Chapter 12 - WHERE IS MAISIE?
I knew something was wrong before I opened the daycare door.
The receptionist was standing.
Her face was white.
“Mrs. Hale?”
“Where’s Maisie?”
Nobody answered quickly enough.
“Where is my daughter?”
The director rushed from the hallway.
“Claire, we’re calling the police.”
My body went cold.
“Why?”
“Someone picked Maisie up.”
The floor disappeared beneath me.
“Who?”
“A woman.”
“What woman?”
“She had identification.”
“WHO?”
The receptionist started crying.
“She said she was your sister.”
“I don’t have a sister.”
I grabbed the desk.
“Where is my daughter?”
The director showed me the security image.
The woman wore sunglasses.
Baseball cap.
Brown hair.
Not Margaret.
Too young.
Then I recognized her.
Rosa’s niece.
Carmen.
I had met her twice at Margaret’s Christmas parties.
I called Evan.
He answered immediately.
“What happened?”
“Maisie’s gone.”
Silence.
Then:
“What?”
“Someone took her from daycare.”
“I’m coming.”
“Call the police.”
“I’m calling them now.”
“No, Evan.”
My voice cracked.
“Find your mother.”
He went silent.
“I will.”
Police arrived within minutes.
An Amber Alert process began.
Security footage showed Carmen leaving with Maisie calmly.
That almost hurt more.
Maisie wasn’t fighting.
She thought she was safe.
Carmen had apparently presented paperwork showing she was an authorized emergency pickup.
The paperwork had my signature.
Forged.
Again.
Margaret had prepared everything.
But Margaret was at her attorney’s office when Maisie disappeared.
Cameras confirmed it.
She hadn’t physically taken her.
She didn’t need to.
At 4:18 p.m., Evan called.
“I found something.”
“What?”
“Mom has another property.”
“Where?”
“A cabin.”
My stomach dropped.
“Where?”
“Lake Geneva.”
Police were already moving.
I wanted to go.
They told me not to.
I went anyway.
Not into the cabin.
Not near the search.
But close enough.
Evan drove.
Neither of us spoke.
Halfway there, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Mommy?”
My entire body stopped.
“Maisie?”
“Mommy.”
“Baby, where are you?”
“House.”
“What house?”
“Trees.”
I heard a woman in the background.
Then Maisie whispered:
“Nana coming.”
The call ended.
I screamed.
Evan nearly drove off the road.
Police traced the call.
The cabin.
By the time we arrived near the property, officers had surrounded it.
Carmen surrendered quickly.
Maisie was found inside.
Safe.
Confused.
Holding a stuffed bear.
I ran toward her when officers brought her out.
“Mommy!”
I fell to my knees.
She crashed into me.
I held her so tightly she complained.
“Too tight.”
I laughed and cried at the same time.
“Sorry.”
Evan knelt nearby.
Maisie reached for him.
“Daddy.”
He covered his face.
Then hugged her.
Later, Carmen told police Margaret had arranged everything weeks earlier.
Not the kidnapping exactly.
Margaret called it an “emergency relocation plan.”
If Claire became unstable.
If Evan failed.
If authorities interfered.
Carmen was supposed to take Maisie somewhere “safe.”
The cabin.
Margaret had created backup plans for her backup plans.
But Carmen gave investigators something even worse.
A voicemail.
Margaret’s voice.
Recorded two weeks before the birthday.
If anything happens at dinner, follow the plan.
The dinner.
She knew.
Maybe not exactly what would happen.
But she had expected a confrontation.
And she had prepared to take my daughter afterward.
This time, the police did not treat Margaret like a difficult grandmother.
May you like
They treated her like what she had become.
A threat.
