Chapter 4: The Cabin in the Woods
Ryan burst back into the hospital room two hours later, his clothes soaked from the rain, the leather ledger and the manila envelope tucked tightly under his arm.
“Pack his things,” Ryan said immediately, his voice completely breathless.
Maya jumped up from the chair. Oliver was sitting up, eating a cup of applesauce, looking much better. “Ryan, what’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“We have to leave. Now.” Ryan moved to the closet, shoving Maya’s overnight bag into his shoulder strap. “The doctor already cleared him for discharge an hour ago. We are not going back to our house. It’s not safe. Evelyn has been having us watched for years.”
Maya’s face paled. “Watched?”
Ryan threw the manila envelope on the hospital bed. Surveillance photos spilled out across the white blankets. Maya gasped, picking up a photograph taken through their living room window at night.
“She’s a monster, Maya,” Ryan said, his hands shaking as he zipped Oliver's jacket. “She killed my father.”
Maya dropped the photo. “Ryan… what are you saying?”
“I found a suppressed autopsy report in her safe. She poisoned him, Maya. Just like she tried to drug Oliver. My father was going to divorce her twenty years ago and take me with him. I remember the arguments. She didn't let him leave. She made him a widow's tragic story instead.”
Maya rushed over, wrapping her arms around Ryan as a sob broke from his throat. He had held it together all day, but the absolute betrayal of his entire life was crashing down on him. The woman who had kissed his scraped knees, who had paid for his college, who had smiled at his wedding—was a cold-blooded killer.
“We have the evidence,” Maya said fiercely, pulling back and looking him in the eye. “We take this to the police.”
“Vance has half the precinct in his pocket. Evelyn’s ledger has names of judges she’s blackmailed. If we hand this over blindly, it disappears, and so do we.” Ryan grabbed his phone. “We’re going to my college roommate’s cabin up in the Cascades. No one knows about it. No cell service, no Wi-Fi. I’ll leave this burner phone on so Sarah can reach us. We need to wait until Sarah can get this directly to the FBI. Local cops won't cut it.”
Within thirty minutes, they were in the car. Ryan drove aggressively, checking his rearview mirror every ten seconds, terrified he would see a black SUV tailing them.
The drive took three hours into the deep, dense pine forests of the Cascade Mountains. The cabin was rustic, secluded at the end of a long dirt road. As soon as they got inside, Ryan locked the heavy deadbolts and drew all the curtains. He started a fire in the hearth to warm the freezing room.
Oliver, exhausted by the ordeal, fell asleep quickly on the plush rug in front of the fire, wrapped in his favorite blue blanket.
Maya sat on the sofa, pulling her knees to her chest. She watched the flames dance. “How did we not see it, Ryan? How did we let her into our home?”
Ryan sat beside her, putting his arm around her shoulders. “Because sociopaths don’t wear signs. They wear pearl-gray suits and bring expensive gifts. She manufactured every crisis in my life just so she could be the one to rescue me. I’m so sorry, Maya. I brought this darkness into your life.”
“You are not her,” Maya said softly, resting her head on his shoulder. “You are the man who stood between a monster and his family. You chose us.”
The crackle of the fire was the only sound in the room. For a brief, fleeting moment, they felt safe.
Then, headlights washed across the front window, casting long, terrifying shadows across the living room wall.
Ryan sprang to his feet. He crept toward the window and peered through a small crack in the curtains.
May you like
Two black SUVs were parked in the driveway. Four men in dark suits stepped out into the rain. And from the passenger side of the lead vehicle, holding an umbrella over her immaculate hair, stepped Evelyn Whitmore.
She had found them.
