Chapter 8 - The Trap
Nora wanted to go.
Naomi refused.
“Absolutely not.”
“It says—”
“I can read.”
“She has Lily.”
“And whoever wrote that knows exactly how to manipulate you.”
Daniel leaned over the note.
“The address is an old Bennett warehouse.”
Naomi looked at him.
“You own it?”
“My family does.”
“Security?”
“Probably cameras.”
Nora paced.
“If Margaret wants me there, I’m going.”
“With us.”
“She said alone.”
Naomi stepped closer.
“Nora, people who steal babies and forge court records don’t suddenly become honorable because they wrote instructions on paper.”
Nora hated that Naomi was right.
They planned the approach.
Nora would enter.
Police would remain close enough to intervene.
The warehouse stood near an industrial canal south of Tampa.
It had been abandoned for nearly a decade.
Nora entered through a side door.
“Margaret?”
Her voice echoed.
No answer.
Then a speaker crackled overhead.
Margaret’s voice filled the building.
“You brought police.”
Nora stopped.
“They’re not inside.”
“You were always terrible at following instructions.”
“Where is Lily?”
“Safe.”
“Let me see her.”
A monitor flickered on.
Lily appeared.
She was sitting on a bed somewhere unfamiliar.
Alive.
Terrified.
Nora stepped toward the screen.
“Lily.”
The little girl could not hear her.
Margaret spoke again.
“She asks about you constantly.”
Nora’s throat tightened.
“What did you tell her?”
“That you didn’t want her.”
Nora closed her eyes.
“You’re sick.”
“No.”
Margaret’s tone remained calm.
“I was practical.”
“You stole her.”
“I gave her stability.”
“You made her think her mother abandoned her.”
“Because you did.”
“I was unconscious.”
“You were leaving Daniel.”
“That had nothing to do with Lily.”
“To me, it had everything to do with her.”
Nora stared toward the dark ceiling.
“What do you want?”
“For you to sign something.”
A printer on a nearby table came to life.
Paper slid out.
Nora approached it.
A new relinquishment agreement.
This time, permanent and notarized.
She almost laughed.
“You think I’m signing this?”
“If you want Lily safe.”
Nora’s blood chilled.
“What are you threatening?”
“I am explaining consequences.”
Outside, Naomi listened through Nora’s concealed microphone.
Nora picked up the pen.
Margaret said:
“Sign.”
Nora looked at the monitor.
Lily sat hugging herself.
Then Nora saw something.
A reflection in the window behind Lily.
Water.
A red tower.
Nora knew the coastline.
She had driven past it countless times.
An old lighthouse near Tarpon Springs.
Nora lowered her eyes to the paper.
“Fine.”
Margaret went silent.
“I’ll sign.”
Naomi whispered through Nora’s earpiece.
“Don’t.”
Nora ignored her.
“But I want to speak to Lily first.”
“No.”
“Then no signature.”
A long pause.
Finally the screen changed.
Lily looked toward someone off-camera.
“Hello?”
Nora’s eyes filled.
“Lily.”
The girl’s face transformed.
“Mommy?”
Nora almost broke.
“Yes.”
Margaret snapped:
“Do not call her that.”
Lily looked frightened.
Nora forced her voice steady.
“Listen to me, sweetheart.”
“Okay.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Lily began crying quietly.
“Grandma said you didn’t want me.”
“She lied.”
The screen abruptly went black.
Margaret’s voice returned.
“Sign.”
Nora put the pen down.
“No.”
Police moved.
Within minutes, officers flooded the warehouse.
No Margaret.
No Lily.
Only the video system.
Naomi examined the screen.
“You recognized the location.”
Nora nodded.
“The old Anclote lighthouse.”
They raced there.
They arrived twenty-eight minutes later.
The house near the lighthouse was empty.
But in the sand behind it were fresh tire tracks.
And beside them lay Lily’s stuffed rabbit.
The same rabbit police had taken into evidence.
Naomi stopped.
“That’s impossible.”
It was.
The rabbit should have been locked in the evidence room.
Naomi stared at it.
May you like
Then at her phone.
Someone inside her department had helped Margaret.
