Chapter 8 - MARGARET’S LAST CLAIM
The school photograph had been taken before Christmas break.
A red circle surrounded Sophie.
Margaret had written beneath it.
She belongs to us.
Police issued a child-abduction alert.
Arthur’s property entered full security lockdown.
Nora hated the fences, cameras, and armed guards.
She understood why they were necessary.
Sophie was told Margaret had broken important rules and could not visit.
The child asked whether spilling cranberry sauce was one of those rules.
Nora held her until the shaking stopped.
“No.”
“You never deserved what happened.”
Sophie looked at her.
“Did you?”
The question cut through Nora.
“No.”
“I did not deserve it either.”
Arthur overheard.
He turned away to hide his tears.
Margaret used cash to avoid detection.
Security footage showed her entering a bus terminal wearing a dark wig.
She purchased a ticket to Wyoming.
The bus continued without her.
Investigators believed the ticket was a distraction.
Daniel Mercer searched her financial history.
He found an old lakeside cabin registered under her maiden name.
The property stood less than twenty miles from Arthur’s house.
Margaret had not fled.
She was waiting nearby.
Police searched the cabin.
It appeared empty.
Then they discovered a basement room.
Inside were children’s clothes, school forms, and a forged passport bearing Sophie’s photograph.
Margaret planned to take the child to Canada.
She had also prepared a recorded message.
If anything happens to me, Nora Ellis is responsible.
The video described Nora as dangerous and Arthur as violent.
Margaret had intended to disappear with Sophie while leaving evidence that blamed Nora.
Daniel found tire tracks behind the cabin.
They led toward an abandoned marina.
Margaret had taken a small boat onto Blackwood Lake.
A storm was approaching.
The temperature had fallen.
Arthur knew every inlet.
He joined the search only after the sheriff approved his involvement as a local guide.
Nora remained at the house with Sophie.
She watched snow cover the windows.
At midnight, the security alarm sounded near the rear porch.
Sophie’s bedroom window was open.
The curtains moved in the wind.
Nora ran upstairs.
The bed was empty.
A ladder rested against the outside wall.
One security camera had been sprayed black.
Margaret had entered through the roofline.
Nora screamed for the guards.
A small wet footprint led toward the trees.
Margaret could not have gone far while carrying a six-year-old.
Nora pulled on boots and ran outside.
A guard tried to stop her.
“That is my daughter.”
She followed the prints through the snow.
Near the frozen dock, she heard Sophie crying.
Margaret stood beside a small motorboat.
One arm held Sophie.
The other held a flare gun.
“Stay back.”
Nora stopped.
“Sophie is cold.”
“She will be fine once she is away from you.”
“She is terrified.”
“You made her weak.”
Margaret tightened her grip.
Sophie cried out.
Nora forced herself to remain calm.
“You told everyone I was unstable.”
“Prove them wrong now.”
Margaret smiled.
She wanted Nora to rush forward.
She wanted violence she could later call an attack.
Nora lowered her hands.
“You do not own her.”
“She is my son’s child.”
“She is her own person.”
Sirens approached through the woods.
Margaret dragged Sophie toward the boat.
The lake ice cracked beneath the dock.
A dark line split across the surface.
Margaret lost her balance.
Sophie fell from her arms.
Nora ran.
She caught her daughter before the child slid into the freezing water.
Margaret grabbed Nora’s coat.
May you like
The dock broke beneath them.
All three fell into Blackwood Lake.
