Chapter 15 - The Farmhouse
They reached northern Michigan after dark.
Fire crews had already knocked down most of the flames.
Daniel jumped from the car before it stopped.
“Laura Mercer!” he shouted.
A firefighter blocked him.
“Nobody was found inside.”
Daniel almost collapsed with relief.
Then he saw the blood on the porch.
Officer Kim arrived twenty minutes later with state police.
The farmhouse had been searched before it burned. Drawers emptied. Mattress cut open. Floorboards pried up.
Emma stood beside Daniel under a blanket.
“She got away.”
“How do you know?”
Emma pointed to the garden fence.
A blue ribbon had been tied around one post.
Daniel stared.
His mother used to tie blue ribbons on his backpack so he could recognize it at school.
Rachel covered her mouth.
“She left that for you.”
Under the ribbon was a small plastic bag.
Inside: a key, a bus ticket, and a note.
DANIEL - I SAW YOU ON THE NEWS AFTER ROBERT DIED. I WANTED TO CALL. I WAS AFRAID SAMUEL WOULD FIND EMMA. IF THE HOUSE BURNS, GO WHERE I TOOK YOU THE SUMMER YOU TURNED NINE.
Daniel read it twice.
Emma asked, “Where?”
He remembered a lake.
A small white church.
His mother teaching him to skip stones.
“Lake Arden.”
Martin shook his head. “That place closed years ago.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You said you didn’t know where she was.”
“I didn’t.”
“You knew this place.”
“I drove them here once.”
State police shouted from the tree line.
They had found a man unconscious beside a burned SUV.
Not Samuel.
One of his hired men.
In the vehicle was a printed map of Lake Arden.
Emma looked at Daniel.
“He knows where she’s going.”
May you like
Daniel stared into the dark road.
“So do we.”
