Chapter 15 - Sarah's Voice
The revelation about Daniel Cross changed the shape of the story again.
Until that moment, Nathan had believed Marcus entered Sarah's life after Daniel died.
The old police file showed otherwise.
Marcus and Daniel had known each other for at least two years.
They belonged to the same climbing club in Seattle.
On the day Daniel died, Marcus told investigators that Daniel lost his footing near a narrow ridge and fell before Marcus could reach him.
No one witnessed the fall.
Bad weather delayed recovery of Daniel's body for two days.
The medical examiner found injuries consistent with a fall.
The death was ruled accidental.
Nathan read every page.
"Was Sarah questioned?"
Mara pointed to an interview summary.
Sarah told police Daniel had recently become worried about Marcus's involvement in gambling debts and illegal sports betting.
She also said Daniel planned to stop climbing with Marcus.
"Why did she marry Marcus after that?" Nathan asked.
Mara looked at him.
"That is a question for Sarah."
"If we find her."
"When."
Nathan looked up.
Mara did not smile.
"If I thought we were looking for a body, I would tell you."
The words gave him more hope than comfort ever could.
A tactical team reached St. Agnes retreat before sunset.
The property stood empty at first glance.
The old stone building had once housed a Catholic retreat center and later became a private rehabilitation facility before closing.
Mountain Crest Property Group purchased it three years earlier.
Sarah was not inside.
Neither were Victor or Marcus.
But someone had used the lower level recently.
Investigators found medical restraints, IV equipment, sedatives, and a portable cardiac monitor in a locked treatment room.
Nathan's face hardened when he saw photographs from the scene.
"They were going to make her look hospitalized."
Dana nodded.
"Or keep her alive while obtaining signatures."
A document shredder in the office contained partially destroyed forms.
Forensic technicians reconstructed enough pieces to identify a petition for emergency psychiatric commitment in Sarah's name.
The petitioner was supposedly Nathan Pierce.
His forged signature appeared again.
The proposed admitting physician was Stephen Vale.
Stephen looked physically ill when Mara confronted him with it.
"I never saw that document."
Mara placed it on the table.
"Your name is on it."
"Victor had my signature."
"You gave him blank pages."
Stephen looked down.
"Once."
"Once was enough."
Mara did not arrest him yet, but she took his passport and obtained an order restricting his travel.
Stephen volunteered another detail.
Victor had asked him months earlier about how long certain sedatives could remain detectable in blood.
Stephen claimed he thought the question related to litigation.
Nathan stared at him with open disgust.
"How many warning signs did you need?"
Stephen did not answer.
At St. Agnes, investigators found something more important than the forged commitment papers.
In a trash can near the rear entrance was a blood-stained strip of gauze.
Rapid testing showed the blood type matched Sarah's medical records.
A trail camera mounted on a tree outside the property had captured a pickup truck arriving at 5:42 that morning.
The driver wore a hood.
A second person was visible slumped in the passenger seat.
At 6:11, the truck left.
The passenger seat appeared empty.
Nathan stared at the image.
"Where did she go?"
Mara enlarged another frame.
At 6:03, a side door of the retreat opened.
A woman in a hospital gown and no shoes ran toward the trees.
Even through grainy infrared, Nathan recognized Sarah's blond hair.
"She escaped again."
Mara nodded.
A second figure emerged after her.
Marcus.
He chased Sarah into the darkness.
The camera did not show either of them returning.
Search teams began combing the woods around St. Agnes immediately.
Nathan wanted to go.
Mara refused this time because darkness and avalanche conditions made the terrain too dangerous for civilians.
Nathan stayed at the hospital with Lily and the twins.
He hated the helplessness.
Lily was stronger now.
Color had returned to her cheeks, and doctors believed her feet would heal without surgery.
Owen and Ethan were both breathing normally without supplemental oxygen.
Nathan sat between Lily's bed and the twins' room while snow tapped against the windows.
Lily watched him for several minutes.
"Are you mad at Mommy?"
Nathan looked at her.
"No."
"Daddy says you hate her."
The words cut cleanly.
Nathan pulled his chair closer.
"I was angry with your mommy a long time ago."
"Why?"
He considered simplifying the truth.
Then he remembered how many adults had built lies around this child.
"Because I was scared she was making a mistake, and instead of telling her I loved her and wanted her safe, I said something cruel."
Lily thought about it.
"Did you say sorry?"
Nathan swallowed.
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because I haven't seen her."
Lily's eyes filled.
"You will."
Nathan looked away for a second.
"I hope so."
Lily shook her head.
"Mommy always comes back."
Nathan forced a smile.
"Then I believe you."
She reached beneath her pillow and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
Nathan frowned.
"What's that?"
"Mommy made me hide it."
His pulse jumped.
"Where?"
"In my sock."
Nathan stared at her.
The hospital had removed Lily's wet socks during treatment, but Rosa had placed her belongings in a sealed bag.
"How did you get it?"
"Miss Rosa found it when she washed my clothes."
Nathan looked toward Rosa.
She stood in the doorway.
