Chapter 6 - MIDNIGHT
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
The photograph on Sienna’s phone seemed impossible.
A woman.
A little girl.
My daughter.
Grace.
Alive.
Somewhere.
And Marianne knew where.
I enlarged the image.
The grocery store sign was visible behind them.
Not enough to identify the location immediately.
Marcus took the phone.
“Don’t forward this.”
“Why?”
“Metadata.”
He connected it to his laptop.
Julian paced.
“My mother wouldn’t hurt a child.”
Thomas looked at him.
“You still believe that?”
Julian’s head snapped around.
“She stole embryos.”
“She manipulated records.”
“She paid people.”
“That doesn’t mean she would physically harm Grace.”
Thomas remained expressionless.
“No.”
“It means she will convince someone else that moving the child is necessary.”
That sounded more like Marianne.
She rarely touched anything dirty herself.
She arranged circumstances.
Other people carried out the consequences.
Marcus studied the photo.
“No embedded location data.”
I looked at the clock.
7:18 p.m.
Less than five hours until midnight.
“Why midnight?”
Sienna wrapped her arms around herself.
“She wants Miles.”
“For what?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Where?”
“Private terminal at Hawthorne Airfield.”
Julian stared at her.
“She wants you to fly with him?”
“Yes.”
“To where?”
“Geneva.”
Thomas laughed softly.
“Of course.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“Marianne has accounts in Switzerland.”
“Property too.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“She can’t take my son out of the country.”
Sienna looked at him.
“You signed his passport application.”
“I didn’t authorize this trip.”
“She doesn’t need you if she has me.”
I stared at Sienna.
“Are you considering going?”
Her eyes flashed.
“I’m considering keeping Miles alive.”
“No one has threatened to kill him.”
“Not directly.”
“Then what did she say?”
Sienna looked at the floor.
“She said if I didn’t bring Miles, Clara would never see Grace.”
My stomach turned.
Marcus looked at me.
“That is coercion.”
“I don’t care what it’s called.”
“We need to involve law enforcement.”
Thomas shook his head.
“If Marianne sees police, she’ll move Rachel.”
“We don’t know Rachel is being held.”
“She was found.”
“Found doesn’t mean captured.”
I looked at the photograph again.
Rachel did not appear frightened.
She was walking normally.
Grace wore a yellow jacket.
One shoe was missing.
Rachel had a grocery bag in one hand.
The photograph could have been taken without her knowledge.
Maybe Marianne’s people were watching.
Maybe Rachel was still free.
“Find the store.”
Marcus nodded.
We searched the visible sign.
Only part of the name could be seen.
HARV—
Julian zoomed farther.
“Harvest Market.”
“There are hundreds.”
“Look at the logo.”
Sienna leaned closer.
“Green mountain.”
Thomas immediately spoke.
“Arizona.”
We looked at him.
“Rachel was in Phoenix.”
“Harvest Mountain Market has locations around northern Arizona.”
Marcus searched.
Seven stores.
Flagstaff.
Sedona.
Prescott.
Cottonwood.
Camp Verde.
Two in Phoenix suburbs.
The parking lot in the picture had pine trees.
“Not Phoenix,” I said.
Marcus nodded.
“Flagstaff or Prescott.”
Thomas pointed at the mountains reflected in the glass.
“Flagstaff.”
My heart accelerated.
“Call the store.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“If someone is watching Rachel, unusual calls could alert them.”
“So what do we do?”
“We send someone local.”
“At seven thirty at night?”
“I know people.”
He made two calls.
Then looked at me.
“A retired investigator in Flagstaff can reach the store in thirty minutes.”
“Do it.”
Julian sat across from Sienna.
“Why did you lie this morning?”
She knew exactly what he meant.
“About knowing the embryo belonged to Clara?”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of Clara?”
“Of losing Miles.”
I spoke before Julian could.
“You are going to lose the version of motherhood built on secrecy.”
She looked at me.
“That does not mean I want to erase you from his life.”
Her expression changed.
