Chapter 11 - THE GIRLS IN THE WINDOW
Police sealed the chapel.
Detective Cole returned from the service corridor without Margot.
She had exited through a kitchen door and taken a waiting car.
The vehicle belonged to a funeral-home employee.
The employee claimed Margot had threatened him and stolen the keys.
An alert went out across three counties.
Elena sat on the chapel floor between the empty coffins while detectives reviewed Lily’s audio.
Samantha remained beside her.
“We know they were alive,” she said.
“We need to know where.”
The phrase “north property” appeared twice on the recording.
Silas owned several properties north of the city.
A ski lodge.
A hunting cabin.
A closed rehabilitation center.
Three rental houses held through Mercer Global subsidiaries.
Search warrants were requested.
Teams were dispatched.
But Elena kept thinking about another section of the audio.
Margot had said, “The cedar room is ready.”
Elena had heard those words before.
Years earlier, Silas had taken the family to a secluded house called Blackwood Lodge.
The property belonged to his late uncle.
Its upstairs bedrooms were lined with cedar paneling.
“There’s a house near Lake Carrow,” Elena said.
Samantha looked up.
“Is it owned by Silas?”
“It was his uncle’s. Silas said it was sold.”
Detective Torres searched county property records.
Blackwood Lodge had been transferred three years earlier to a holding company called North Star Retreats.
The company’s registered agent was Margot’s brother.
A tactical team was immediately redirected.
The lodge stood nearly two hours away.
Elena demanded to go.
Torres refused.
“If Margot sees police vehicles, she may panic. You cannot be there.”
“They’re my children.”
“That is why I need you somewhere safe.”
Elena wanted to scream.
Instead, she gave Torres everything she remembered.
The driveway curved behind a line of pine trees.
A service road approached from the lake.
The cedar room was on the second floor at the east end of the house.
Sophie was allergic to walnuts.
Lily might hide when frightened.
“Lily will protect her sister,” Elena said. “Even if she is scared, she will try to keep Sophie quiet.”
Torres touched her shoulder.
“We will find them.”
Police searched Silas’s phone.
Most recent messages had been deleted.
A forensic technician recovered one sent to Margot that morning.
After the service, move Package Two. Leave Package One until night.
Elena stared at the words.
“Which daughter is Package One?”
No one knew.
Then a second recovered message appeared.
Margot had written:
The older one keeps asking about the watch.
Lily.
She was still at Blackwood Lodge when the message was sent.
But Sophie might already have been moved.
May you like
👉 Police raced toward the lodge knowing Lily could still be inside—while Margot was somewhere on the road with Sophie.
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