# CHAPTER 15## THE LAST DEMAND
My first instinct was to agree.
The response rose from thirty-two years of conditioning before reason could stop it.
Save Connor.
Accept blame.
Protect the family.
Fix the crisis.
Pay whatever they demand.
The old program still ran inside me.
My mother knew it would.
Detective Bell read the instructions and immediately said, “You are not withdrawing anything.”
“They’ll kill him.”
“They may kill him even if you comply.”
“What choice do I have?”
“To let us do our jobs.”
“You lost them twice.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
Sophie stood beside me.
“Maya, look at me.”
I could not.
“If you give them what they want,” she said, “they will destroy the evidence and keep hurting people.”
“He is my brother.”
“Yes.”
“He’s there because of me.”
“No. He is there because Joanne kidnapped him.”
“She used him because Mom knew I would react.”
“That is not the same as being responsible.”
The timer continued counting down.
Federal prosecutors explained that I could not simply withdraw criminal charges. The state controlled prosecution.
I could make a public statement, but it would not free Hargrove.
The kidnappers’ demands were impossible.
Maybe they knew that.
Maybe the real purpose was to force me into publicly discrediting myself.
A woman who recanted once could be portrayed as unreliable forever.
“What do we know about the room?” I asked.
Analysts examined the video.
Frosted window.
Metal wall.
Low mechanical vibration.
A bell sounded faintly every few minutes.
Connor wore the same clothing from the hospital.
His breath was visible.
“Cold-storage building,” one analyst suggested.
“Near railroad tracks,” another said.
The bell might be a crossing signal.
Joanne had traveled north after leaving Rockford.
Investigators searched refrigerated warehouses, meat-processing facilities, and abandoned industrial properties.
There were hundreds.
Anna watched the video once.
May you like
Then she asked to hear the background audio again.
“That
