Daniel drove with both hands locked around the steering wheel.
Snow struck the windshield in thick, uneven bursts, forcing the wipers to work at their fastest setting. Officer Harris followed close behind in an unmarked vehicle, while another patrol car took a different road toward the park.
Emma sat beside Daniel with her phone clutched in both hands.
Lily's photograph remained on the screen.
Her daughter stood beneath the old apple tree, wrapped in the floral blanket, her face frightened but visible. Behind her, the dark figure waited near the trunk.
"She's alive," Emma whispered.
Daniel nodded.
"I know."
"Then why does it feel like we're already too late?"
He glanced at her.
"Because whoever took her wants us thinking that."
Emma looked back at the photograph.
"She looks cold."
"She's wearing the blanket."
"That isn't enough."
"I know."
The road narrowed as they left the neighborhood. Snow had covered the familiar landmarks, turning street signs and fences into pale shapes. Daniel slowed at every intersection, but his mind kept returning to the same sentence from the note.
The tree remembers.
It sounded theatrical.
Almost childish.
Yet the evidence beneath that tree had already connected Lily to Anna Miller and to Daniel's father's investigation. Someone knew the history. Someone had deliberately recreated parts of it.
Daniel's phone rang through the car speakers.
Officer Harris.
"Don't go directly into the yard."
Daniel answered, "Why?"
"We've got movement on the eastern side."
"Who?"
"Can't tell yet."
Emma leaned toward the dashboard.
"Is Lily there?"
"We believe so."
"Then we're going in."
Harris's voice hardened.
"Not without a plan."
Daniel swallowed his impatience.
"What's the plan?"
"We approach from the back. Two officers circle the house. One stays with the vehicles. You and Emma remain behind me."
Emma shook her head.
"I need to see my daughter."
"You will."
"Promise me."
There was a pause.
"I'll do everything I can."
The call ended.
Daniel hated those words.
Everything I can.
They were honest, but honesty did not make them easier to hear.
The old property appeared through the snowfall.
The house stood dark.
The apple tree was visible beyond the fence.
A figure stood beneath it.
Daniel's foot moved toward the brake.
Emma grabbed his arm.
"That's him."
The man lifted his head.
Even from a distance, Daniel recognized the black coat.
The vehicle stopped.
Officer Harris's car pulled alongside.
She stepped out with two officers.
"Stay here."
Daniel opened his door.
"No."
Harris looked at him.
"I said stay here."
"My daughter is there."
"And that's exactly why I need you alive."
Emma stepped out too.
"Where's Lily?"
The figure beneath the tree moved.
Then a small voice called through the storm.
"Mom!"
Emma started forward.
Daniel caught her.
"Wait."
Lily screamed again.
"Mom!"
Harris raised one hand.
The officers moved through the snow.
The man beneath the tree suddenly ran.
One officer chased him.
The second moved toward Lily.
Daniel and Emma followed.
The stranger disappeared behind the house.
Lily was sitting beneath the tree.
She was not tied.
She was not hanging.
She was wrapped tightly in the floral blanket.
Emma fell to her knees.
"Lily."
Her daughter threw herself into her arms.
"Mom!"
Emma held her so tightly Lily could barely breathe.
"I'm here."
"I knew you'd come."
Daniel crouched beside them.
"Are you hurt?"
Lily shook her head.
"Where did he go?"
She pointed toward the house.
"He ran."
Officer Harris returned.
"He's gone."
Daniel stood.
"You lost him?"
Harris looked annoyed.
"He knew the property."
Emma ignored them.
"Who brought you here?"
Lily pointed at the tree.
"The same man."
"Why?"
"He said I had to remember."
Daniel looked at the tree.
"Remember what?"
Lily looked at him.
"The shed."
Daniel felt a cold that had nothing to do with winter.
"What shed?"
"Behind the house."
There had been an old shed on the property when Daniel was a child.
His father had used it for tools.
It had been removed decades earlier.
Or so Daniel thought.
Lily pointed through the snow.
"There."
Daniel followed her finger.
Beyond the tree stood a low structure nearly buried beneath snow.
The shed.
He had never noticed it from the road.
Officer Harris ordered everyone to stay back.
They approached together.
The door was unlocked.
Inside, the smell of damp wood and rust filled the air.
A lantern sat on a table.
It was still warm.
Someone had been there recently.
Daniel looked around.
The walls were covered with photographs.
Anna.
Other children.
Lily.
Daniel felt sick.
"Take pictures," Harris ordered.
Emma stood beside Lily.
"Don't look."
But Lily was already staring.
She pointed at one photograph.
"That's me."
Daniel followed her finger.
The photograph showed Lily sleeping in her bedroom.
