Chapter 6 - FIRE AT RAVENSCROFT
Black smoke rose above the freight district before Ethan’s car reached the sanatorium.
Fire engines surrounded the abandoned property.
The east wing had collapsed.
Marcus met Ethan near the barricade.
“Victor arranged the fire remotely.”
“Security footage shows a man entering thirty minutes before ignition.”
“Was Amelia inside?”
“We found one occupied room.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
“Was she inside?”
“No.”
The patient was an elderly man restrained beneath a false identity.
He had been declared dead nine years earlier.
Ravenscroft was not only Amelia’s prison.
It had housed other people erased through Blackwood medical records.
Firefighters discovered seven underground rooms.
Three contained remains.
Four had recently been emptied.
A tunnel led from the basement to an abandoned rail platform.
Amelia had been moved before the fire.
Victor used the flames to destroy records, not kill her.
Ethan returned to Lily, who waited inside an armored vehicle with Dr. Hayes.
She pressed her face against the window.
“Did you find Mommy?”
“Not yet.”
Lily tried not to cry.
Ethan climbed inside.
“I need you to tell me everything you remember about the dark room.”
“It had green walls.”
“And a little window.”
“What could you see?”
“Water.”
“Sometimes boats.”
Ravenscroft stood nowhere near water.
The facility on the phone had been only one prison.
The true long-term location overlooked a harbor.
Lily described a bell that rang six times at sunset.
A red lighthouse blinked through the window.
Marcus searched private Blackwood properties near the Massachusetts coast.
One matched.
Blackwood Maritime Hospice.
It had closed fifteen years earlier.
The building stood on Greyhaven Island, accessible only by boat or helicopter.
Conrad Blackwood had purchased it under a charitable foundation.
Victor controlled the foundation.
The coast guard prepared a team.
Weather conditions were deteriorating.
A winter storm would reach the island within two hours.
Then Ethan received a video call.
Victor appeared on the screen.
He stood inside a room with peeling green walls.
Amelia sat behind him, conscious but restrained.
Her face was thin.
Scars marked her neck and left cheek.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Ethan.”
His name came out as a whisper.
Ethan’s hand shook.
“I’m coming.”
Victor placed the syringe against Amelia’s throat.
“No.”
“You are going to the board.”
“You will sign every Blackwood share into my control.”
“You will publicly declare Lily an impostor.”
“And then I may let Amelia live.”
Ethan looked at his wife.
Her eyes moved slightly toward the window.
A lighthouse flashed behind the glass.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
May you like
Then Amelia mouthed two words.
DON’T SIGN.
