Chapter 9 - THE ISLAND
Federal agents obtained a warrant before dawn.
A rescue team crossed the water in two unmarked boats.
Ethan insisted on going.
Claire remained beside him despite the doctor’s warnings.
The island lodge appeared through heavy fog.
No lights were visible.
The team entered from the northern shore.
The main house was empty.
Fresh food remained on the kitchen table.
A medical chart lay beside the sink.
The patient name read Richard Mercer.
The basement door had been reinforced from the outside.
Agents broke the lock.
Olivia sat on the floor beneath a blanket.
Her wrists were bruised.
She looked at Ethan as though he were a memory.
“Liv.”
He crossed the room.
She flinched when he reached for her.
Then she saw his face clearly.
“Ethan.”
They held each other for the first time in six years.
Claire turned away.
The reunion belonged to them.
Richard was not inside the basement.
Neither were Eleanor, Charles Denning, or the medical team.
Olivia had been left as bait.
She told investigators that Eleanor arrived the previous night.
“She said Ethan had chosen Claire over the family.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“What did she want from you?”
“My signature.”
“For what?”
“A statement saying Father became violent before the crash.”
“That he threatened Mother.”
“That Claire helped him hide foundation money.”
“Did you sign?”
“No.”
Olivia looked toward Claire.
“I am sorry.”
“For what?”
“I believed Eleanor when she said you stole from us.”
“So did Ethan.”
Olivia closed her eyes.
“I learned the truth before the boating trip.”
“Mother confronted me.”
“Victor gave me a choice.”
“Disappear or be charged with our father’s attempted murder.”
Ethan sat beside her.
“Why did you stay hidden?”
“They showed me photographs of you.”
“You were followed everywhere.”
“They said you would die if I contacted you.”
He lowered his head.
Every person he loved had been isolated through the same method.
Threats.
Forged evidence.
And his trust in Eleanor’s version of events.
An agent entered from the dock.
A second boat had been found inside a sea cave.
Blood marked the floor.
There was also a satellite phone.
The last call went to Whitmore Memorial Hospital.
Ethan called the hospital president.
A private medical helicopter had landed on the roof forty minutes earlier.
The passengers entered under Eleanor’s emergency board authority.
The hospital’s west wing was currently being evacuated for an alleged gas leak.
Claire understood first.
“She took Richard to your hospital.”
“Why?”
“To make him sign something while everyone is gone.”
Ethan’s phone rang.
Eleanor’s face appeared through a video call.
Richard sat beside her in a hospital bed.
A ventilator tube rested beneath his nose.
Eleanor smiled.
“Come home, Ethan.”
May you like
“Bring the brass key.”
“Or your father will not survive the hour.”
