Chapter 12 - The Warehouse by the Frozen River
Gideon found Hannah in a federal safe house three hours later.
Ava and Sophie were asleep upstairs.
Hannah sat at the kitchen table with untouched tea.
Gideon placed both hands on the table.
“What did Ren say after the recording stopped?”
Hannah’s face changed.
Enough.
He knew Silas had told the truth.
“You kept something from me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn asked me to.”
“I don’t care.”
“You will.”
“Hannah.”
She stood.
“You think everything can be solved by forcing doors open.”
“My daughter is dead.”
“And I was there!”
Her voice cracked.
Gideon stopped.
Hannah’s eyes filled.
“I held her hand when she became scared. I heard her ask for you. I watched a doctor lie about her condition because someone paid him.”
She wiped her cheek angrily.
“Do not talk to me like I was part of what happened.”
Gideon stepped back.
“You’re right.”
That surprised her.
He lowered his voice.
“Please.”
Hannah sat.
For almost a minute, neither spoke.
Then she said, “After Ren said Uncle Si was angry, she told me she had heard him arguing with someone.”
“Vane?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“You.”
Gideon frowned.
“I wasn’t there.”
“Not that day. Earlier.”
“What did she hear?”
Hannah looked at him sadly.
“She said you threatened Silas.”
“That happened often.”
“She heard you say, ‘If anyone touches those shipments again, I’ll bury everyone involved.’”
Gideon remembered.
Three weeks before Ren died, he discovered unexplained discrepancies in Crosswell Shipping manifests.
He confronted Silas.
He believed it was ordinary theft.
He had threatened him.
Then business distracted him.
“What’s the secret?”
“Ren heard why.”
Gideon waited.
Hannah continued.
“Silas said, ‘You knew what we were moving five years ago.’”
Gideon’s expression changed.
Five years earlier.
Before Ren was born.
A period Gideon had worked hard to forget.
Hannah looked at him.
“Did you?”
He sat down.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Weapons.”
Hannah closed her eyes.
“So Silas was right.”
“Not entirely.”
“Explain.”
Gideon stared at the table.
“Early in the organization, we moved anything people paid us to move.”
“Drugs?”
“No.”
“Weapons?”
“Yes.”
“To whom?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“That’s convenient.”
“It was criminal.”
He did not defend himself.
“Then Ren was born.”
Hannah looked at him.
“I stopped.”
“Why?”
“Because one night I came home and held her.”
He swallowed.
“I realized someday she might ask what I did.”
“So you shut it down.”
“Yes.”
“Silas continued.”
“Apparently.”
“And used your company.”
“Yes.”
Hannah studied him.
“Did Evelyn know?”
“She knew enough to leave me.”
Silence.
“So that’s what Ren’s video shows?”
“Probably Silas accusing me.”
“That could destroy your claim that you were uninvolved.”
“Yes.”
“Do you care?”
Gideon thought.
A year earlier, reputation mattered.
Control mattered.
Now?
“No.”
Hannah looked surprised.
“If the truth requires admitting what I did, then that is the truth.”
Ava’s voice came from the doorway.
“Mr. Gideon?”
They turned.
She wore oversized pajamas Dana had found.
“Why are you awake?”
“I heard yelling.”
“Sorry.”
Ava came closer.
“Did you find Miss Evelyn?”
“Not yet.”
“Are you going to?”
“Yes.”
Ava nodded.
Then she handed him a folded piece of paper.
“What’s this?”
“I found it in Ren’s box.”
Gideon opened it.
A child’s drawing.
Ren had drawn a river.
A building.
A yellow sun.
At the bottom were four uneven words:
DADDY’S SECRET BOAT HOUSE.
Gideon stared.
There was only one place Ren called that.
An old warehouse south of the city beside the Calumet River.
Gideon had stored an antique speedboat there.
He took Ren once.
Nobody else knew she remembered.
He looked at Ava.
“Where exactly was this?”
“Under the ribbon.”
Silas would have seen the drawing before?
Perhaps.
If he had access to Ren’s box.
Or if Ren mentioned it.
Gideon stood.
“Hannah.”
“You think Evelyn is there.”
“Yes.”
Marcus was already calling agents.
But Gideon stopped him.
“No federal teams.”
Marcus stared.
“Why?”
“Silas has police scanners.”
“So?”
“He’ll kill her if he sees a convoy.”
“Then what?”
Gideon looked at Hannah.
“We go like family.”
Marcus laughed once.
“What does that mean?”
“Three people in an ordinary car.”
“You, me, and?”
Hannah stood.
“Me.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You have daughters upstairs.”
“And Evelyn came back for them.”
Gideon wanted to argue.
Ava interrupted.
“Mom always wins arguments.”
Hannah looked at her.
“Go to bed.”
Ava smiled faintly.
For a moment they seemed almost normal.
That frightened Gideon because he had begun to understand what he might lose.
At 11:30 p.m., they reached the warehouse.
No lights.
Frozen river beside them.
The metal door was unlocked.
Inside, an old boat sat beneath a tarp.
Gideon’s memories arrived instantly.
Ren wearing a captain’s hat.
Ren demanding to steer.
Ren laughing.
Then they heard a sound.
A woman.
“Gideon?”
Evelyn.
They ran.
She sat tied to a support pillar.
Alive.
Gideon cut her loose.
“You’re okay?”
“Yes.”
“Silas?”
“Gone.”
“Why?”
“He knew you would find me.”
Gideon froze.
Evelyn pointed toward the old boat.
“He left something.”
On the seat was a laptop.
The screen lit automatically.
Silas appeared.
Recorded video.
“If you found Evelyn, congratulations.”
Gideon’s jaw tightened.
“You remembered Ren better than I expected.”
Silas continued.
“By now you know the evidence will destroy Vane. It may destroy me.”
A smile.
“But the third release destroys you.”
Evelyn whispered, “No.”
On-screen, Silas held up a file.
“Ren’s final video contains Gideon Crosswell admitting knowledge of illegal weapons trafficking.”
Hannah looked at Gideon.
Silas continued.
“At midnight tomorrow, the recording becomes public unless Gideon gives himself to me.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Why would he want that?”
Silas answered as if hearing him.
“Because I no longer care about the evidence.”
His expression became empty.
“I want Gideon.”
The screen changed.
A live feed appeared.
Sophie sat in a chair.
Gideon’s heart stopped.
“What?”
Hannah screamed.
“That’s impossible!”
They had left Sophie at the federal safe house.
Ava appeared beside her.
Both children were terrified.
Silas stepped into frame.
“You trusted federal protection.”
He smiled.
“That was your final mistake.”
Hannah grabbed the laptop.
“Don’t touch them!”
Silas looked directly into the camera.
“Tomorrow. Noon.”
An address appeared.
An abandoned shipping warehouse beside the frozen river.
Then Silas delivered his demand.
“Come alone, Gideon.”
May you like
A pause.
“Or both girls die because of you, just like Ren did.”
