Chapter 8 - THE GIRL IN THE COURTHOUSE WINDOW
Nathan had less than forty minutes to save his daughter.
Sheriff Harlan had chosen the old Cedar Ridge courthouse, a stone building abandoned after the county moved its offices downtown.
No courtroom lights.
No security cameras connected to the state network.
No employees.
Just a three-story monument to a justice system Harlan had spent years corrupting.
Nathan stood beside Lena Ortiz's vehicle.
"Give me the evidence."
Lena shook her head.
"You're not walking in there alone."
"He has Ismerie."
"And if you go in without a plan, he'll have both of you."
Nathan stared at the courthouse photograph on her tablet.
His daughter was seven.
She still slept with a stuffed rabbit.
She still believed bad dreams could be frightened away by leaving a hallway light on.
And somewhere inside that building, a man with a gun was using her to negotiate.
"I missed ten months of her life," Nathan whispered. "I'm not missing another minute because somebody wants to discuss procedure."
Lena stepped closer.
"I'm a mother, Nathan."
He looked at her.
"Two boys. Eleven and fourteen."
Her voice softened.
"I understand the feeling. But your daughter needs you alive."
Nathan closed his eyes.
He knew she was right.
He hated that she was right.
A vehicle pulled up behind them.
Meredith stepped out, followed by June and Theo.
Nathan rushed toward her.
"Where were you?"
Meredith threw her arms around him.
"Harlan's men came to the safe house. They forced us into a utility room and took Ismerie."
Nathan pulled back.
"Are you hurt?"
"Just bruised."
"Why didn't the guards stop them?"
"One of them was working for Harlan."
Lena cursed beneath her breath.
Meredith continued.
"Theo hid beneath a desk. After the men left, he found a phone and called June's number."
Nathan looked at the little boy.
Theo stood beside June, trembling.
"Thank you," Nathan whispered.
Theo lowered his eyes.
"Is Ismerie going to die?"
Nathan knelt.
"No."
The word came out too quickly.
He corrected himself.
"We're going to do everything we can to bring her back."
Theo began crying.
"I should have helped her."
Nathan placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You're a child, Theo. Helping Ismerie is our job."
Behind them, Cole emerged from another vehicle.
His arm was in a sling.
He looked pale.
"There's something you need to know about the courthouse."
Lena turned.
"What?"
"Voss used the basement records room to store forged documents before moving them to Harbor House."
Nathan frowned.
"Why does that matter?"
"Because there's a service passage behind the old evidence vault. It leads to a flood-control culvert near the river."
Lena studied the building plan.
"An escape route."
Cole nodded.
"Harlan probably knows about it."
Nathan glanced toward the dark courthouse.
"And Voss?"
Cole's expression tightened.
"He definitely knows."
Lena called her tactical commander.
"Cover the river exit. Quietly. No lights until we identify the hostage."
Nathan turned to his brother.
"How do you know all this?"
Cole looked down.
"Because I helped Voss move the records."
Nathan stared at him.
Every answer about Cole seemed to reveal another betrayal.
But there wasn't time to fight.
"Then you help us get her out."
Cole nodded.
"Whatever it takes."
At eleven forty-two, Nathan entered the courthouse carrying a black briefcase.
Inside was a copy of the evidence.
The original drives were secured with state investigators.
Lena had insisted.
If Harlan killed Nathan, the evidence would survive.
Nathan climbed the courthouse steps.
The front doors stood open.
"Harlan!"
His voice echoed beneath the vaulted ceiling.
No answer.
Then a light appeared on the second floor.
A little figure moved behind the window.
Pink pajamas.
Brown hair.
A small hand pressed against the glass.
"ISMERIE!"
Nathan ran forward.
A gunshot struck the marble floor near his feet.
He stopped.
Harlan's voice echoed from the staircase.
"Not another step."
Nathan looked up.
The sheriff stood on the landing.
One hand held a pistol.
The other gripped Ismerie's shoulder.
Her face was wet with tears.
"Daddy!"
Nathan held up both hands.
"I'm here, sweetheart."
Harlan shoved her behind him.
"Briefcase on the floor."
Nathan obeyed.
"Let her go."
"Not yet."
"You said you wanted the evidence."
"I want an agreement."
"What agreement?"
Harlan's face twisted.
"I want the state to know Voss ordered everything."
Nathan stared.
"You helped kidnap me."
Harlan swallowed.
"Yes."
"You helped steal money from children."
"Yes."
"You helped Cole terrorize my family."
The sheriff's voice rose.
"I know what I did!"
He looked suddenly older.
For years, Harlan had been the most powerful law enforcement officer in Cedar Ridge.
Now he stood in an empty courthouse begging for a way out.
"Voss is going to make me the scapegoat," he said.
Nathan kept his voice steady.
"Then testify."
Harlan shook his head.
"He'll kill me before I reach a courtroom."
"Not if you surrender to the state."
"You don't understand."
Nathan slowly opened his jacket to show he was unarmed.
"I understand that you're holding my daughter."
Ismerie was staring at him.
Her lower lip trembled.
Then she did something strange.
She tapped the wooden banister with her fingernail.
Three short taps.
A pause.
Two more.
Nathan's heart stopped.
It was their old game.
When Ismerie was little, he had taught her to tap three times when she wanted him to find her during hide-and-seek.
Two answering taps meant he was coming.
He gently tapped his fingers against the briefcase.
Twice.
Ismerie's eyes widened.
Harlan didn't notice.
Nathan kept talking.
"If you want protection, you need to give us something Voss can't deny."
The sheriff looked toward the ceiling.
"I have the original court ledgers."
