Chapter 9 - The Lake House
Ethan remembered none of it.
He sat in the back of an unmarked SUV while Chen coordinated teams on two roads leading to the property.
"Grant knows the house," Ethan said. "There's an old boat entrance under the east deck."
Chen relayed it.
When they arrived, the front door was open.
Inside, a lamp burned in the living room.
No Lily.
No Grant.
Then Ethan saw a pink sock at the top of the basement stairs.
He moved before Chen could stop him.
"Lily!"
A muffled cry answered.
He ran down.
Lily sat behind a locked wine-cellar gate, wrists bound loosely with a scarf.
"Daddy!"
Ethan dropped to his knees and reached through the bars.
"I'm here. I'm right here."
Chen cut the lock.
Lily threw herself into Ethan's arms.
"He said Nora told him to bring me here."
"Who?"
"A man named Travis."
Chen's eyes narrowed. "Travis Keene? Grant's former security contractor?"
Lily nodded.
"He left when he heard sirens."
On the basement desk sat a laptop.
Still open.
Maya arrived ten minutes later and stared at the screen.
It contained a draft email from Grant's account to the board.
ETHAN MERCER INVOLVED IN DAUGHTER'S DISAPPEARANCE.
Attached were photos of Ethan entering the abandoned warehouse.
"They were building a kidnapping story around you," Maya said.
Ethan held Lily tighter.
Chen opened another folder on the laptop.
Bank transfers.
Payments to Travis.
Payments to Dr. Vale.
Payments to a private laboratory.
Then one older transfer caught Ethan's attention.
Dated three years earlier.
Two days before his first wife Claire died in a car crash.
Recipient: Travis Keene.
Description: VEHICLE SERVICE.
Ethan stopped breathing.
Lily looked up at him.
"Daddy?"
He stared at the screen.
Nora had not even been his wife then.
But Grant had known her.
May you like
And suddenly Ethan had a new question.
Was the tea really where this story began?
