Chapter 13 - The Greenhouse Demand.
Claire stood in the chapel with Detective Hayes's phone pressed against her ear long after the call ended.
Nobody spoke.
William was the first to move.
He took the phone gently from her hand.
"We're not bringing Ethan anywhere."
Claire looked at him.
"They have my mother."
"I know."
"You don't know what that means."
"Yes, I do."
His voice was quiet.
"They had my son."
The words stopped her anger before it could become unfair.
Claire covered her face with both hands.
"She lives alone."
Nora was already issuing instructions.
"Vermont State Police are moving to Marian's house."
Claire looked up.
"The caller said greenhouse."
"Here?"
"He didn't specify."
Marcus spoke from the doorway.
"There's only one greenhouse anyone connected to this case would expect Claire to understand."
William nodded.
"The old estate greenhouse."
It stood beyond the east garden, a glass structure built by William's grandmother and rarely used after dark.
Nora looked at the clock.
Eleven oh-six.
"We have twenty-four minutes before the demand."
Claire shook her head.
"If they see police—"
"They will see police."
"Then they could hurt her."
Nora held her gaze.
"And if we send a child into a trap, they could take him and still hurt your mother."
Claire knew that was true.
It did not make the choice easier.
Ethan climbed down from the pew.
"I'll go."
William turned so fast the boy flinched.
"No."
"But Miss Claire's mom—"
"No."
William knelt in front of him.
"You are not responsible for fixing what adults did."
Ethan looked at Claire.
"She saved me."
Claire felt tears fill her eyes.
"And you don't owe me anything."
"But—"
"Nothing."
She crouched beside him.
"You being safe is enough."
Nora began constructing a plan.
The greenhouse had three doors and a maintenance tunnel connected to the potting shed.
Police could approach through the tree line.
Marcus could restore selected cameras without turning on exterior lights.
Claire would make the call from the garden and appear to comply.
Ethan would remain inside the mansion under guard.
William wanted Claire kept inside too.
Claire refused.
"He asked for me."
"That makes you a target."
"My mother is the target."
"Claire—"
"If your son were in that greenhouse, could I stop you from walking out there?"
William looked at her.
He hated the question because he knew the answer.
"No."
"Then don't ask me to sit in a chapel."
Nora interrupted.
"She won't be alone."
William still looked unhappy.
"She has no training."
"Neither did she when she opened the wall."
Claire appreciated the confidence and feared it at the same time.
At eleven eighteen, they moved into position.
Before Claire left the chapel, she asked for sixty seconds alone with the phone.
Nora remained by the door but gave her privacy.
Claire called her mother's voicemail even though she knew Marian would not answer.
"Mom, it's me."
Her voice shook on the first word.
She steadied it.
"If you hear this later, I need you to know I didn't bring Ethan to them."
Claire looked toward the chapel aisle where the boy sat beside William.
"I know you would tell me not to."
She swallowed.
"You spent my whole childhood telling me that loving someone doesn't mean handing them another person to save yourself."
A memory came back with painful clarity.
Claire was thirteen, furious because Marian refused to call another mother and lie about where Claire had been after a school dance.
"I love you too much to help you become someone who makes fear another person's problem," Marian had said.
Claire had hated the sentence for weeks.
Now it felt like a rope she could hold.
"So I'm coming for you," Claire whispered into the voicemail.
"But I'm not paying with a child."
She ended the call before her voice broke.
William stood behind her when she turned.
"Your mother sounds formidable."
Claire laughed weakly.
"You have no idea."
"I hope I get to meet her under less insane circumstances."
"She'll probably criticize your tie."
William looked down at the bowtie hanging loose around his collar.
"She'd be right."
Ethan walked over carrying the red dinosaur.
"Take this."
Claire looked at it.
"That's your mom's gift."
"It helped me when I was scared."
"You keep it."
"I'm not in the wall now."
Claire felt tears threaten again.
"Neither are you going back."
"I know."
He pressed the dinosaur into her gloved hand.
"Borrow it."
Claire closed her fingers around the tiny toy.
"Okay."
William crouched beside his son.
"You just made her officially unstoppable."
Ethan nodded seriously.
"Triceratops are good for that."
Even Nora smiled.
Then the detective checked her watch.
The smile disappeared.
"Time."
Claire returned the dinosaur to Ethan's palm.
"Keep the guard dinosaur here."
She stood.
At eleven eighteen, they moved into position.
