Chapter 10 - THE BOY IN THE CAR
Daniel put the call on speaker.
Detective Ruiz motioned everyone to stay silent.
"Noah."
Daniel kept his voice calm.
"Can you tell me what you see?"
Noah breathed unevenly.
"Trees."
"A road."
"Anything else?"
"A big water tower."
Ruiz began typing.
"What color?"
Daniel asked.
"White."
"It has a bird on it."
Ruiz found a location.
A rural highway east of the lake.
Police units moved.
Daniel continued talking.
"Noah, who is with you?"
"Aunt Melissa."
"Anyone else?"
"A man."
"What man?"
"The one with the red ring."
Emily closed her eyes.
Victor.
Daniel heard movement.
Then Victor's voice came through the phone.
"Give me that."
Noah cried out.
The call ended.
Ruiz looked at the map.
"We have maybe twenty minutes."
They raced toward the highway.
State police established a roadblock.
Victor never reached it.
His vehicle turned down an old logging road.
A helicopter spotted it minutes later.
When officers reached the abandoned SUV, Melissa was inside.
Unconscious.
Noah and Victor were gone.
Melissa was alive.
At the hospital, she woke three hours later.
Her first words were.
"He'll kill the boy."
Ruiz leaned closer.
"Where did Victor take him?"
"I don't know."
Melissa looked at Daniel.
"I didn't want this."
"You kept a child in my basement."
Tears rolled down her face.
"Claire made me."
"Claire doesn't make everyone do everything."
Melissa flinched.
Daniel continued.
"Where is Noah's mother?"
Melissa looked toward Ruiz.
"I want a lawyer."
Ruiz stood.
"Then this conversation ends."
Melissa panicked.
"Wait."
Everyone stopped.
Melissa whispered.
"She's alive."
Daniel stared at her.
"Who?"
"Noah's mother."
"Where?"
Melissa hesitated.
"Victor keeps her somewhere private."
"Why?"
"Because she knows everything."
Daniel looked at Emily.
Emily seemed equally shocked.
Melissa continued.
"Her name is Rebecca Lane."
"She used to keep financial records for him."
"Six years ago, she copied the accounts."
"Victor thought she gave them to Noah's father."
"What happened to him?"
Melissa looked down.
"He died."
"Accident?"
Melissa said nothing.
That was answer enough.
Then Sarah noticed something.
"If Rebecca is alive, why does Victor still need Noah?"
Melissa looked terrified.
"Because Rebecca never told him where the master file was."
Daniel remembered the message scratched in the basement.
CHECK THE BLUE HOUSE.
"We searched the cabin."
Melissa shook her head.
"Not that blue house."
Daniel felt cold.
"What blue house?"
Melissa whispered.
May you like
"The dollhouse."
Everyone looked toward Sophie.
