Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT THE BAKERY BURNED
The darkness lasted four seconds.
Four seconds was long enough for a child to disappear.
"ELLIE!"
Maya's scream tore through the street.
I moved toward the bakery.
Theo grabbed my shoulder.
"Boss, wait."
I shook him off.
Smoke poured from the back windows.
Someone had started a fire.
I entered.
Heat slammed into me.
The bakery had become a maze of flames, broken chairs, and falling shelves.
"Maya!"
"She's not here!"
I heard a tiny cough.
Behind the kitchen.
I ran.
A beam crashed across the hallway.
I jumped over it.
Then I saw Ellie.
She was trapped beneath a fallen wooden shelf, clutching her red coat.
"Mister Sebastian!"
"I'm here."
"I can't get out."
"I know."
I lifted the shelf.
My shoulder screamed.
"Run!"
She crawled beneath it.
I grabbed her and carried her toward the front.
Behind us, flames climbed the walls.
We reached the doorway.
Maya rushed forward and pulled Ellie into her arms.
I turned back.
Something was burning beside the oven.
A metal box.
The moon symbol glowed on its lid.
I ran toward it.
"Sebastian!"
I ignored Maya.
I kicked the box away from the flames and grabbed it.
The heat burned my palm.
Then the ceiling groaned.
I ran.
We escaped seconds before part of the roof collapsed.
Firefighters arrived minutes later.
Police blocked the street.
Maya sat on the curb holding Ellie.
I stood beside them, breathing smoke.
Ellie reached for my hand.
"Are you hurt?"
"Nothing serious."
She frowned.
"You got burned."
"So did the bread."
She looked toward the bakery.
"The bread didn't do anything."
I almost laughed.
Maya looked at me.
"Thank you."
I shook my head.
"Thank Ellie."
"Why?"
"She told me where to go."
Ellie nodded proudly.
"Mommy says I have good ears."
She did.
Maybe better than ours.
Theo approached.
"We found the accelerant."
"Calvin?"
"Probably."
"Probably isn't enough."
He lowered his voice.
"We also found someone else's fingerprints."
"Whose?"
"Your father's."
I stared at him.
"My father has been dead for nine years."
"I know."
"Then how?"
"We don't know."
I looked at the burned bakery.
Someone had planted evidence.
Someone wanted me to believe my father was alive.
Or wanted Calvin to believe it.
Then Theo handed me a second item.
A cassette recorder.
Old-fashioned.
The label carried one word.
NORA.
I pressed play.
Static.
Then a woman's voice.
"If you're hearing this, Sebastian, then you finally found Ellie."
My chest tightened.
Nora.
Her voice was calm.
Almost tired.
"I knew you would come eventually. Your mother trusted you more than she trusted anyone. I wish she had lived long enough to tell you why."
Maya began crying.
The recording continued.
"Ellie is not a weapon. She is not evidence. She is a child. Please remember that."
I looked at the little girl.
She was asleep against Maya's shoulder.
Nora continued.
"Calvin believes the final ledger page contains the names of everyone who betrayed the Rourke family. He's wrong."
A pause.
"The final page contains only one name."
The tape clicked.
I leaned closer.
"Mine."
The recording stopped.
Maya whispered, "No."
I rewound it.
The same words.
Mine.
Nora had written her own name.
Theo looked confused.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
Maya wiped her tears.
"I do."
She looked at me.
"Nora believed she had betrayed your family."
"How?"
"She gave Calvin information."
My hand tightened.
"What information?"
"She told him where your mother was."
The words landed like a physical blow.
"Why?"
"Because Calvin threatened Ellie."
"Ellie wasn't born."
"She was still inside Nora."
Silence.
"Nora thought if she gave him your mother's location, he would leave her unborn child alone."
"And did he?"
"No."
Maya looked toward the fire.
"He killed your mother anyway."
I stared at her.
Then everything became clear.
My mother had not been the target.
Nora had.
My father had not arranged the accident to kill Nora.
He had staged her disappearance to protect her.
And the person who died in that crash might not have been Nora at all.
I turned toward Elliot's statement in my mind.
He had said Nora survived.
He had said she gave birth.
But he had never said who died in the crash.
"Where is Nora's body?"
Maya looked at me.
"There isn't one."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
"Your sister's body was never recovered."
"Then why did everyone believe she died?"
"Because someone wanted you to."
I looked at the burning bakery.
Eleven years.
Calvin had spent eleven years searching for something that might have never been lost.
And now I wondered if Nora Bennett was still alive.
