Chapter 4 - The Predator's Net
The next morning, the reality of my situation set in with terrifying clarity.
I woke up in a guest room of the safe house, the gray Seattle light filtering through the heavy, reinforced blinds. For a few seconds, I forgot where I was. I reached for my phone on the nightstand, intending to check my Instagram or text Emma about our Florida trip.
Then, the memory of the previous night rushed back, a cold, heavy wave that left me gasping for air.
I went downstairs to find Daniel and Luis huddled around a bank of monitors in the small study. The screens displayed real-time feeds from the security cameras outside, as well as a digital map of the city with several blinking red dots.
"What's going on?" I asked, wrapping a wool blanket tightly around my shoulders.
"Martin is moving," Daniel said, not looking up from his screen. "We put a passive GPS tracker on his vehicle yesterday afternoon while he was at the police association gym. He’s spent the last four hours driving around the city. He’s visited three different police precincts, and twice he’s stopped near your old apartment in Capitol Hill."
"Is he looking for me?"
"He's hunting," Luis said grimly. "He knows your phone is off, which means he can't track your GPS. He’s using his old contacts to run a quiet, unauthorized search of flight manifests, car rentals, and hotel registries under your name. Fortunately, Margaret anticipated this. We booked your flight from Florida under Aunt Rebecca’s maiden name using an old corporate account."
"How long can we keep this up?" I asked, a sudden spike of panic tightening my throat. "He's my father—no, he’s a detective. He’s trained to find people."
"Not people who have the Vance family resources protecting them," Margaret said, entering the room with a stack of legal documents. "But we have a complication. Elaine Ellison just checked into Swedish Medical Center."
My heart stopped. "What? Is she sick?"
Despite everything, despite the horrifying truth of what she had done, the thought of my mother—the woman who had held my hand when I had the flu, who had baked me birthday cakes—being hospitalized sent a pang of instinctual worry through me.
"She had a panic attack," Margaret said, her voice even. "According to our contact inside the hospital, Martin brought her in at 4:00 a.m. She was hysterical, screaming that 'they' were going to take her baby away. Martin had her sedated. He’s currently standing guard outside her room, refusing to let any non-essential medical staff inside."
"She’s cracking," Sarah said, joining us in the study. Her face was hard, devoid of any sympathy. "She knows the clock is ticking. She’s lived with the guilt of stealing Laura’s baby for twenty-three years, and now that the truth is coming out, her fragile little world is imploding."
"We can use this," Daniel said, tapping a pencil against the desk. "Elaine is the weak link. Martin is a sociopath; he’ll never confess. He’ll fight this to the bitter end, claiming he was acting in the child's best interest or that the evidence is fabricated. But Elaine... Elaine has a conscience, however warped it might be. If we can get to her without Martin knowing, we can get a full confession."
"No," I said suddenly, the word escaping my mouth before I could think. Everyone turned to look at me. "You can't do that. If Martin finds out you're trying to talk to her, he’ll lock her down even tighter. Or worse."
"She’s right," Luis agreed. "Martin is a trained interrogator. He knows how to isolate a witness. If we try to approach Elaine at the hospital, Martin will make a scene, call the active-duty officers, and have us arrested for harassment or trespassing. We need to draw him away from her."
"I'll do it," I said, my heart pounding against my ribs. "I'll call him."
"Claire, absolutely not," Sarah said, grabbing my arm. "It’s too dangerous. He’s a dangerous man."
"He’s my father," I said, looking her in the eye. "Or at least, he thinks he is. He’s spent twenty-three years protecting me—or protecting his secret. Either way, he will react to my voice. If I call him, if I tell him I’m scared and need him to meet me somewhere, he’ll leave the hospital. That’s your window to get to Elaine."
Margaret exchanged a long, calculating look with Daniel. "It’s risky," the attorney said. "But it might be the only way to get Elaine's statement before Martin can coach her or move her to a private facility."
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"We’ll set up a controlled meet," Daniel said, his eyes narrowing. "A public place. Lots of cameras, lots of witnesses. And we’ll have our team on him the entire time."
I nodded, my palms sweating as Luis handed me the secure burner phone. "Let's do it."
