Chapter 4 - Caroline DisappearsPolice searched for Caroline throughout the night.
Her car was found abandoned three miles away.
Her phone was turned off.
Her passport was gone.
Ryan sat in the hospital beside Lily while Evan slept curled against him.
DNA samples had been taken.
Results would take time.
Ryan didn't need them.
Every time he looked at Lily, he saw something familiar.
Her eyes.
His mother's eyes.
At 2:13 a.m., Detective Bennett entered.
“We recovered information from the phone.”
Ryan stood.
“Where's Natalie?”
“We don't know yet.”
“Is she alive?”
Mara hesitated.
“That’s what we're trying to determine.”
She showed him several photographs recovered from the device.
Natalie standing outside Ryan's house.
Natalie photographing Caroline.
Natalie inside a motel.
Then the final photograph.
Natalie was bruised.
Behind her stood a road sign.
Ryan recognized it.
Blackwood Lake.
His family's abandoned cabin was there.
Nobody had used it since his father died.
Ryan stared at the photograph.
“How did Natalie know about the cabin?”
Mara looked at him.
“Maybe she didn't.”
“What does that mean?”
“Property records show someone has been paying the taxes on that cabin for six years.”
“Who?”
Mara placed a document on the table.
Ryan read the name.
Caroline Mitchell.
Ryan stared at her.
“She told me she'd never been there.”
Mara nodded.
“She lied.”
Then Lily woke.
She saw the photograph.
Her entire body stiffened.
“That's where Mommy is.”
Ryan turned.
“What?”
May you like
Lily pointed at the cabin.
“Caroline took her there.”