A siren sounded in the distance.
Theo's phone rang.
He answered.
Then his face changed.
"What?"
He listened.
"Where?"
He hung up.
"Boss."
"What?"
"Someone just accessed an old account under Nora Bennett's name."
"When?"
"Ten minutes ago."
"Where?"
Theo stared at me.
"Portland."
I looked at Maya.
She was pale.
"Could she be alive?"
Maya shook her head.
"I don't know."
I looked at Ellie.
The child slept peacefully.
For years I'd believed my mother died because the world was cruel.
Now I wondered whether she had died because someone tried to protect a child who was never supposed to exist.
I turned to Theo.
"Get us to Portland."
Maya stood.
"I'm coming."
I nodded.
Then I looked at Ellie.
"She stays with me."
Maya hesitated.
"Why?"
"Because whoever accessed that account knows she's alive."
"And?"
I looked toward the burning bakery.
"They're not going to get another chance."
As we drove away, I received one final message.
No number.
No name.
Only a photograph.
Nora Bennett, standing alive beside a harbor.
Taken that morning.
Under the picture were five words.
SHE'S BEEN WAITING FOR YOU.
The hospital released Elliot the following afternoon.
He refused to leave Portland.
"I need to finish what Nora started."
I drove him to a safe apartment.
Maya stayed with Ellie.
For the first time, we had a few quiet hours.
I thought quiet would feel good.
It didn't.
Quiet gave the past room to speak.
Maya found me on the balcony.
"You should eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"That's what dangerous men say before they faint."
I looked at her.
She smiled.
"Come inside."
I followed.
Ellie was drawing at the table.
She held up a picture.
"It's us."
Three figures stood beneath a huge moon.
"You forgot Theo," I said.
She shook her head.
"He isn't family."
Theo, entering the room, stopped.
"That's fair."
Everyone laughed.
For a few minutes, the fear disappeared.
Then a knock came.
Theo's hand moved toward his weapon.
I nodded.
He opened the door.
A federal investigator stood outside.
"Sebastian Rourke?"
"Yes."
"I need to speak with you."
"About?"
"Calvin Marlowe."
Maya moved closer.
The investigator looked at her.
"We believe Mr. Marlowe has been using the bakery investigation to force you into exposing hidden financial records."
"I know."
"Then you know this is bigger than your family."
He handed me a folder.
Inside were photographs of people who had disappeared over the past eleven years.
All connected to my father.
"Calvin isn't trying to recover money," he said.
"What is he trying to recover?"
"Control."
I looked at the photos.
"He already has power."
"He wants immunity."
"From what?"
"Everything."
The investigator left.
Maya sat down.
"This never ends."
"It will."
"How?"
"I don't know yet."
Ellie looked up.
"Can we go home?"
I crouched beside her.
"We are home."
She pointed toward Maya.
"No. Home with Mommy."
Maya looked at me.
The word "Mommy" carried weight.
I realized Ellie had never asked for a permanent place.
She had been moving from one temporary safety to another without understanding why.
I wanted to change that.
"We'll build one," I said.
Maya frowned.
"Build what?"
"A home."
She stared.
"Sebastian."
"I mean it."
"You don't know what you're promising."
"I know exactly what I'm promising."
She looked at Ellie.
Then back at me.
"I can't give her a life surrounded by your enemies."
"Then I'll remove the enemies."
"You can't remove everyone."
"No."
I paused.
"But I can stop inviting them into my life."
Maya was silent.
That night, Nora called.
A number appeared on my phone.
I answered.
"Sebastian."
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Where are you?"
"Safe."
"Is Ellie with you?"
"Yes."
"Good."
"Why did you disappear?"
"I was trying to keep her alive."
"You could have trusted me."
"I didn't know if you were becoming like your father."
The words hurt.
"Am I?"
"No."
She sounded certain.
"You're becoming like your mother."
I closed my eyes.
"Come home."
Silence.
"Please."
"I don't know if I can."
"You can."
"Why?"
"Because Ellie deserves to know her mother."
Nora began crying.
"I'll come."
The call ended.
Maya looked at me.
"Was that her?"
"Yes."
"What did she say?"
"She's coming."
Maya covered her face.
For the first time, I saw hope in her expression.
Then every light in the house went out.
A gunshot shattered the window.
Ellie screamed.
I pulled her down.
Theo shouted orders.
And somewhere outside, a car accelerated into the night.
May you like
Nora was coming home.
Which meant Calvin knew exactly where she was.
