Chapter 11 - The Lighthouse
Owens would not let Daniel simply get on a plane and start knocking on doors in Maine.
For once, he listened.
Investigators traced the photograph to a lighthouse near a small coastal town called Port Avery.
Then they found something better.
A library card.
Issued to Claire Sutton nine months earlier.
Used as recently as six weeks ago.
Daniel cried when Owens told him.
Not loudly.
He sat down on the courthouse steps and covered his face with both hands.
“My girl is alive.”
Nobody corrected him.
For the first time, there was a real reason to believe it.
But there was also a problem.
Calvin Ross had used a credit card at a gas station ninety miles from Port Avery three days earlier.
He was moving toward her.
Owens coordinated with federal agents.
Mark wanted to go.
I told him no.
“You’ve spent fourteen months trying to do everything yourself.”
“I can help.”
“You can help by staying where the police know you are.”
He looked at me, then nodded.
That small surrender meant more than another apology.
Daniel flew east with investigators.
I went home to Ethan.
For two days, nothing happened.
On the third morning, Ethan crawled into my bed at 5:42.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Is Daddy in trouble?”
I pulled him close.
“Daddy made some mistakes.”
“Did he hurt the lady?”
The question broke my heart.
“No.”
“Then why was everybody mad?”
“Because sometimes people can hurt each other by being scared and not telling the truth.”
He thought about that.
“Like when I broke your mug and hid it?”
Despite everything, I laughed.
“Kind of. Just much bigger.”
At 6:18, my phone rang.
Daniel.
I answered immediately.
He could not speak.
All I heard was crying.
“Daniel?”
Then a woman’s voice came on the line.
Soft.
Shaky.
“Mrs. Bennett?”
My entire body went cold.
“Yes?”
“My name is Chloe Shaw.”
I closed my eyes.
She was alive.
May you like
But her next sentence erased every bit of relief.
“You need to get Ethan out of your house right now.”
