Chapter 12 - THE CABIN
Ethan did not remember getting into Claire's car.
He remembered the smell of Rachel's laundry room. A hand over his mouth. Claire whispering, "Don't make this harder."
Then the back seat.
Then trees.
Now he sat inside a small fishing cabin while rain ticked against the windows.
Claire paced with two phones.
"Your father is ruining everything," she said.
Ethan said nothing.
"Do you understand me? Everything."
He stared at the floor.
Road signs. Water towers. Bridges. Smells.
He had seen a green sign through the car window.
HOLLOW CREEK - 6 MILES.
He had smelled pine smoke when they stopped.
And he had counted two railroad crossings.
Claire crouched in front of him.
"Your dad thinks he can take you from me."
Ethan finally looked up. "I was never yours."
Her face changed.
For a second, he saw the woman from the storm.
Then the smile returned.
"You sound like Lily."
Ethan's hands clenched.
Claire stood and walked outside to take a call.
That was his chance.
On the table sat a box of crayons, probably left by another family. Ethan grabbed the black one and wrote on the underside of a paper plate:
HOLLOW CREEK. TRAIN TWICE. CABIN. RED ROOF.
He slipped the plate through a gap behind the wood stove where it fell outside near the foundation.
Then he heard Claire return.
He sat down fast.
She studied him.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
Claire stepped closer.
Her phone rang again.
She answered.
A man's voice came through loud enough for Ethan to hear.
Not Owen.
"The brother got picked up," the man said. "You need to move the boy now."
Claire went pale.
"Where?"
"Same place we discussed. Before Daniel finds out I helped you."
Ethan held his breath.
He knew that voice.
He had heard it at his house many times.
May you like
It belonged to Rebecca Sloan.
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