been etched into the metal.
A storage locker number.
And underneath—
A date.
Tomorrow.
Mrs. Parker whispered, “Why tomorrow?”
Mara did not know.
Outside, federal agents announced the SUV had escaped.
Thomas entered the room.
“They left something.”
“What?”
He handed Adrian a photograph.
Taken minutes earlier.
Owen inside the federal vehicle.
Agent Morales beside him.
Adrian’s face changed.
“Where is my son?”
Thomas touched his radio.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Adrian ran outside.
The protection vehicle carrying Owen was gone.
So was Agent Morales.
A message appeared on Adrian’s phone.
ONE BOY FOR THE OTHER.
MIDNIGHT.
Mara looked at Elias.
Then at Adrian.
The meaning was clear.
May you like
Shepherd had Owen.
And they wanted Elias back.
