Chapter 5 – The Woman in the Snow
Chapter 5 – The Woman in the Snow
Sarah Carter stumbled deeper into the forest.
Every step sent pain shooting through her side.
The fresh bandage beneath her coat was already soaked with blood.
She leaned against a pine tree to catch her breath.
"I have to keep moving."
"If I stop now, they'll find me."
She tightened her grip on a worn leather backpack.
Everything she had risked her life to protect was inside.
A gust of icy wind swept through the trees.
Sarah looked toward the distant lights of the hospital.
For one brief moment, she had seen Lily.
Her little girl was alive.
That single glimpse gave her the strength to keep walking.
Back at Cascade Regional Medical Center, Lily refused to leave the window.
Nathan had returned as soon as Detective Ryan Collins called him.
He found Lily standing exactly where the nurse had left her.
She looked up as soon as she saw him.
"Uncle Nathan."
"I saw Mommy."
Nathan knelt beside her.
"Tell me everything."
Lily nodded.
"She was outside."
"She waved at me."
"Then she disappeared into the trees."
Nathan studied her face carefully.
She wasn't confused.
She wasn't dreaming.
She believed every word she was saying.
Ryan joined them a moment later.
"What did she look like?"
Lily closed her eyes.
"She was wearing a dark coat."
"Her hood covered most of her face."
"But I know it was Mommy."
"She walks with her left shoulder lower."
Nathan's eyes widened.
Sarah had injured that shoulder years earlier in a horseback riding accident.
Very few people knew about it.
Ryan quietly wrote the detail into his notebook.
"This is important."
Nathan looked at him.
"You believe her."
Ryan nodded.
"I believe children notice things adults miss."
Across the city, Marcus Kane parked outside an old self-storage facility.
Snow covered the rusted security gate.
He unlocked Unit 214.
The number immediately caught his attention.
Two.
One.
Four.
The same number from Nathan's father's note.
Marcus slowly smiled.
"So that's where you hid it."
He stepped inside.
The storage unit looked empty.
Only dusty furniture and broken boxes remained.
Marcus searched every corner.
Nothing.
His frustration grew.
He kicked an old wooden trunk.
The impact echoed strangely.
Marcus stopped.
He knelt beside it.
His fingers traced the bottom edge.
"Hollow."
He pulled out a pry bar.
Seconds later, a hidden compartment opened.
Inside was...
Nothing.
Only a single folded photograph.
Marcus unfolded it.
His smile vanished.
The picture showed Nathan and Sarah standing beside their father.
Behind them sat a young woman Marcus had never seen before.
Across the back of the photograph someone had written five words.
She knows where everything is.
Marcus crushed the picture in his fist.
"Who are you?"
At the hospital, Nathan couldn't stop thinking about Box 214.
He called Rosa.
"Can you check Father's office again?"
"I need to know if anything else is missing."
Rosa answered immediately.
"I'll look now."
Twenty minutes later she called back.
"There is something."
Nathan held his breath.
"What is it?"
"A photograph."
"It used to sit on your father's bookshelf."
Nathan frowned.
"What photograph?"
"The one with your family."
"And another woman."
Nathan felt the blood drain from his face.
"Someone took it?"
"Yes."
"The frame is still here."
"But the picture is gone."
Nathan immediately looked at Ryan.
"He found it first."
Ryan nodded grimly.
"Which means we're behind."
Late that evening, Emily Harper entered the twins' room carrying fresh blankets.
She stopped when she noticed Owen staring at the ceiling.
The little boy was awake.
Emily smiled warmly.
"Well."
"Look who's decided to join us."
Tiny blue eyes looked toward her.
Then he laughed.
Emily blinked in surprise.
"You've got quite the smile."
She gently picked him up.
As she adjusted his blanket, something caught her attention.
Around the baby's neck hung a thin leather cord.
Hidden beneath his hospital gown.
Emily carefully pulled it free.
Attached to it was a tiny silver charm.
No larger than a coin.
She turned it over.
An engraved letter appeared.
A
Emily frowned.
She checked Ethan.
The second baby wore an identical cord.
His charm carried a different letter.
B
Nathan arrived just as Emily held up the charms.
"Have you seen these before?"
Nathan shook his head.
"No."
Emily looked thoughtful.
"Parents don't usually put identification charms on newborns."
Ryan examined them.
"They look handmade."
Nathan gently touched Owen's charm.
"There has to be another one."
Ryan looked at Lily.
"What if she has the third?"
Lily searched beneath her hospital gown.
Nothing.
She shook her head.
"I don't have one."
Nathan stared at the two silver charms lying in his palm.
A sudden realization flashed across his face.
"There aren't supposed to be three."
Emily looked confused.
"What do you mean?"
Nathan slowly looked toward the twins.
"One charm is marked A."
"The other is marked B."
He paused.
"That means someone expected at least two children."
Ryan's eyes narrowed.
"Or..."
"...someone planned for there to be a C."
Before anyone could respond, Lily suddenly gasped.
She grabbed Nathan's sleeve.
"I remember!"
Everyone turned toward her.
"My mommy kept saying..."
"...'Don't let them find Charlie.'"
Silence filled the room.
Nathan stared at Lily.
"Charlie?"
Lily nodded.
"I thought she meant a person."
Ryan slowly looked at the silver charms.
"A."
"B."
He looked back at Nathan.
"What if..."
"...Charlie isn't a person?"
Nathan's heartbeat quickened.
"What if Charlie is..."
"...the missing third charm?"
At that exact moment, Rosa called Nathan again.
Her voice trembled.
"Dr. Pierce..."
"Someone's inside the mansion."
Nathan's expression changed instantly.
"The police are still there."
"Not anymore."
"They just left."
Rosa struggled to breathe.
"I locked myself in the pantry."
"I can hear footsteps."
"They're calling your sister's name."
Then the line suddenly went dead.
Nathan grabbed his coat and ran.
Ryan followed close behind.
Neither of them noticed the small security camera mounted outside the hospital entrance.
A man inside a parked van watched them leave.
He smiled as he spoke into a headset.
May you like
"Phase Two has started."
"They're exactly where we want them."
