Chapter 6: The Girl Who Was Never Lost
Ethan stood in the middle of the sitting room with the telephone pressed against his ear.
For several seconds, he waited for the woman to call back.
Nothing happened.
He slowly lowered the receiver.
“Get me the number,” he told Mrs. Collins.
She shook her head.
“The operator said the call came through a blocked line.””
“Then find the switchboard records.””
“Yes, sir.””
“Now.””
Mrs. Collins hurried away.
Ethan turned toward Sabrina.
“You knew Evelyn was alive.””
Sabrina stared at the floor.
“You knew she was alive,” he repeated, “and you let me believe my wife had kept an entire child hidden from me.””
“I didn't know where she was.””
“But you knew she existed.””
“Yes.””
“Did you know she was going to call tonight?””
“No.””
“Did you know she was the person behind the syringe?””
Sabrina looked up sharply.
“No.””
Grace watched her carefully.
For once, the woman's fear seemed real.
It didn't make her innocent.
It only meant there was something else she was afraid of.
Ethan paced toward the fireplace.
“My wife left a recording, a photograph, a hidden compartment, and a letter. A man broke into my house and grabbed my daughter. And now a woman claiming to be Margaret's child has called me to say she has something to tell me.””
He turned toward Sabrina.
“Tell me what is happening.””
Sabrina rubbed her palms against her gown.
“I don't know everything.””
“Start with what you do know.””
She looked toward the doorway, where two police officers were speaking with Marcus.
Then she lowered her voice.
“Evelyn wasn't simply placed with another family. Margaret arranged for her to be raised under a different name. She believed that if the father ever found her, he would use the child to control her.””
“Who was the father?””
Sabrina swallowed.
“Your older brother.””
Ethan stopped breathing.
Grace stared at her.
“What?””
Sabrina looked at Ethan.
“Daniel Hawthorne.””
The name seemed to strike him physically.
“No.””
“Ethan—”
“My brother died twelve years ago.””
“I know.””
“He died in a car accident.””
“That was what the family was told.””
Ethan's face hardened.
“What are you saying?””
Sabrina took a shaky breath.
“Daniel didn't die in that accident.””
The room seemed to tilt.
Ethan gripped the back of a chair.
“You're lying.””
“I wish I were.””
“My brother's funeral was attended by half the city.””
“There was a closed casket.””
“Because the car caught fire!””
Sabrina flinched at his shout.
Grace moved closer to Lily, who was watching the adults with frightened eyes.
Ethan lowered his voice.
“Explain it.””
Sabrina looked at the floor.
“Daniel had been involved with people who moved money through private companies. When the authorities began investigating, he disappeared. Your father helped arrange the funeral because he believed Daniel would never be safe if anyone knew he was alive.””
“My father died believing his eldest son was dead.””
“He believed it was the only way to protect the family.””
Ethan shook his head.
“Why would Margaret know any of this?””
“Because Daniel came back.””
“When?””
“Six years ago.””
The date matched the hospital photograph.
Sabrina continued.
“Margaret was already pregnant when Daniel reappeared. He claimed he wanted to see his daughter. She refused. He began threatening her, demanding access to Evelyn and insisting that the child belonged to him.””
Ethan's face twisted with disgust.
“Then why didn't she tell me?””
“She was afraid you would confront him.””
“I would have.””
“Exactly.””
Sabrina looked up.
“You would have gone to the police, hired investigators, and dragged Daniel's name into every newspaper. If he had people working for him, he would have known immediately. Margaret believed the safest thing she could do was keep the secret from you.””
Ethan stared at her.
“And you helped her?””
“At first.””
“What changed?””
Sabrina's expression hardened.
“Daniel found out where Evelyn was living. Margaret moved the child again, but someone betrayed the arrangement. The family who had been caring for Evelyn disappeared from the address. Margaret never learned where the girl went.””
Grace remembered the photograph of the little girl in the yellow cardigan.
“Why would Margaret keep a photograph if she didn't know where Evelyn was?””
“Because she had received it shortly before she died.””
Sabrina looked at Grace.
“That's what the letters were about. Margaret had been receiving photographs and messages from someone who claimed Evelyn was safe. She believed the messages were genuine.””
“And you?”” Grace asked.
Sabrina hesitated.
“I believed them too.””
“Until when?””
“Until I discovered that the handwriting on one of the letters matched a document Daniel had signed years earlier.””
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
“So the messages were coming from him.””
“Yes.””
“He knew where Evelyn was.””
“I believe he did.””
“And you brought a syringe into my house because you were afraid he would come for Lily?””
Sabrina looked away.
“He told me Lily was the key to finding Evelyn. He said Margaret had hidden something inside one of Lily's belongings.””
Ethan glanced at his daughter.
“What thing?””
“I don't know.””
“Then why did you agree to help him?””
Sabrina's composure finally broke.
“Because he threatened me!””
Her voice echoed through the sitting room.
“He told me that if I refused, he would expose everything I had done for him. He knew about my accounts, my business dealings, and every person I had ever paid to keep quiet. He said he would destroy my life.””
Ethan stared at her.
“So you decided to drug my daughter.””
