Chapter 7 - THE NOTE

"She was right here," Clara kept saying, over and over, as if saying it would make Lily reappear. "I turned my back for one minute. To get water. And when I came back—"

"Clara," I said, gripping her shoulders. "Breathe. Tell me exactly what happened."

Clara steadied herself, hands trembling. "Someone knocked. I thought it was you. I opened the door a crack. A man. He said he was from the police. That you’d been hurt. That he was sent to get Lily. I hesitated… and then I heard your voice from the driveway. I turned to call you… and when I looked back, he was inside. He grabbed her. Covered her mouth. And he was gone before I could scream."

She handed me a scrap of paper she’d found on the floor. Written in bold, clean handwriting:

*You want the girl? Bring the memory card. Bring Elena’s signed confession. Come alone. No police. If you follow, if you tell anyone… you bury her. Meet me at midnight. The old boathouse on the north shore. Come. Or she dies.*

The boathouse. Another place from our childhood. Hidden, isolated, accessible only by water or one narrow road. Perfect for what he had planned.

I went to the officers. I showed them the note. I told them everything.

The lead officer—Detective Hayes—read the note, then looked at me. "Bennett… if you go in alone, he’ll kill you both. We should surround the place. Negotiate. Wait for daylight."

"He’ll kill her if I wait," I said. "He expects me. If I don’t show… he’ll make good on his threat."

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Hayes studied me. Then he sighed. "We’ll be there. Out of sight. Listening. If he makes one wrong move… we go in. But you stay alive. Understand? For your daughter."

I nodded. I took the card. I took Elena’s signed statement—smuggled to me by her lawyer minutes earlier—and I drove toward the lake.