CHAPTER 6 THE WOMAN WITH ELENA’S FACE
Daniel searched every room himself.
Police searched the grounds.
Security officers examined the tunnels.
Mara had vanished from a mansion surrounded by armed guards without appearing on a single camera.
The window in Lily’s bedroom was locked from the inside.
The hallway had remained occupied.
No one had seen a child leave.
Lily stood in the center of her room, staring at the photograph.
“She was here.”
Daniel checked beneath the bed and inside the closet.
“No one is going to touch you.”
“She already came into my room.”
Elena examined the photograph.
The scarred woman’s face was turned toward the camera.
She appeared to know she was being photographed.
On her wrist was a silver bracelet engraved with a name.
ISABEL.
Elena whispered the word.
“My mother once said that name in her sleep.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You remember that?”
“I was twelve. She woke up crying. When I asked who Isabel was, she told me it was someone she had failed.”
Clara entered carrying a laptop.
“I found the source of the photograph.”
“Where was it taken from?”
“A camera hidden inside Lily’s desk lamp.”
Daniel ripped the lamp from the desk and smashed it against the wall.
A tiny transmitter rolled across the floor.
Clara knelt beside it.
“This system has been broadcasting for months.”
“To whom?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Lily moved closer to Elena.
“Did Isabel take Mara?”
Elena put an arm around her.
“We don’t know whether Isabel is the woman in the picture.”
“But you think she’s your sister.”
“I think someone wants us to believe that.”
Clara connected the transmitter to her computer.
A list of archived recordings appeared.
The device had captured Lily sleeping.
Reading.
Talking to her parents.
Crying after nightmares.
One file had been accessed repeatedly.
The date was the day Lily burned the notebook.
Daniel felt sick.
“They’ve been watching her healing.”
Clara opened the network path.
The signal connected briefly to an external server.
A map appeared.
St. Agnes Academy.
Then the connection disappeared.
Daniel picked up his coat.
“We’re going there.”
Clara blocked the door.
“That is what they want.”
“They took a child.”
“They may want you to leave Lily.”
Daniel looked toward his daughter.
He knew Clara was right.
Elena spoke quietly.
“I’ll stay with Lily.”
“No,” Lily said.
Daniel crouched in front of her.
“This isn’t a punishment. I need to know you’re safe.”
“I was safe here yesterday.”
The words struck him harder than anger would have.
Lily continued.
“You told me to speak when something feels wrong. Everything feels wrong.”
Daniel held her hands.
“Tell me what you need.”
“I need you to stop deciding that I can’t understand because I’m a child.”
Elena sat beside them.
“Then we explain everything. But you do not go to St. Agnes.”
Lily looked between her parents.
“Okay.”
Daniel knew the agreement had cost her courage.
He respected it.
Clara received an incoming message.
A video file.
The screen showed Mara sitting in a dark room.
Her wrists were tied to a chair, but she appeared uninjured.
A woman stood behind her.
Only her hands were visible.
She placed a blue cup on the table.
Mara looked toward the camera.
“They want the brass map.”
Daniel leaned toward the screen.
“Who are they?”
The unseen woman touched Mara’s shoulder.
Mara began reciting words as if she had memorized them.
“The map opens the ledger. The ledger opens the names. The names open the families.”
The video ended.
A second message appeared.
MIDNIGHT.
ST. AGNES.
BRING SUBJECT 200.
Daniel’s blood turned cold.
Elena shook her head.
“They want Lily.”
Clara closed the laptop.
“They’re not getting her.”
A loud knock came from the bedroom door.
Marcus entered.
His expression was tense.
“Daniel, there’s been an attack at the prison.”
“Nathan?”
“He survived.”
Daniel released a breath.
“But there’s a problem.”
“What?”
“The injured man in Nathan’s cell wasn’t Nathan.”
Silence filled the room.
Marcus continued.
“Your brother disappeared during the transfer to the medical wing.”
Daniel looked toward the screen where Mara’s image had been.
Nathan had warned him.
Then someone claimed Nathan had revealed Lily’s bedroom.
Now Nathan was gone.
Lily’s phone vibrated on the bed.
A message had arrived from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of Nathan standing beside Mara’s chair.
He was holding the Whitmore signet ring.
May you like
Beneath the image were five words.
YOUR BROTHER CHOSE HIS FAMILY.