“I was supposed to give her something mild. Just enough to make her sleep while I searched her room.””
“You were going to drug a nine-year-old child.””
“I wasn't going to hurt her!””
“You don't get to decide what counts as hurting my daughter!””
Sabrina recoiled.
For a moment, she looked as if she might argue again.
Then she sank into a chair and covered her face.
Grace felt no sympathy.
Not after Lily's trembling hands.
Not after the syringe.
But Sabrina's confession had opened a much larger wound.
Daniel Hawthorne was alive.
And he had been hiding somewhere, waiting for an opportunity to reach a child he had never been allowed to raise.
Ethan turned toward Grace.
“Where is Lily's room?””
“Upstairs, on the west side.””
“Has anyone searched it?””
“No.””
“Then we're going there.””
Grace nodded.
They found Lily sitting on the edge of her bed, with Mrs. Collins beside her. The little girl had changed into her pajamas, but her gala dress lay crumpled on the floor beside the wardrobe.
When Ethan entered, Lily jumped up.
“Daddy!””
He gathered her into his arms.
“I'm here, sweetheart.””
“Are the police taking Sabrina away?””
“Yes.””
“Will she come back?””
Ethan hesitated.
“Not tonight.””
Lily buried her face against his chest.
Grace stood near the doorway, watching them.
Ethan had spent years trying to give his daughter a normal childhood after losing Margaret. He had kept her surrounded by beautiful things, enrolled her in the best school, and hired people he trusted to look after her.
Yet someone had managed to turn his own home into a place where his child was afraid to sleep.
He pressed a kiss to Lily's forehead.
“I need to ask you something, sweetheart. It's about Mommy.””
Lily pulled back.
“Did I do something wrong?””
“No.”” Ethan's voice broke.
“Never think that.””
He knelt in front of her.
“Did Mommy ever give you something special? Something she told you to keep safe?””
Lily frowned.
“Like my ribbon?””
Grace looked down at the silver ribbon in her hand.
“We found a key inside it,” she said gently.
“Do you remember how it got there?””
Lily touched the ribbon's frayed edge.
“Mommy gave it to me the night before she died.””
Ethan went very still.
“What did she say?””
Lily looked toward the window.
“She told me that if a woman in a gold dress ever came to our house, I should give the ribbon to Grace.””
Grace felt a chill travel down her spine.
Ethan looked at her.
“Why didn't you tell me this earlier?””
Lily began twisting her fingers together.
“Because Mommy said it was a secret. She said I shouldn't tell anyone until I saw the gold dress.””
Grace crouched in front of her.
“Did she tell you why?””
Lily nodded.
“She said the ribbon would help Grace find the room where the truth was sleeping.””
Ethan looked toward the door.
“The nursery.””
Lily shook her head.
“No, Daddy.””
She reached beneath her pillow and pulled out a small wooden rabbit.
It was old, with chipped white paint and one missing ear.
Grace recognized it from the photograph of Evelyn.
The little girl in the yellow cardigan had been holding the same toy.
Lily pressed the rabbit into her father's hand.
“Mommy gave me this too. She said I had to keep it until my sister came home.””
Ethan stared at the toy.
“Your sister?””
Lily nodded.
“Mommy told me I had a sister who was lost, but she wasn't really lost. She was waiting for us to find her.””
Grace felt tears sting her eyes.
Ethan turned the rabbit over.
A tiny brass screw held the wooden body together.
He examined it carefully, then used a coin to loosen the screw.
Inside the hollow body was a folded slip of paper.
Ethan opened it.
Three lines had been written in Margaret's handwriting.
*Evelyn is alive.*
*Daniel knows where she is.*
*If he returns, do not trust the man who brings him home.*
Ethan read the message twice.
Then a knock sounded at the bedroom door.
Marcus entered, his expression grim.
“Sir, the police have taken Sabrina into custody. Julian Cross is being questioned separately.””
Ethan nodded.
“What else?””
Marcus hesitated.
“We found a vehicle registered to a company connected to Daniel Hawthorne parked outside the estate.””
“Where is the driver?””
“Gone.””
“Do we have the registration?””
“Yes, sir.””
Marcus handed him a sheet of paper.
Ethan scanned it.
The vehicle had been registered under a name he didn't recognize.
But the company listed as its owner was familiar.
It belonged to a private investment firm that had been dissolved more than a decade earlier.
Daniel's firm.
Ethan looked up.
“Where was the vehicle parked?””
“Near the north gate.””
“Was anyone inside?””
“No, sir. But we found a phone on the passenger seat.””
Marcus handed him an evidence bag.
Inside was a black mobile phone.
The screen lit up.
A new message appeared.
*You have the rabbit. Good.*
A second message followed.
*Now bring it to the old boathouse before midnight, or Evelyn dies.*
Ethan stared at the screen.
Grace read the message over his shoulder.
Lily began crying.
“Daddy, we have to find my sister.””
Ethan slipped the phone into his pocket and looked at Grace.
Outside, the first drops of rain began tapping against the windows.
May you like
He had less than three hours.
And somewhere in the darkness, a man who had been dead for twelve years was waiting for his family to come looking for him.
