We left the hospital through the underground entrance.
Reyes insisted on using an unmarked vehicle.
Mercer drove.
Claire sat in the back beside me.
Tyler stayed behind with a security officer, furious but unable to follow because of his injuries.
Before we left, he had taken my hand.
“Come back.”
“I will.”
He looked at Reyes.
“Bring her back.”
Reyes nodded.
“I will.”
Rain struck the windshield as we drove toward the old neighborhood.
Nobody spoke for several minutes.
Then Claire said, “We have less than an hour.”
Mercer checked the clock.
“Thirty-eight minutes.”
“Then we need to stop assuming the person inside the department wants Lily dead.”
Mercer glanced at her through the mirror.
“You think they want something else?”
“They want the recording.”
“The one showing what happened to Lily's father.”
“Yes.”
“And what's on it?”
Claire looked at me.
“The name of the person who ordered the attack.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
Claire shook her head.
“I never heard the name.”
“But Lily's father did.”
“He recorded everything.”
“And the memory card?”
“Contains the recording.”
Mercer tightened his hands around the steering wheel.
“Then why take Lily back to the house?”
Claire answered quietly.
“Because the person who took her believes Amanda knows where the second half is.”
I stared at her.
“What second half?”
“The written evidence.”
“The file?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“The photographs.”
My mind went back to the wooden box.
The photographs.
The letters.
The missing pages.
The photograph of Daniel, Frank, Claire, and Lily.
“What did we miss?”
Claire sighed.
“Your old house had a hidden compartment.”
“We found the wall.”
“Not the whole wall.”
Mercer slowed the car.
“What do you mean?”
“The blue room has two cavities.”
I looked at him.
“One behind the bookcase.”
“And one behind the window frame.”
The house appeared ahead.
Dark.
Silent.
Waiting.
Mercer parked a block away.
We walked the rest of the distance.
Reyes had given me a flashlight.
I held it tightly.
The front door stood open.
Again.
We entered.
This time, the house felt different.
Not abandoned.
Occupied.
There were wet footprints on the floor.
Small ones.
Lily's.
They led upstairs.
We followed.
Halfway up, Claire stopped.
“What?”
She pointed to the wall.
A child's drawing had been taped there.
A house.
A little girl.
A woman.
A firefighter.
Above them was a red sun.
Underneath, written in uneven letters:
AMANDA SAVED ME.
I stared at the words.
“I don't remember doing that.”
“You did,” Claire said.
“What?”
“Daniel told Lily to stay quiet. You brought her food.”
My breath caught.
“I fed her?”
Claire nodded.
“You left crackers and water outside the blue room.”
The memory surfaced.
A small plate.
A cup.
A child's whisper.
Thank you.
I covered my mouth.
“I remember.”
Claire smiled sadly.
“She remembered you too.”
A sound came from the room.
We entered.
Lily was sitting on the floor.
Alive.
Unhurt.
Her stuffed rabbit rested in her lap.
I rushed toward her.
She looked up.
“Amanda.”
I dropped to my knees.
“Oh, Lily.”
She wrapped her arms around me.
For a moment, the entire mystery disappeared.
She was simply a frightened child who had been carrying something no child should have had to carry.
“You're safe,” I whispered.
She nodded.
Then she looked over my shoulder.
“He's coming.”
Mercer turned.
“Who?”
Lily pointed toward the window.
“The man who took me.”
Claire stood.
“No.”
The window opened.
A rope dropped from the roof.
Someone was coming down.
Reyes moved toward it.
A man landed inside.
Mercer raised his weapon.
The man lifted his hands.
“Don't shoot.”
I recognized him.
Grant.
Tyler's fellow firefighter.
The man who had found him beneath the warehouse collapse.
Mercer lowered his weapon slightly.
“Grant?”
Grant looked at Lily.
“I'm here to get her out.”
Claire's face went white.
“You.”
Grant nodded.
“I've been trying to reach her for six years.”
Reyes stepped between them.
“You're the one who took her.”
“I got her away from the hospital.”
“You kidnapped a child.”
“I saved her.”
Lily moved toward Grant.
That confused me.
She trusted him.
“Why?” I asked.
Grant looked at me.
“Because her father was my brother.”
Silence.
Mercer stared at him.
“Your brother?”
Grant nodded.
“Evan Dalton.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Frank's son.
Lily's father.
The missing piece.
“You knew Lily all along,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you tell Tyler?”
“Because Tyler wasn't supposed to know.”
“Why?”
Grant looked toward Reyes.
“Because someone in the department was watching him.”
Reyes stared at him.
“Who?”
Grant reached into his jacket.
Before he could remove anything, a gunshot cracked through the house.
The window behind us shattered.
Everyone dropped.
Grant grabbed Lily.
Mercer pulled me behind the wall.
Reyes returned fire toward the broken window.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Grant looked at me.
“It's Harris.”
Reyes shook his head.
“No.”
Grant looked confused.
Reyes pointed toward the yard.
“The shot came from the other side.”
Mercer moved toward the window.
“There are two shooters.”
Claire whispered, “They're fighting each other.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed toward the street.
Two figures were running in opposite directions.
One wore a dark jacket.
The other wore a firefighter's coat.
Grant grabbed my wrist.
“We need to leave.”
“Where?”
“There's a tunnel beneath the house.”
Reyes stared at him.
“A tunnel?”
Grant nodded.
“Daniel built it.”
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
“Why would my father-in-law build a tunnel?”
“Because he knew the house would eventually be searched.”
We moved into the blue room.
Grant pushed aside a section of floorboard.
A hidden metal handle appeared.
He pulled it.
A narrow opening revealed stone steps descending into darkness.
Claire looked at me.
“This is where Daniel kept the original evidence.”
My heart pounded.
We descended.
The passage was barely wide enough for two people.
The air smelled of damp earth.
At the bottom was a small concrete room.
A metal cabinet stood against the wall.
Grant opened it.
Inside were folders.
Photographs.
Old tapes.
A sealed evidence bag.
And a notebook.
I picked up the notebook.
Daniel's handwriting filled the first page.
If you're reading this, then the department failed.
I turned the page.
The next line made my hands go cold.
The person who betrayed us is not Harris.
I looked at Reyes.
He stared at the notebook.
“Keep reading.”
I did.
Harris is only the man they use when they need someone to take the blame.
Below that:
The real danger is someone who has never been investigated.
Someone who stood beside me while I searched for Lily.
Someone who knew Amanda had seen her.
Someone who had access to every report.
I stopped.
There was one final line.
I trusted him because he was family.
The room became silent.
Mercer whispered, “Family.”
Grant looked at Reyes.
Claire looked at me.
Then footsteps sounded above us.
Someone had entered the house.
A man's voice called down the stairwell.
“Amanda?”
I recognized it.
Tyler.
My heart jumped.
“He came.”
Grant shook his head.
“No.”
The voice called again.
“Amanda, it's me.”
Claire grabbed my arm.
“That's not Tyler.”
I froze.
Because Tyler was still in the hospital.
The footsteps began descending.
Slowly.
One step at a time.
Click here to continue reading: PART 20: The Voice That Wasn’t Tyler
I Arrived With Balloons and Cake, Expecting My Husband to Laugh—Instead His Entire Crew Went Silent When They Saw Me
Part 19 of 40
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