Chapter 12 - Empty Crib
Adrian ran faster than the police cars.
He burst into the nursery.
The crib was empty.
The nanny lay unconscious beside the rocking chair.
Maya grabbed the baby blanket from the floor.
"He's warm. They just took him."
On the changing table, a bottle had been knocked onto its side. Milk still dripped from the nipple. Maya touched the crib sheet and found a small muddy print near the rail, too narrow for a man's dress shoe. Beside it lay one crushed white petal.
"Orchid," Adrian said.
Evelyn grew white orchids only in one place on the estate.
The abandoned greenhouse.
Adrian looked like he might break apart, but Maya caught his face in both hands.
"Listen to me. She wants you panicking. Don't give her that."
Brooks entered with an officer carrying the baby monitor.
The signal was local.
Within half a mile.
They split into teams.
Maya remembered the estate's abandoned greenhouse behind the orchard. Evelyn hated it. No cameras. No staff.
They found the back door open.
Inside, beneath rows of dead vines, Caleb cried from a portable crib.
Adrian rushed toward him.
"Wait," Maya said.
A wire stretched across the floor.
Brooks followed it to a canister near the heater.
Gasoline.
The greenhouse had been rigged to burn if the door opened fully.
Adrian's hands shook.
Maya crawled through a side window and reached Caleb without touching the wire.
She lifted him carefully.
"I have you, sweetheart."
A slow clap sounded from the far end of the greenhouse.
Evelyn stepped from behind a partition holding a pistol.
"You really are useful," she told Maya.
Adrian moved between them.
"Put it down."
Evelyn smiled at her son.
"You chose a maid over your own mother."
"I chose the person who kept my son alive."
Her expression hardened.
"Then you'll die with her."
May you like
She raised the gun.
And someone behind her said, "No, Evelyn. You first."
