Chapter 9 - MISSING AGAIN
The hotel camera showed a woman in housekeeping uniform entering William’s room.
The uniform resembled mine.
Her face remained hidden beneath a mask and cap.
I had become more useful as an image than as a person.
Police recovered a cloned hotel key from Adrian’s motel room. He denied using it.
Isabella’s monitored visit with Ethan took place the following afternoon at a family services center.
Two supervisors were present.
She brought no bag.
She touched Ethan only after receiving permission.
She cried and told him she was sorry he had been frightened.
Ethan said nothing.
Ten minutes after the visit, a fire alarm forced evacuation.
A transport officer presented paperwork ordering Ethan moved to another secure site.
The paperwork carried a real judge’s name and a false case number.
By the time the supervisors confirmed the fraud, the transport vehicle had left.
Ethan was missing again.
Isabella remained inside the center under camera observation during the removal.
She had created distance between herself and the act.
The van was found abandoned near the estate’s rear road.
No blood.
No struggle.
One child safety seat.
A red thread from Ethan’s sweater.
Detective Brooks locked down every Sterling property.
William received another scheduled message.
This time it contained a live audio recording of Ethan breathing.
A woman’s voice instructed him to sign the trust amendment at the charity gala ballroom before midnight.
The gala had been canceled.
The mansion was empty except for police and supervised staff.
Then I heard a faint mechanical pulse beneath the audio.
Three beats.
Pause.
Three beats.
I had heard it during years of late-night ballroom cleaning.
It was the old dumbwaiter motor.
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Ethan was somewhere inside the mansion again.
And whoever held him expected William to walk into the same trap a second time.
