Chapter 2 - The Photograph Poppy Was Never Supposed to See
At 5:12 that evening, Sadie discovered someone had searched her apartment.
Nothing obvious had been stolen.
That made it worse.
The Cain driver remained downstairs while Sadie climbed the narrow staircase two steps at a time. The moment she unlocked the door, she stopped.
The pink rabbit bowl was facing left.
Sadie always left it facing right.
A kitchen chair had been pushed beneath the table rather than angled toward Poppy’s place.
The curtains were open three inches wider than she remembered.
Small things.
Meaningless things to anyone else.
But Sadie had survived long enough by noticing meaningless things.
“Mommy!”
Poppy rushed from the bedroom.
Sadie caught her daughter and hugged her so tightly that Poppy giggled.
“You’re squishing me.”
“Sorry.”
Sadie kissed her hair.
“Did anybody come here today?”
Poppy shook her head.
“Mrs. Alvarez picked me up. Then she went downstairs because Mr. Alvarez burned the beans again.”
Sadie looked toward the hall.
“Were you alone?”
“Only for a little bit.”
“How little?”
Poppy thought seriously.
“Two cartoons.”
Sadie’s stomach tightened.
She crossed the room.
The old biscuit tin beneath the sink was still there.
Inside were utility receipts, Poppy’s birth certificate, eighty-three dollars in emergency cash—
And the photograph.
Sadie pulled it out.
Four years earlier, a younger Sadie stood outside a military clinic beside a smiling man in fatigues.
Elias Cain.
Ronan’s younger brother.
He had one arm around her shoulders.
On the back, in Elias’s handwriting, were five words:
For when hiding is over.
Sadie stared at the photograph.
Then she heard Poppy behind her.
“Is that him?”
Sadie turned.
Poppy was looking at Elias.
Children remembered more than adults wanted them to.
Sadie swallowed.
“Who?”
“The man from your bad dreams.”
The photograph nearly slipped from her fingers.
Before Sadie could answer, headlights swept across the ceiling.
A black SUV stopped outside.
Not Ronan’s.
Sadie went still.
The downstairs door opened.
Footsteps entered the building.
Heavy.
Slow.
One flight below.
Sadie grabbed Poppy.
“Shoes.”
“But—”
“Now.”
Something in her mother’s voice erased the question.
Sadie pushed open the bedroom window overlooking the fire escape.
She had one foot outside when someone knocked.
Three times.
Then a pause.
Then twice.
Sadie froze.
That pattern.
She had not heard it in four years.
Poppy whispered, “Mommy?”
Sadie put a finger against her lips.
The knock came again.
Three.
Pause.
Two.
Sadie approached the door.
“Who is it?”
A man answered quietly.
“Someone who remembers Black Harbor.”
The blood drained from Sadie’s face.
She opened the door only as far as the chain allowed.
A gray-haired man stood outside wearing a raincoat.
Dr. Nathan Bell.
Elias’s former field physician.
Sadie had believed he was dead.
“So did they,” Bell said, apparently reading her expression.
“You need to leave Ashport tonight.”
Sadie stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because you went into Raven Hill.”
“How did you know?”
“Everyone knows.”
His gaze moved toward Poppy.
Then something like grief crossed his face.
“My God.”
Sadie stepped between them.
“Don’t look at her.”
Bell lowered his voice.
“Does Ronan know?”
“No.”
“Keep it that way.”
Sadie’s pulse accelerated.
“Know what?”
Bell looked at her as if the answer were obvious.
“That Elias had a daughter.”
Silence.
Poppy was still behind Sadie.
Six years old.
Old enough to understand one word.
“Daughter?”
Sadie shut her eyes.
Bell cursed softly.
Poppy looked between them.
“Mommy?”
Sadie crouched.
“We’re going to talk. But not right now.”
The downstairs entrance slammed.
Bell’s head snapped toward the stairs.
“Were you followed?”
“No.”
“Neither was I.”
Which meant someone had already been waiting.
Bell pushed Sadie backward.
“Fire escape. Go.”
The apartment lights went out.
Poppy screamed.
Sadie lifted her daughter and ran.
A crash sounded behind them as the apartment door splintered.
Sadie climbed through the window.
Cold rain struck her face.
She lowered Poppy onto the metal stairs.
“Down.”
A shadow entered the bedroom.
Sadie saw the outline of a man.
Then another.
Bell shouted from inside.
A gunshot cracked.
Poppy screamed again.
Sadie covered her daughter’s head and descended.
They reached the alley.
The Cain driver was already running toward them.
“Miss Cole!”
Another gunshot.
Then tires screamed around the corner.
Ronan’s SUV appeared so violently it nearly jumped the curb.
The rear door opened.
Ronan himself stepped out.
No suit jacket.
White shirt.
Gun in his hand.
His expression changed when he saw Poppy.
Not because she was crying.
Because she had turned toward the apartment window.
For one perfect second, chandelier light from the building across the street illuminated her face.
Ronan stopped moving.
Sadie knew immediately what he had seen.
The Cain eyes.
Gray-green.
The same unusual shape as Elias’s.
Ronan looked at Sadie.
Then at Poppy.
Then back at Sadie.
“How old is she?”
It was the question Sadie had feared for four years.
She tightened her arms around her daughter.
“Ronan—”
“How old?”
“Six.”
Something inside him shifted.
Elias had died almost seven years earlier according to the public record.
But Ronan knew the official date was a lie.
Elias had survived secretly for nearly three more years.
Only a handful of people knew.
Apparently, Sadie was one of them.
Ronan stepped closer.
“Who is her father?”
Sadie said nothing.
That was answer enough.
His jaw tightened.
“You knew my brother.”
Poppy looked up.
“Uncle?”
Ronan’s face changed.
Sadie had seen dangerous men angry.
She had seen frightened men pretending not to be frightened.
She had never seen a man experience grief, suspicion and hope simultaneously.
Before Ronan could speak, a third gunshot came from upstairs.
Dr. Bell stumbled onto the fire escape.
Blood covered his shirt.
“Bell!”
Ronan caught him as he reached the bottom.
The doctor gripped Ronan’s collar.
“Your brother wasn’t betrayed by Sadie.”
Ronan leaned closer.
“Who betrayed him?”
Bell struggled for breath.
His eyes found Sadie.
“Tell him about the ledger.”
Sadie went pale.
Ronan turned toward her.
“What ledger?”
Bell’s grip loosened.
But before consciousness left him, he whispered two words.
“Your mother.”
Ronan stared at the unconscious doctor.
Then slowly looked toward Sadie.
And for the first time since she entered Raven Hill, Sadie understood something worse than being discovered.
May you like
Eleanor Cain had not recognized Sadie by accident.
She had been waiting for her.
