Chapter 11 - Back to Blackwater
Police surrounded Mercer House.
Logan wanted to leave immediately.
Detective Rachel Sloan refused to let him walk blindly into a trap.
“They expect you emotional.”
“I am emotional.”
“That’s exactly why you stay here.”
“My son is two years old.”
“And charging into a kidnapping situation without a plan could get him hurt.”
Marina stood near the window.
“This is about me.”
Logan turned.
“No.”
“They asked for Elena.”
“You’re not going.”
“I have to.”
“No.”
Marina faced him.
“For eighteen months I didn’t know who I was.”
“Tonight I finally know one thing.”
She touched Noah’s rabbit.
“I’m his mother.”
Logan looked away.
Rachel watched them both.
“We may be able to use that.”
An hour later, Marina entered an unmarked police vehicle.
A transmitter was concealed beneath her coat.
Logan sat beside Rachel in another vehicle several hundred yards away.
Rain began falling.
Exactly as it had the night Elena disappeared.
Blackwater Bridge appeared through the darkness.
Marina stepped out alone.
A black SUV waited near the railing.
Vanessa emerged.
Noah was in her arms.
He was crying.
“Mommy!”
Marina fought every instinct telling her to run.
“I’m here.”
Vanessa smiled.
“You always did make everything difficult.”
“Give me my son.”
“Your son?”
Vanessa laughed.
“You disappeared for eighteen months.”
“You don’t get to walk back into his life and become a mother again.”
“You made me disappear.”
Vanessa’s smile faded.
“You should have stayed gone.”
Marina heard Logan’s voice through the tiny earpiece.
Keep her talking.
Marina took another step.
“Why?”
Vanessa looked almost offended.
“Because Logan was supposed to be mine.”
The answer was so simple it was horrifying.
“You locked me in that room.”
“You were becoming paranoid.”
“You drugged me.”
“You were stressed.”
“Harrison changed the reports.”
“He protected family.”
“And the bridge?”
Vanessa’s expression hardened.
“You grabbed the wheel.”
For a moment, neither woman moved.
Then Vanessa whispered.
“I only meant to scare you.”
A confession.
Logan heard every word.
Police heard every word.
Marina continued.
“You left me there.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“You never checked?”
Vanessa looked at her.
“I watched the car burn.”
Marina suddenly realized something.
“My car never burned.”
Vanessa froze.
The official report said the car had struck the barrier.
There had been no fire.
Marina’s voice dropped.
“You weren’t talking about the bridge.”
Vanessa’s expression changed.
Marina remembered flames.
But not at Blackwater.
Somewhere else.
A warehouse.
A second vehicle.
A man dragging her from a back seat.
Harrison.
“You tried to kill me twice.”
Vanessa grabbed Noah tighter.
“Enough.”
Police lights exploded around them.
Vanessa spun.
May you like
Harrison’s SUV appeared from the darkness.
He accelerated directly toward Marina.