I had not planned to say it.
But it was true.
Miles had lived inside her.
He knew her voice.
Her smell.
Her arms.
Punishing Sienna by ripping her away instantly might punish him more.
I hated that reality.
Sienna’s eyes filled.
“Why would you say that?”
“Because I’m thinking about my son.”
“Our son.”
Julian spoke.
I turned toward him.
“No.”
His face tightened.
“Biologically, he is.”
“Yes.”
“But right now you are thinking about yourself.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Neither was today.”
He said nothing.
The investigator called at 8:06.
Marcus put him on speaker.
“I’m at the Flagstaff Harvest Mountain.”
“Do you have the photo?”
“Yes.”
“Show it discreetly to staff.”
A minute passed.
Then two.
The investigator returned.
“Cashier recognizes her.”
My hand tightened around the table.
“When was she there?”
“About five thirty.”
“With the child?”
“Yes.”
“Did she leave?”
“Yes.”
“With anyone?”
“Cashier says a man approached her outside.”
My stomach dropped.
“What man?”
“Older.”
“Gray SUV.”
“Did she get into it?”
“No.”
“Apparently they argued.”
“What happened?”
“She left on foot.”
“With Grace?”
“Yes.”
“Was she followed?”
“Cashier didn’t see.”
“Any cameras?”
“Manager is checking.”
Another wait.
I could hear my own breathing.
Then the investigator returned.
“They have exterior footage.”
“Can you access it?”
“Manager says law enforcement only.”
Marcus cursed quietly.
“Describe it.”
“Rachel leaves.”
“A man follows.”
“She crosses the street.”
“Then…”
He stopped.
“Then what?”
“She gets into a blue pickup truck.”
“Driver?”
“Woman.”
“Can’t see her face.”
“License plate?”
“Partial.”
“Send it.”
Marcus wrote down the digits.
Thomas stared.
“I know that truck.”
We turned.
“Whose?”
“Peter Hale.”
Dr. Hale.
The doctor who had lied about my embryos.
The man Marianne paid.
The man who had disappeared six months earlier.
My mind raced.
“Peter Hale has Grace?”
Thomas shook his head.
“Maybe he’s helping Rachel.”
“Why?”
“Guilt.”
“Fear.”
“Leverage.”
“Pick one.”
Julian stood.
“Where does Hale live?”
“He had a cabin outside Sedona.”
Marcus was already searching property records.
“Still does.”
I looked at the clock.
8:31.
“Call police.”
Thomas grabbed Marcus’s arm.
“No.”
Marcus stared at him.
“Remove your hand.”
Thomas did.
“If Marianne is watching the roads—”
“This is not a movie.”
“No.”
Thomas’s voice sharpened.
“It’s worse.”
“Because she knows Clara.”
“She knows Julian.”
“She knows Sienna.”
“She knows how all of us react.”
“She has spent years anticipating this.”
I looked at the letter.
He was right about one thing.
Marianne had predicted I would fight if I learned my children existed.
She had prepared.
But she had made one mistake.
She had prepared for the Clara who used to love her son.
The Clara who cared about appearances.
The Clara who hesitated before making people uncomfortable.
That woman was gone.
I looked at Sienna.
“You’re going to the airport.”
Everyone turned.
Julian objected immediately.
“No.”
Sienna stared at me.
“What?”
“You’ll go.”
“With Miles?”
“No.”
“She asked for Miles.”
“She gets a carrier covered with a blanket.”
Marcus understood first.
“A decoy.”
I nodded.
Sienna swallowed.
“She’ll know.”
“Not until you’re close enough to see who is waiting.”
Julian shook his head.
“This is insane.”
I looked at him.
“You can stay here.”
That ended his objections.
We arranged everything quickly.
Sienna’s sister brought Miles to the storage facility.
The first time I saw him again, he was awake.
Alert.
He stared at me.
I did not reach for him.
Not yet.
Sienna handed him to her sister and whispered instructions.
Then she placed an empty infant carrier into her car.
