Chapter 10 - The Airfield Road.
The police commander wanted Ava, James, and Elena to remain at the mansion while officers secured the scene.
James agreed immediately.
Ava did not.
"If Nolan reaches that airfield, he disappears."
The commander shook his head.
"We have units on the road."
Elena looked at the map on Nolan's phone.
"Not the main road."
She enlarged a satellite image and pointed to a maintenance route crossing Price-owned land.
"Victor built this for construction equipment."
The commander called the information in.
Ava watched the officers move with efficient urgency and realized how different it felt when authority was finally pointed in the correct direction.
Celeste sat on a sofa under supervision, saying nothing.
Her earlier certainty was gone.
Guests were being interviewed in separate rooms.
The ruined birthday cake remained scattered across the marble like the remains of a celebration that had never truly belonged to Ava.
James stood beside her.
"You are shaking."
Ava looked at her hands.
He was right.
"I don't feel afraid."
"Your body hasn't received the update yet."
The sentence was so dry and so familiar that Ava almost smiled.
Then she remembered all the calls she had not answered because Nolan disliked her father.
"I'm sorry."
James looked at her sharply.
"For what?"
"For disappearing from you."
"You did not disappear."
He looked toward Nolan's abandoned phone.
"You were isolated. There is a difference."
Ava swallowed hard.
Before she could answer, the commander's radio crackled.
A unit had spotted the black SUV near the maintenance road.
The vehicle refused to stop.
Ava's heart began racing again.
The commander listened, then frowned.
"They abandoned the SUV."
Elena moved closer.
"Where?"
"Two miles from the airfield."
Another transmission came through.
One suspect had been detained.
Victor Price.
Ava waited.
"What about Nolan?"
The commander listened again.
"He fled on foot through the woods."
James's eyes narrowed.
Elena looked at the digital map.
"There is an old caretaker's house near the south fence."
The commander called another team toward it.
Ava's phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
She almost ignored it.
Then a photograph arrived.
It showed James's house from across the street.
A second image showed the front door.
A third showed Ava's childhood bedroom window.
Her blood turned cold.
A message followed.
YOU TOOK MY FAMILY.
NOW I TAKE YOURS.
James read it over her shoulder.
His entire posture changed.
"Who is at my house?"
Ava thought of the only person who still had a key.
Her father's older sister, Ruth, had agreed to feed his dog during the party.
Ava called her.
No answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
The police commander was already issuing orders.
James looked toward the door.
"I'm going home."
The commander shook his head.
"Sir, officers are closer."
James's voice stayed controlled.
"Then they can meet me there."
Ava grabbed his arm.
"Dad, wait."
He looked at her.
Ava held up Nolan's phone.
A location-sharing icon was active in the corner of the screen.
Nolan had been tracking them for months.
But the signal now showed something unexpected.
May you like
His device was not near James's house.
It was still inside the Price mansion.
