Chapter 8 - THE SECOND DISAPPEARANCE
Sarah became a different person.
Fear vanished.
Rage replaced it.
She grabbed Marcus’s jacket.
“Find my daughter.”
“We will.”
“No.”
Her eyes burned.
“You find her now.”
Walter stood beside her.
“He took Rebecca from me.”
His voice was steady.
“He will not take Emily.”
Two locations.
The abandoned Lincoln Elementary School.
The Bennett lake house.
Marcus split the teams.
Walter insisted on the school.
Sarah went with him.
Marcus headed toward the lake house.
The school had been closed for eleven years.
Walter entered the same hallway where he had once searched for Rebecca.
His chest tightened.
Room 12.
Rebecca’s classroom.
The door opened.
Inside sat Emily.
Tied to a chair.
“Emily!”
Sarah ran.
Walter stopped her.
“Wait.”
A wire ran beneath the chair.
Sarah froze.
Emily cried.
“Mommy.”
Walter scanned the room.
A speaker crackled.
Daniel’s voice.
“Hello, Walter.”
Walter looked upward.
“Let her go.”
“Thirty-one years ago you arrived twenty minutes late.”
“Daniel.”
“You chose your store.”
“Daniel, please.”
“Today you get another choice.”
A television turned on.
Rebecca appeared on screen.
She was inside the lake house.
Tied to another chair.
Walter’s knees weakened.
“Rebecca.”
Daniel laughed.
“One building contains a bomb.”
Sarah stared upward.
“You sick bastard!”
“You have ten minutes.”
Walter shouted, “What do you want?”
“The locket.”
Walter held it up.
“I have it.”
“Place it on Rebecca’s old desk.”
Walter obeyed.
A panel opened beneath the teacher’s desk.
Inside was a phone.
Daniel spoke through it.
“Now choose.”
Walter looked at Emily.
Sarah was crying.
“Walter.”
He looked at her.
“Save Emily.”
Sarah shook her head.
“No.”
“You stay here.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to Rebecca.”
“You can’t reach the lake house in ten minutes.”
Walter smiled sadly.
“I know.”
Sarah realized.
“No.”
“I was late once.”
“Walter.”
“I won’t be late again.”
He kissed Sarah’s forehead.
Then ran.
Sarah screamed after him.
At the lake house, Marcus’s team found Rebecca.
But Daniel was waiting.
He fired through the door.
Marcus fell behind a wall.
Daniel dragged Rebecca toward the dock.
“Your father chose again.”
Rebecca fought him.
“You’re wrong.”
“He went to the child.”
“He loves her.”
Daniel slapped her.
“He abandoned you.”
“No.”
Rebecca looked him in the eyes.
“You lied to me.”
Daniel froze.
“You lied for thirty-one years.”
She kicked him.
He stumbled.
Marcus fired.
The bullet hit Daniel’s shoulder.
Daniel grabbed Rebecca and jumped into a speedboat.
Walter reached the lake road just in time to see the boat moving away.
“REBECCA!”
She turned.
Their eyes met across the water.
“DAD!”
Walter ran onto the dock.
Daniel raised a gun.
A shot cracked across the lake.
Walter fell.
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Rebecca screamed.
And the water beneath him turned red.
