PART 10 — THE ADDRESS
I stared at Rebecca Hale’s message until the words blurred.
AARON, DO NOT TRUST THE POLICE.
COME ALONE.
I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR MOTHER.
Below it was an address.
A small house twenty minutes outside town.
Detective Owens held out his hand.
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
His expression hardened.
“Aaron.”
“She says she knows what happened to Claire.”
“And she also told you not to trust law enforcement.”
“Maybe she has a reason.”
Owens looked at me for a long second.
“Or maybe someone wants you isolated.”
Lily grabbed my arm.
“Mom, don’t go.”
I looked at her.
She had been through more in twelve hours than any fifteen-year-old should ever experience.
Police at our door.
Her grandparents framing her.
A stranger entering her bedroom.
A photograph of us sleeping.
And now the possibility that my attorney was actually Emily Collins—the baby my mother had lost thirty years earlier.
“I’m not going anywhere without you knowing where I am.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
Lily’s voice cracked.
“I said don’t go.”
Before I could answer, another message arrived.
YOU HAVE FIFTEEN MINUTES.
AFTER THAT I LEAVE.
Owens read it over my shoulder.
“This is bait.”
“What if it isn’t?”
“Then we approach it safely.”
“She specifically said come alone.”
“That is exactly why you shouldn’t.”
Dad spoke from beside the cruiser.
“Aaron.”
I turned.
His wrists were still cuffed.
He looked exhausted.
“Don’t go.”
That surprised me.
“You think Rebecca is dangerous?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Dad’s eyes moved toward the address on my phone.
“Because I know that house.”
Everyone went silent.
Owens stepped closer.
“You recognize the address?”
Dad nodded.
“Daniel owned it.”
My stomach dropped.
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“What was it?”
“A safe house.”
My mother whispered, “Richard…”
Dad ignored her.
“Daniel used it when something went wrong.”
I looked at my phone.
“So Rebecca is at one of Daniel’s properties.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dad shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Owens immediately turned to an officer.
“Get units moving. Quiet approach. No lights.”
I stepped forward.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“She asked for me.”
“That doesn’t make it safe.”
“She may be Emily.”
Owens’s expression softened slightly.
“And if she is, I understand why you want answers.”
“Then you understand why I’m going.”
He stared at me for a moment.
Then finally said, “You stay with me.”
Lily immediately said, “I’m coming too.”
“No.”
“Mom—”
“No.”
“After everything today, you’re leaving me?”
That stopped me.
I looked at my daughter.
She wasn’t asking because she wanted excitement.
She was terrified I would disappear.
I held her face gently.
“You’re staying with Grandma and an officer.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Lily.”
“What if he comes for me?”
My mother whispered, “I won’t let anything happen.”
Lily looked at her.
“You already did.”
Mom flinched.
Lily immediately looked guilty.
But she didn’t take the words back.
Because they were true.
Owens said, “Lily can remain with two officers at a secure location.”
I nodded.
“That’s what we’ll do.”
Lily hugged me suddenly.
Hard.
“Come back.”
I closed my eyes.
“I will.”
Twenty-three minutes later, Detective Owens and I were sitting in an unmarked car across from a small weathered house surrounded by pine trees.
Two more vehicles waited farther back.
The house looked abandoned.
No lights.
No visible movement.
Owens checked his weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
We approached the front porch.
The door was already open.
Owens pushed it wider.
“Police.”
Nothing.
We entered.
The house smelled like dust and old wood.
Then I heard a voice.
“Aaron?”
Female.
From somewhere deeper inside.
My heart stopped.
“Rebecca?”
Owens raised a hand, signaling me to stay back.
We moved toward the kitchen.
And there she was.
Rebecca Hale.
My attorney.
Standing beside a table.
But she looked nothing like the composed woman I had spoken to on the phone.
Her hair was messy.
Her coat was torn.
A bruise darkened one side of her face.
In her hand was a pistol.
Owens immediately raised his weapon.
“Drop it.”
Rebecca looked at him.
Then at me.
“Of course you brought him.”
“Put the gun down.”
“I’m not pointing it at anyone.”
“Put it down.”
Rebecca slowly placed the pistol on the table.
Owens moved forward and secured it.
I stared at her.
“Are you Emily?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
Just one word.
And somehow it carried thirty years inside it.
“Emily Collins?”
She nodded.
“My mother’s daughter?”
“Yes.”
My throat tightened.
“How do you know?”
“Because Rebecca Sloan told me.”
“The woman at the nursing facility?”
“She found me fifteen years ago.”
“Why didn’t she tell my mother?”
“She was terrified.”
“Of Daniel?”
“Yes.”
I stepped closer.
“Why did you become my attorney?”
Rebecca gave a broken laugh.
“Because I spent fifteen years looking for you.”
My breath caught.
“You knew who I was?”
“Not at first.”
“When did you know?”
“Three years ago.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I had no proof strong enough.”
“You could have said something.”
“And told you what? Hello, I think you were stolen from a hospital and I might be the child your mother actually gave birth to?”
She shook her head.
“You would’ve thought I was insane.”
“Maybe.”
“I needed evidence.”
“So you waited.”
“Yes.”
“For three years?”
Her eyes filled.
“I watched you from far away.”
Something about those words bothered me.
“Watched me how?”
“Public records. Social media. Your company website.”
Owens asked, “Did you ever go to Aaron’s house?”
Rebecca looked at him.
“No.”
“Did you take the photograph left on Lily’s bed?”
Rebecca’s face changed.
“What photograph?”
I believed her instantly.
The confusion was too real.
“Someone was inside my house.”
Rebecca’s face went white.
“Daniel.”
Owens asked, “Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You told Aaron to come here.”
“Because Daniel contacted me.”
My stomach tightened.
“When?”
“This morning.”
“What did he say?”
“That he knew who I was.”
Rebecca’s voice started shaking.
“He said he knew I was Emily.”
“Did you know him?”
“No.”
“Had you ever met him?”
“Not knowingly.”
“What did he want?”
“He told me to bring you here.”
Owens looked around.
“So this is a trap.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No. He wanted Aaron here alone.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Then a floorboard creaked upstairs.
Owens’s head snapped toward the ceiling.
He raised his weapon.
“Stay here.”
He moved toward the stairs.
Rebecca whispered, “There shouldn’t be anyone upstairs.”
Another creak.
Then a voice drifted down.
“You were always terrible at following instructions, Emily.”
Rebecca froze.
I felt every hair on my arms rise.
A man appeared at the top of the staircase.
Late fifties.
Gray at the temples.
Calm eyes.
Dark coat.
He didn’t look like a monster.
That was somehow worse.
He looked ordinary.
Daniel Mercer smiled at me.
“Hello, Aaron.”
Owens raised his weapon.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Daniel lifted both hands slowly.
“No problem.”
“Come down.”
He did.
One step at a time.
His eyes never left mine.
When he reached the bottom, he smiled again.
“You look like Claire.”
My stomach twisted.
“You killed her.”
His smile disappeared.
“Who told you that?”
“No one had to.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Then where is she?”
Daniel looked at Rebecca.
“That’s why we’re here.”
Owens moved between us.
“Hands behind your head.”
Daniel obeyed.
“You’re under arrest.”
“For what?”
Owens began listing charges.
Daniel laughed.
Then he said something that made Owens stop.
“If you arrest me now, Claire dies.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Daniel looked directly at me.
“Your mother is alive.”
CONTINUE READ NEXT PART… 👇
