CHAPTER 10 — THE HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS
Claire refused to wait until ten o’clock.
At 4:20 a.m., she drove toward the Gray Tide estate with Rebecca and Evelyn following in another car.
Olivia had specifically warned her not to bring Rebecca.
That was exactly why Claire brought her.
The estate stood behind twelve-foot iron gates surrounded by dense trees.
No exterior lights were visible.
The main house had stone walls and narrow windows covered from inside.
Rebecca parked half a mile away.
“There’s an old delivery road behind the property,” she said. “It leads to the basement.”
“You’ve been inside?”
“For eleven months.”
Claire turned toward her.
“You lived here?”
“I was kept here.”
Rebecca’s voice held no emotion.
That frightened Claire more than tears would have.
Evelyn handed Claire a small recording device.
“Keep this beneath your coat.”
“If we find Lily, we leave immediately.”
“And Olivia?” Evelyn asked.
Claire looked toward the house.
“If she helps us, she comes too.”
Rebecca gave a bitter laugh.
“Olivia never helps anyone unless it benefits her.”
They entered through a damaged section of fence.
The delivery road led to a metal basement door.
It was unlocked.
Inside, a narrow corridor smelled of dust and cleaning chemicals.
Rebecca moved as though she remembered every turn.
They passed a kitchen, a storage room, and a small office filled with surveillance monitors.
Most screens were dark.
One displayed the bedroom where Lily had been photographed.
The room was empty.
Claire rushed to the console.
“Where is she?”
Another camera showed Mason speaking with Daniel in the upstairs study.
A third showed Olivia standing alone in a hallway.
She looked directly toward the camera.
Then she raised one hand and pointed left.
“She knows we’re here,” Claire said.
“She may have invited us into a trap,” Rebecca replied.
A door opened upstairs.
Claire heard footsteps.
They moved through the basement and climbed a service staircase.
At the top, Olivia waited in a gray sweater and jeans.
The silver bracelet remained around her wrist.
Claire wanted to rip it off.
Instead, she asked one question.
“Where is Lily?”
Olivia’s lips trembled.
“Mason moved her.”
“You said she was here.”
“She was.”
“Where did he take her?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire stepped closer.
“You have ten seconds before I start screaming.”
Olivia glanced toward the study.
“He found the message I sent you.”
“How?”
“He installed software on my phone.”
Rebecca emerged from the staircase.
Olivia’s face went white.
“You brought her.”
Rebecca looked at the silver bracelet.
“You always did like taking things that belonged to other women.”
Olivia ignored her.
“We need to leave.”
“Not without Lily,” Claire said.
“Mason sent her with Dana.”
Claire stopped.
“Dana?”
“He said Lily would be safer with someone she trusted.”
Claire took out her phone.
She had six missed calls from Dana.
She called back.
Dana answered in a whisper.
“Claire?”
“Where is my daughter?”
“I have her.”
Claire nearly collapsed with relief.
“Is she safe?”
“Yes, but something is wrong.”
“What?”
“Lily keeps saying there was another woman in the house.”
Claire looked at Olivia.
“What woman?”
“She says the woman knew your name and had your necklace.”
Claire touched the gold pendant at her throat.
“Where are you?”
Dana gave her the address of a roadside motel.
Claire turned toward the stairs.
Then Mason’s voice came through the house’s speaker system.
“Leaving already?”
Every door locked at once.
Olivia closed her eyes.
“He knows.”
Mason appeared on the security monitor in the basement office.
He was no longer in the study.
He was standing outside Dana’s motel room.
Claire raised the phone.
“Dana, lock the door.”
“What?”
“Lock it now!”
A knock sounded through Dana’s phone.
Lily spoke in the background.
“Daddy’s here.”
“Do not open it,” Claire ordered.
Mason’s voice came faintly through the line.
“Dana, Claire asked me to pick Lily up.”
Dana whispered, “He knows where we are.”
The motel room door shook.
Claire looked toward Olivia.
“Get these doors open.”
“I can’t.”
Rebecca pulled a metal fireplace tool from the wall and struck the nearest window.
The first blow cracked the glass.
The second created a hole.
An alarm began screaming.
Claire climbed through without waiting for the remaining glass to be cleared.
Her sleeve tore, but she kept moving.
She ran toward the front gate.
Behind her, Olivia shouted her name.
Claire reached the road and called Dana again.
No answer.
She called a second time.
The line connected.
Claire heard Lily crying.
Then Mason spoke.
“You should have signed the papers.”
The call ended.
A new message arrived.
It contained a photograph of the empty motel room.
On the bed lay Lily’s pink jacket.
Beside it sat Claire’s mother’s gold necklace.
Claire touched her own throat.
May you like
Her pendant was still there.
The two necklaces were identical.