It had been taken through the window.
Another showed Daniel leaving for work.
Another showed Emma carrying groceries.
Another showed the family eating dinner.
The photographs were not random.
They documented their routine.
Someone had watched them for weeks.
Officer Harris opened a drawer.
Inside were notebooks.
Dates.
Times.
Names.
Daniel leaned over.
His own name appeared repeatedly.
So did Emma's.
Lily's name was circled.
"What does this mean?" Emma asked.
Harris turned a page.
The notes described Lily's habits.
When she went to bed.
When she woke.
When she walked to school.
What time the house was empty.
Daniel clenched his fists.
"He planned this."
Harris nodded.
"Yes."
Lily suddenly pointed toward another photograph.
"That's the man."
Daniel looked.
The stranger was younger.
Much younger.
He stood beside a teenage boy near the same tree.
Daniel stared at the boy.
He knew him.
"That's Thomas."
Emma turned.
"Who?"
"Thomas Reed."
The name seemed to change the temperature of the room.
Thomas had been his father's closest friend.
He had died five years earlier.
But the photograph showed Thomas standing beside the stranger.
And the stranger looked barely twenty.
Daniel took the photograph.
"When was this taken?"
A date was written on the back.
Twenty-seven years earlier.
Emma looked at Daniel.
"If that's him…"
"He hasn't aged."
Harris took the photograph.
"Or you're looking at someone related to him."
Daniel looked at the younger man's face.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
"Thomas had a son."
Emma frowned.
"Who?"
"Michael."
Daniel remembered the name vaguely.
Michael Reed had left the neighborhood when he was young.
He had been about Lily's age when Daniel last saw him.
"He would be around forty now."
Harris looked at the photographs.
"Then we have a possible suspect."
Lily tugged at Emma's sleeve.
"Mom."
"What?"
"I know where he went."
"Where?"
"Under the tree."
Daniel looked at the ground.
"What do you mean?"
"He showed me."
They searched beneath the snow.
Nothing appeared.
Then Lily pointed to a root.
"That one."
Daniel brushed away snow.
His fingers struck metal.
A hidden hatch.
Harris immediately called for another officer.
They cleared the area.
The hatch opened into a narrow passage beneath the tree.
Emma stared.
"Where does it go?"
Harris shone her flashlight inside.
"Under the property."
Daniel looked at Lily.
"Did he take you through there?"
She shook her head.
"He told me not to."
"Why?"
"He said there were things down there that children shouldn't see."
Harris looked at Daniel.
"You're staying here."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
"Mr. Hale."
"If that passage connects to the old shed, I need to know."
"You don't."
"I know this property."
Harris hesitated.
Then she said, "Fine. You stay behind me."
They descended.
The passage was narrow.
Old wooden beams supported the ceiling.
Water dripped somewhere ahead.
Emma stayed above with Lily.
Daniel followed Harris.
After several yards, they reached a room.
The walls were lined with shelves.
Boxes filled the floor.
Harris opened one.
Inside were newspaper clippings.
Missing children.
Winter disappearances.
Anna Miller's case.
Daniel stared.
Then he found his father's name.
A photograph showed his father standing outside the police station.
Beneath it was a handwritten sentence.
He knew too much.
Daniel's breath caught.
Harris saw it.
"Your father was involved."
"Not involved."
"Then what?"
"He was investigating."
They searched further.
Another box contained letters.
One was addressed to Daniel's father.
Thomas had written it.
The letter said he knew the truth about the man who had taken Anna.
He claimed the stranger was part of a group that staged frightening incidents to manipulate children into remembering events they had witnessed.
Daniel read the sentence twice.
"What events?"
Harris pointed to the final paragraph.
Thomas had written that the children were not chosen randomly.
They had seen something.
Something adults wanted forgotten.
Daniel felt his stomach tighten.
"What did Lily see?"
A sound came from the passage.
Footsteps.
Harris turned.
A shadow moved across the doorway.
"Police!"
The shadow ran.
Daniel chased.
He reached the end of the tunnel and saw a man climbing through an opening.
"Stop!"
The man looked back.
Daniel recognized him.
Michael Reed.
But Michael did not run.
Instead, he smiled.
"You finally found it."
Daniel stopped.
"What?"
Michael pointed behind him.
"The place your father couldn't destroy."
Then he disappeared into the snow.
Click Here to continue read next: PART6: Michael Reed Knew Why Lily Had Been Chosen, but His Explanation Forced Daniel to Question the Memory His Father Had Left Behind
When Daniel Looked Outside and Saw His Daughter Hanging From the Tree, He Realized the Winter Morning Had Gone Terribly Wrong
Part 5 of 8
