Chapter 5 - Fire in the Hall
Smoke filled the stairwell in seconds.
"Window," Ethan said.
Claire grabbed the lockbox while he yanked the rope ladder through the open bedroom window.
Below them, flames climbed the kitchen wall.
"You first," he said.
"My ribs—"
"Claire, go!"
She swung one leg over the sill and nearly blacked out from the pain.
Ethan steadied her.
"I've got you."
"No, you don't. That's the problem with this family. Everyone thinks they can hold on to people by hiding things."
He flinched.
"We can fight later. Climb."
Claire made it down five rungs before the rope jerked.
Someone below had grabbed it.
She looked down.
A man in a dark cap stood at the base of the wall.
He pulled a knife and started cutting the rope.
"Ethan!"
Ethan leaned out the window.
"HEY!"
The man sliced through one side.
Claire dropped the lockbox. It hit the ground, burst open, and papers scattered across the wet grass.
The man ran.
Claire jumped the last few feet and landed hard.
Pain exploded through her side.
Ethan came down behind her just as the upstairs window blew outward in a burst of heat.
They staggered away from the cottage.
The stranger disappeared into the trees.
"Did you see his face?" Claire gasped.
"No."
They gathered what papers they could before flames reached the back wall.
One photo had landed in a puddle.
Claire wiped mud from it.
It showed Mara holding a newborn girl.
Behind her stood a much younger Vanessa.
And beside Vanessa was Ethan's father, Richard Bennett.
On the back was a date.
Two days after Emma's birth.
Ethan stared at it.
"My father knew."
Sirens rose in the distance.
Claire looked toward the woods.
For one second she saw movement between two pine trees.
A blue sweater.
"Emma!"
She ran despite the pain.
Ethan followed.
But when they reached the trees, the child was gone.
Only a small wooden box sat on the ground.
Inside was a cheap prepaid phone.
It started ringing.
Ethan answered.
A woman's voice whispered through static.
"If you want to see your daughter alive, stop asking about Mara."
Ethan gripped the phone.
"Who is this?"
The woman gave one ragged breath.
Then Claire recognized her voice.
May you like
It belonged to Vanessa's mother.