A folded blanket created the shape of a sleeping child.
Marcus contacted authorities quietly.
Unmarked units would remain outside the airport perimeter.
No confrontation unless a child appeared in immediate danger.
At 10:14, Sienna drove toward Hawthorne Airfield.
Julian rode with Marcus.
I stayed with Miles.
Not because I wanted safety.
Because someone had to protect him if Marianne’s plan was bigger than the airport.
Sienna’s sister, Emily, sat across from me.
She had known nothing.
When Sienna told her the truth, Emily had slapped her.
Once.
Then cried for ten minutes.
Now she looked at Miles.
“I always wondered why he didn’t look like us.”
I swallowed.
“He looks like my father.”
Emily nodded.
“He does.”
I looked at her.
“You knew my father?”
“From pictures.”
“Sienna had one.”
That surprised me.
“Why?”
Emily looked uncomfortable.
“I don’t know.”
Miles began to fuss.
Without thinking, I hummed.
A simple melody.
The lullaby my mother used to sing.
Miles stopped moving.
Emily stared at me.
“What?”
“Sienna hums that song.”
My blood went cold.
“What?”
“The exact song.”
“How would she know it?”
Emily looked confused.
“Maybe you taught her.”
I had.
Years earlier.
During college.
One drunken night when we talked about childhood.
I had sung it to Sienna.
She remembered.
She had sung my mother’s lullaby to my child.
The cruelty of it nearly took my breath away.
At 10:42, Marcus called.
“They’re at the terminal.”
“What do they see?”
“Black SUV.”
“Two men.”
“Private jet.”
“And?”
“An older woman just arrived.”
My heart stopped.
“Marianne?”
“Yes.”
I stood.
“She’s there?”
“Yes.”
“What is she doing?”
“She’s walking toward Sienna.”
I heard movement.
Then Julian’s voice in the background.
“Give me the phone.”
He came on.
“Clara.”
“What?”
“She knows.”
“How?”
“She looked at the carrier and laughed.”
My skin chilled.
“What did she say?”
Julian’s voice lowered.
“She said, ‘I knew Clara would keep the boy.’”
I looked at Miles.
He was playing with the zipper on Emily’s jacket.
“What does she want?”
“I don’t know.”
Then I heard Marianne’s voice behind him.
Clear.
Amused.
“Ask Clara to check the locker again.”
I froze.
“The locker?”
Thomas was still inside the facility with us.
He looked at me.
We both turned toward locker 417.
Nothing had changed.
Then Thomas’s face went white.
“The cabinet.”
“What?”
“There’s a false back.”
He rushed toward it.
Marcus was still on the phone.
Julian said, “Clara, what’s happening?”
Thomas pulled the bottom drawer out completely.
Behind it was a narrow compartment.
Inside sat a small black phone.
The screen lit automatically.
One new message.
A video.
My hands shook as I opened it.
Rachel Monroe appeared on screen.
She was crying.
Grace was asleep against her chest.
Behind them was a wall of red stone.
Rachel looked directly into the camera.
“Clara, if you’re seeing this, I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t know who you were when they gave me the embryo.”
“I didn’t know Grace had been taken from you.”
“I tried to run.”
Her voice cracked.
“Peter helped me.”
“But they found us.”
The camera shifted.
Someone stood behind Rachel.
Only a silhouette.
Then a man spoke.
“Midnight.”
“If Marianne leaves the airport without Miles, Rachel and Grace disappear permanently.”
The video ended.
I looked at the clock.
11:07.
Fifty-three minutes.
Thomas stared at the red stone wall frozen on screen.
Then his eyes widened.
“I know where that is.”
I grabbed his arm.
“Where?”
He looked at me.
“Marianne’s house in Sedona.”
I didn’t wait for anyone’s permission.
I took Miles into my arms for the first time.
He looked up at me.
No fear.
Only curiosity.
I whispered, “I’m coming back.”
Then I handed him to Emily.
May you like
And with less than an hour before midnight, I went to find my daughter.
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