Nathan felt a surge of hope.
"Where?"
"In the basement vault."
"Then we'll take them."
Harlan laughed bitterly.
"You think he'll let us?"
Nathan stared at him.
"Who's 'he'?"
A voice answered from behind the sheriff.
"That would be me."
Charles Voss stepped out of the darkness.
He wore a charcoal overcoat and leather gloves.
His silver hair was perfectly combed.
He looked like a man arriving for a business meeting rather than a criminal cornered inside an abandoned courthouse.
"Good evening, Nathan."
Nathan felt his blood turn cold.
Voss smiled.
"I must admit, you've been remarkably inconvenient."
Harlan spun around.
"You weren't supposed to be here!"
Voss raised an eyebrow.
"Wade, did you really imagine I wouldn't know you were trying to sell me out?"
The sheriff lifted his pistol.
"Stay back!"
Voss sighed.
Then fired.
The shot struck Harlan in the chest.
He stumbled backward.
Ismerie screamed.
Nathan rushed toward the stairs.
Voss seized the girl.
"STOP!"
Nathan froze.
Voss pressed his gun near Ismerie's head.
"One more step, and this ends very badly."
Nathan slowly raised his hands.
"She's a child."
"Children grow up."
Voss's expression remained calm.
"And sometimes they grow up remembering things that are inconvenient."
Nathan's voice shook.
"Whatever you want, take it from me."
Voss smiled faintly.
"That's what your wife said ten months ago."
The words tore through Nathan.
"You planned all of it."
"Of course."
"Why my family?"
"Because you wouldn't accept an invitation to look the other way."
Voss shifted his grip on Ismerie.
"And because your brother was so easy to persuade."
Nathan stared at him.
"You stole twenty years of his life."
Voss laughed.
"Your brother made his choices."
"And so did you."
A new voice sounded from behind Nathan.
Cole stood in the doorway.
His injured arm hung at his side.
Voss's smile faded.
"You're supposed to be with the police."
Cole kept walking.
"I should have gone to them twenty years ago."
"Careful."
Cole looked at Ismerie.
Then at Nathan.
"I've spent my whole life doing what you told me."
Voss raised his weapon.
"One more step—"
Cole lunged.
The gun discharged.
Nathan heard Meredith scream from somewhere near the side entrance.
Cole struck Voss with his good shoulder.
Ismerie broke free.
She ran toward Nathan.
He caught her.
"GO!" Cole shouted.
Nathan lifted Ismerie and raced down the stairs.
Behind him, another shot echoed.
Cole cried out.
Nathan stopped.
His brother was lying on the landing.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Voss staggered toward the basement passage.
Lena and two armed state officers rushed through the entrance.
"STATE POLICE! DROP YOUR WEAPON!"
Voss disappeared belowground.
Lena signaled officers to pursue.
Nathan handed Ismerie to Meredith, who had reached the foyer with June.
"Take her outside!"
Meredith held their daughter desperately.
Nathan looked back toward Cole.
His brother was trying to sit up.
Nathan rushed to him.
"Stay still."
Cole coughed.
His shirt was dark with blood.
Nathan pressed his hands against the wound.
"Medic!" he shouted.
Cole caught his sleeve.
"Nathan."
"Don't talk."
"Listen."
Nathan shook his head.
"You're not dying here."
Cole's eyes filled.
"I need you to tell Theo something."
"No."
"Tell him I tried."
Nathan leaned closer.
"You can tell him yourself."
Cole swallowed.
"I'm sorry."
Nathan felt tears fall onto his brother's shirt.
Cole gripped his hand.
"For your family. For what I did. For all of it."
Nathan looked into the face that had haunted him since childhood.
The same face that had stolen his life.
And the same face that had just risked everything to save his daughter.
"You owe them more than an apology," Nathan whispered.
Cole closed his eyes.
"I know."
"Then stay alive and make it right."
Paramedics rushed up the stairs.
Nathan reluctantly moved aside.
Outside, Ismerie was crying in Meredith's arms.
The little girl reached for him.
Nathan held her close.
"It's over," he whispered.
But as Lena emerged from the basement, her expression told him otherwise.
"Voss escaped through the culvert."
Nathan looked up.
"What?"
"We've got officers at the river, but he activated an old floodgate control on his way out."
A low mechanical rumble echoed beneath the courthouse.
The building trembled.
Lena looked toward the basement.
"The original ledgers are still in the vault."
Nathan stared.
The proof that could clear the families.
The records that could return stolen inheritances.
The evidence needed to hold the people who helped Voss accountable.
All of it was about to disappear beneath floodwater.
Lena's radio crackled.
"Officer down in the lower passage! We need assistance!"
Then another voice broke through.
"Investigator, there's a child trapped in the basement!"
Nathan went cold.
He looked at Ismerie.
She was safe in Meredith's arms.
"Whose child?"
Static hissed.
Then the officer shouted:
"WE DON'T KNOW! SHE'S BEHIND THE VAULT DOOR, AND THE WATER'S ALREADY COMING IN!"
Nathan remembered Zoey's account of the missing children.
Nine had been rescued.
But Harbor House had contained seventeen names.
Eight had been found during the original search.
Nine at the quarry.
All accounted for.
Unless Voss had been hiding someone who wasn't listed.
Lena grabbed her radio.
"Can you identify her?"
The response came through a burst of static.
"She says her name is Lily."
A pause.
"She says she's been locked in that room for three days."
Then the officer added something that made Meredith cover her mouth.
"She says she's Rebecca Bishop's youngest daughter."
Zoey had a sister.
May you like
A sister nobody knew was alive.
And Voss had left her behind to drown.