"I was waiting until she wanted to give it to you herself."
Nathan accepted the paper carefully.
It was not a letter.
It was a list of numbers and short phrases written in Sarah's handwriting.
One line read Daniel - rope cut, not fall.
Nathan felt his heart stop for a beat.
He looked at Lily.
"Did Mommy tell you what this means?"
Lily shook her head.
Nathan read the next line.
Marcus admitted it after Lily was born.
Nathan's vision narrowed.
The line beneath it read Victor cleaned the debt records.
Then another.
Daniel left evidence with Reverend Paul at St. Michael's.
Mara arrived twenty minutes later and read the page.
"St. Michael's Church?"
Nathan nodded.
"Old church in Pine Hollow."
"Still open?"
"I think so."
Mara called a state unit.
While she waited, Nathan looked at the final entry.
If I cannot reach Paul, ask for the red ledger.
The words echoed Lily's earlier memory.
The man with the gold ring.
The money papers.
The bad day.
Everything Sarah had done was built around redundant evidence because she expected pieces to be destroyed.
An officer called back from St. Michael's.
The church was locked.
Reverend Paul Jensen had retired four years earlier and now lived near Spokane.
Mara requested his number.
Before she could call him, The state unit reached St. Michael's Church before Reverend Paul's red ledger could arrive from Spokane.
The building sat dark beneath a layer of snow, its small bell tower barely visible through the evening fog.
An officer entered with the parish administrator and found no sign of forced entry.
Then they reached the old sacristy.
A metal cabinet had been opened.
One drawer was empty.
The label read CROSS, DANIEL.
Nathan listened to the officer's report on speaker.
"Someone got there first."
Mara asked the obvious question.
"When?"
"Administrator says the church was locked at six last night."
"No one authorized entry today."
Nathan thought of Victor.
"He knows about Daniel's evidence."
Mara looked at Sarah's note.
"Or Marcus does."
"Either way, they are cleaning behind themselves."
A security camera across the street belonged to a hardware store.
Its footage showed a black Range Rover stopping behind the church at 2:17 that afternoon.
Victor's wife's vehicle.
A man entered through the side door and left twelve minutes later carrying a rectangular case.
The image was too distant for facial identification.
The body shape matched Victor.
Nathan felt fury rise.
"He took it."
Mara shook her head.
"Maybe."
Nathan gave her a look.
"You must be exhausting at dinner."
"Evidence is less entertaining than certainty."
The officer searched the empty drawer again.
At the back, he found a folded note taped beneath the metal lip.
It was in Reverend Paul's handwriting.
If this drawer is empty, Daniel's original is safe with me.
The item stored here is a copy.
Nathan exhaled.
Paul had created redundancy too.
People hunted by Victor had learned the same lesson.
Never leave the truth in only one place.
Mara called Paul immediately and confirmed that the original ledger and recorder were already in a state officer's custody near Spokane.
Victor had risked entering a church for a decoy.
For the first time, Nathan felt the balance begin to shift.
Victor was still dangerous.
But he was reacting now.
He was chasing evidence Sarah and Daniel had planted years before.
He was making mistakes because the silence he relied on had ended.
Nathan looked at Lily through the glass wall of her room.
The smallest person in the entire case had created the largest change simply by reaching the right door.
Nathan's phone rang from an unknown number.
He almost ignored it.
Then something made him answer.
"Nathan?"
He stopped breathing.
The voice was weak, shaking, and almost lost beneath static.
But he knew it.
He had just listened to forty-seven recordings of it.
"Sarah."
Lily sat upright in bed.
Nathan turned away so she would not see his face collapse.
"Sarah, where are you?"
A sob came through the line.
"You answered."
Nathan shut his eyes.
"I'm here."
"You answered this time."
The sentence broke him more completely than any accusation could have.
"Sarah, I'm sorry."
"Not now."
She was breathing hard.
"Listen to me."
Nathan forced himself under control.
"I'm listening."
"Marcus found me outside St. Agnes."
Mara moved closer and activated a trace request.
"Are you with him?" Nathan asked.
"No."
"Are you hurt?"
Sarah gave a broken laugh.
"Yes."
"Where are you?"
"I stole his phone when he fell near the creek."
Nathan heard wind.
"I don't know exactly where I am."
Mara whispered, "Keep her talking."
Nathan nodded.
"Sarah, look around."
"Trees."
"Anything built?"
"There is an old sign."
"Read it."
Sarah took several breaths.
"Hydro service access."
Nathan's head snapped toward Mara.
He knew the place.
An abandoned hydroelectric service tunnel ran beneath the north ridge.
"Sarah, I know where you are."
"Nathan."
Her voice suddenly changed.
"What?"
"There are headlights."
Nathan felt every muscle tighten.
"Hide."
"I am trying."
A vehicle door slammed over the phone.
Sarah stopped breathing loudly.
Nathan heard footsteps crunching through snow.
Then a man's voice in the distance.
"Sarah."
It was Victor Hale.
Nathan gripped the phone.
Sarah whispered one final sentence.
May you like
"Nathan, don't come alone."
The call went dead.