Claire wore a dark coat over her maid uniform.
Nora placed a tiny earpiece in her right ear.
"If I say stop, you stop."
"Okay."
"If I say down, you get down."
"Okay."
"If the caller asks where Ethan is, say William is bringing him separately."
"He'll know I'm lying."
"Maybe."
"That's comforting."
Nora almost smiled.
"Stay angry."
"Why?"
"Fear makes people rush."
Claire looked toward the greenhouse glowing faintly beneath the cloudy sky.
"I'm both."
"Then use the anger."
Claire crossed the lawn alone.
Wet grass darkened her shoes.
The mansion rose behind her, every lit window suddenly seeming far away.
The greenhouse door stood open.
Inside, one work lamp illuminated rows of empty planting tables.
"Mom?"
No answer.
Claire stepped inside.
"Marian?"
Her voice echoed against glass.
The earpiece crackled softly.
Nora whispered, "We see you."
Claire walked deeper.
A chair sat beneath the central beam.
Her mother was not in it.
A phone rested on the seat.
It rang.
Claire stopped.
"Answer it," Nora said.
Claire picked up the phone.
"Where is my mother?"
The male voice from before answered.
"Where is Ethan?"
"William is bringing him."
"No, he isn't."
Claire's pulse jumped.
"You don't know that."
"Camera shows him upstairs."
Nora whispered in her ear.
"Keep him talking."
Claire stared at the dark corners of the greenhouse.
"Then you know he isn't coming until I see my mother."
The man laughed softly.
"You sound like Marian."
Claire's heart stopped for half a beat.
"You know her."
"Very well."
"Who are you?"
"Ask your mother."
"Put her on."
Silence.
Then Marian Holloway's voice came through the phone.
"Claire?"
Claire nearly collapsed from relief.
"Mom."
"I'm okay."
"Where are you?"
"Don't come looking."
The line switched back.
The man spoke.
"Ethan for Marian."
Claire's anger sharpened.
"No."
"Then you don't love your mother."
"You chose the wrong family for that trick."
Nora whispered, "Good. Keep him focused."
Claire moved slowly toward the far table.
Something gleamed beneath it.
A shoe.
Not her mother's.
A man's black dress shoe.
Claire stopped.
"You're in here."
The caller said nothing.
Claire heard breathing behind the glass divider to her left.
Nora's voice became urgent.
"Claire, back away."
A figure stepped from behind the divider.
Martin Hale wore a dark coat over a tuxedo.
He had gray hair, a trimmed beard, and wire-rim glasses.
In one hand he held another phone.
In the other, he held a small gold key.
"You should have stayed invisible," he said.
Claire backed toward the door.
"Where's my mother?"
"Safe for now."
"Where?"
"Somewhere Adrian cannot reach her."
"Adrian is running."
Martin smiled.
"Adrian is finished."
Claire's earpiece crackled.
Nora whispered, "Do not move closer."
Martin looked at Claire's right ear.
His smile faded.
"Police?"
Claire said nothing.
He stepped backward.
"Of course."
Then he reached beneath a planting table and pulled a lever.
Metal shutters began dropping over the greenhouse doors.
Claire ran.
The nearest door slammed shut before she reached it.
Another shutter crashed down behind her.
"Claire, down!" Nora shouted in her ear.
Claire dropped behind a concrete planter as glass broke on the west side.
Police entered through the shattered panel.
Martin vanished through the potting room.
Nora rushed inside.
"You okay?"
Claire nodded, shaking.
"He has another passage."
Marcus's voice came over the radio.
"Maintenance tunnel."
Officers ran toward it.
Claire grabbed Nora's arm.
"My mother."
"We're finding her."
The phone on the chair rang again.
Nora answered on speaker.
Martin's voice came through, breathless now.
"You just made a mistake."
Nora responded.
"So did you."
"No."
He laughed once.
"The greenhouse was never the exchange."
Claire looked at Nora.
"What does that mean?"
Martin continued.
"It was a clock."
Nora's eyes narrowed.
"For what?"
"To keep all of you outside while someone opened Lauren's vault."
Claire's blood went cold.
The mansion stood across the lawn.
William and Ethan were still inside.
Nora grabbed her radio.
"All units, lock down the east wing."
Static answered.
Then William's voice came through.
"Nora."
He sounded breathless.
"The blue box is gone."
Claire stared toward the house.
May you like
William continued.
"And so is Ethan.
