Chapter 8 - THE CABIN BY THE LAKE
Police searched the lakeside cabin at dawn.
Ethan was not permitted near it.
For hours, Pierce refused to tell him what they found.
Then at 4:30 p.m., the detective arrived at Ethan’s temporary location.
His expression answered the question before he spoke.
“What?”
Ethan asked.
Pierce sat.
“We found evidence someone lived there recently.”
“Corinne?”
“Possibly.”
“Evelyn?”
“Possibly.”
“Natalie?”
Pierce hesitated.
“That’s what we’re trying to determine.”
Ethan folded his arms.
“Stop protecting me from information.”
“I’m protecting an active investigation.”
“Give me what you can.”
Pierce nodded.
“There was a bedroom behind a false wall.”
Ethan stared.
“Inside were clothing, medication bottles, journals, and photographs.”
“Whose journals?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Photographs of what?”
Pierce looked toward Maisie playing in another room.
Then lowered his voice.
“You.”
Ethan’s skin crawled.
“How many?”
“Hundreds.”
Ethan stared.
“From when?”
“Some are recent.”
“And the oldest?”
“More than twelve years.”
Ethan’s mouth went dry.
Someone had been photographing him before he married Mara.
“What else?”
“Mara appears in many.”
“Corinne?”
“Sometimes.”
“Natalie?”
“A few.”
Ethan sat down.
“Who kept them?”
“We don’t know.”
Pierce placed a photograph on the table.
It showed a wall inside the hidden bedroom.
Dozens of images had been pinned across it.
At the center was Ethan’s wedding photograph with Mara.
Mara’s face had been scratched away.
Ethan looked at Pierce.
“You’re telling me you still don’t know whose room that was?”
“I’m telling you we need evidence.”
Ethan looked again.
Another image caught his attention.
Maisie.
A photograph taken outside her preschool.
He slammed the picture down.
“That was after Mara died.”
“Yes.”
“Someone was watching my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“How recent?”
“The most recent photograph was taken nine days ago.”
Ethan stood.
“Corinne took it.”
“Maybe.”
“You think Natalie was living there?”
“We found hair samples.”
“Run DNA.”
“We are.”
Pierce stood.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“A locked chest.”
Ethan waited.
“Inside were personal belongings belonging to Mara.”
His stomach dropped.
“Like what?”
“Jewelry.”
“The emerald necklace?”
“Yes.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Maisie had been right.
“Anything else?”
“Mara’s old phone.”
Ethan stared.
“The phone from the crash?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“An earlier device.”
Pierce paused.
“And letters.”
“To who?”
“You.”
Ethan stopped.
“What letters?”
“Letters Mara apparently wrote during your marriage.”
“I never got them.”
“We know.”
“Why would they be at the cabin?”
“That’s a very good question.”
The letters dated back eight years.
Some were simple notes Mara had intended to leave in Ethan’s luggage.
Others were birthday letters.
One was an apology after an argument.
None had reached him.
Someone had collected fragments of their marriage.
Ethan felt violated in a way he could not explain.
“What kind of person does this?”
Pierce did not answer.
The DNA results returned the next morning.
Hair from the hidden bedroom belonged to Natalie Sloan.
She had been alive recently enough to leave biological material in the cabin.
Police now believed she had lived there.
But Natalie was nowhere to be found.
Then investigators recovered deleted footage from a camera mounted outside the cabin.
The most recent clip was seven days old.
A woman stepped onto the porch.
Thin.
Gray streaks in her dark hair.
Approximately thirty-three.
Facial recognition strongly matched Natalie.
She looked directly at the camera.
Then said something.
No audio existed.
A lip-reading specialist later interpreted the words.
She found me.
Ethan stared at the transcript.
“Who found her?”
Pierce answered quietly.
“That’s what worries me.”
Another clip showed a vehicle arriving the next morning.
Corinne stepped out.
Ethan’s heart pounded.
Natalie came onto the porch.
The two women argued.
No sound.
Then Corinne shoved Natalie against the railing.
Natalie pushed back.
Evelyn emerged from the passenger side.
Derek drove.
All four people connected to Mara’s investigation had been together at the cabin one week earlier.
The confrontation lasted seven minutes.
Then Natalie got into Derek’s SUV voluntarily.
Or appeared to.
She had not been seen since.
Ethan stared at the final frame.
“Corinne knew where Natalie was the entire time.”
Pierce nodded.
“Apparently.”
“And Derek?”
“Yes.”
“Evelyn?”
“Yes.”
“Why pretend she disappeared?”
“We don’t know.”
Ethan slammed his palm against the table.
Pierce waited.
Ethan took several breaths.
Then he asked.
“What was in Natalie’s journals?”
“They’re being analyzed.”
“Anything about Mara?”
“One entry.”
Ethan went still.
Pierce read from his notes.
Mara finally sees her.
I tried to warn her.
Corinne has moved from imitation to replacement again.
If Mara stays, she will die the same way I almost did.
Ethan stared.
“What does that mean?”
“Almost died?”
“Yes.”
“We’re trying to find Natalie so she can tell us.”
Ethan looked at the cabin photograph.
“If she’s still alive.”
Pierce said nothing.
That silence terrified him.
Two hours later, Ethan’s phone rang.
Blocked number.
He almost ignored it.
Then a text appeared.
DAD?
Ethan’s blood froze.
Maisie was sitting ten feet away.
Another message arrived.
THIS IS NATALIE.
He immediately handed the phone to Pierce, who happened to still be there.
Pierce signaled everyone to stay quiet.
A third message.
I KNOW WHAT CORINNE DID TO MARA.
Pierce typed.
CALL.
The phone rang immediately.
Pierce put it on speaker.
A woman whispered.
“Ethan?”
He leaned forward.
“Natalie?”
“Is Maisie safe?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Corinne can’t reach her?”
“No.”
Natalie began crying softly.
“Good.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Police are here.”
“I know.”
Pierce spoke.
“Natalie, this is Detective Noah Pierce.”
“I’m not talking to police.”
“Why?”
“Because Corinne has people everywhere.”
Pierce remained calm.
“We can protect you.”
“No, you can’t.”
Ethan interrupted.
“You said you know what happened to Mara.”
Silence.
“Natalie.”
“I warned her.”
“I know.”
“I should have done more.”
“Tell me now.”
Natalie breathed shakily.
“Corinne paid Derek to scare her.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“How?”
“She wanted him to interfere with Mara’s car.”
Pierce leaned closer.
“Interfere how?”
Natalie started crying harder.
“He was supposed to make Mara believe something was wrong.”
“Was the vehicle actually made unsafe?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Derek intend to kill her?”
“No.”
“Did Corinne?”
Natalie went silent.
Ethan’s voice dropped.
“Did Corinne want Mara dead?”
Natalie whispered.
“Yes.”
The room froze.
“How do you know?”
“Because she told me.”
“When?”
“After the funeral.”
Ethan felt physically ill.
“What did she say?”
Natalie’s voice became almost inaudible.
“She said Mara finally gave her what she wanted.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“What?”
“You.”
The line remained silent.
Then Natalie added.
“And Maisie.”
Ethan stood.
“Where are you?”
“I can’t—”
A sound interrupted her.
A door.
Natalie gasped.
“Oh, God.”
“Natalie?”
“She found me.”
The call ended.
Pierce immediately shouted instructions into his radio.
Technicians attempted to locate the phone.
The signal disappeared.
Ethan stared at the silent device.
For the second time, Natalie Sloan had vanished while trying to expose Corinne Vale.
May you like
This time, police had heard it happen.
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