Chapter 6 - The Last Time He Called Her Abby
Police surrounded the studio before Abigail or I arrived.
Detective Brooks ordered us to remain in a secured vehicle across the street. Through the rain-streaked window, I watched officers move around the building.
No one was inside.
Nicholas had left the wedding ring as a message, but he had taken nothing. He disabled the alarm using a code that should have been deleted months earlier.
That meant he had help.
Investigators discovered that the bribed corrections employee had received money from a remaining Ferguson shell account. The transfer was authorized with Patricia’s credentials, but Patricia was in jail.
She had hidden instructions for emergencies long before her arrest.
Nicholas collected cash, clothing, and a vehicle from a private garage owned by the foundation. Traffic cameras placed him heading west.
Police believed he intended to leave the country.
Abigail disagreed.
“He won’t run yet.”
“Why not?” Detective Brooks asked.
“Because running means accepting that he lost.”
Nicholas proved her right that night.
He called from an unknown number.
Detective Brooks traced the call while Abigail placed the phone on speaker.
“Abby,” he said.
Abigail’s face tightened, but her voice remained steady.
“My name is Abigail.”
“You’ve always been dramatic about names.”
“What do you want?”
“I want to talk without your mother and those cops controlling everything.”
“Nobody controls me now.”
A long silence followed.
“I know where you are,” he said.
Detective Brooks motioned for Abigail to keep him speaking.
“What do you expect me to do?”
“Come to the lake house tomorrow morning. Bring the second memory card.”
“The police have it.”
“Bring whatever copies you made. If you don’t come, people who helped you will pay.”
“Who?”
“You think Rosa is safe? Caroline? That little girl at your studio?”
My hands curled into fists.
Abigail noticed. She reached over and placed her hand on mine, reversing the roles we had occupied in the hospital.
“You’re threatening children now?” she asked.
“I’m explaining consequences.”
“No, Nicholas. You’re proving everything I said about you.”
His breathing changed.
“You destroyed my family.”
“Your family destroyed itself.”
The line went dead.
Detective Brooks traced the signal to the Lake Norman area. The Ferguson lake house had already been searched and sealed, but officers discovered the rear security system was active again.
Nicholas wanted Abigail there because the lake house was where his brother Andrew had died—and where Patricia’s control over the family began.
A tactical team entered before dawn.
They found evidence that Nicholas had recently occupied the house: food, clothing, a laptop, and photographs of Abigail, Caroline, Rosa, Detective Brooks, and me.
But Nicholas was gone.
On the kitchen table, he left a note addressed to Abigail.
COME HOME BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE GETS HURT.
The house contained a hidden basement room behind the wine cellar. Inside were monitors connected to cameras placed throughout Charlotte.
One camera watched Caroline’s home.
Another watched Rosa’s temporary apartment.
A third showed the entrance to Open Door Arts.
The final screen showed the shelter where the twelve-year-old girl and her mother lived.
Nicholas had access to Patricia’s entire surveillance network.
Police moved every potential target.
The laptop contained a map with three locations circled. One was the lake house. One was Abigail’s former marital home.
The third was Fort Liberty.
“That could be intended for you,” Detective Brooks told me.
“Or intended to make us think it’s for me.”
Abigail studied the map.
“Nicholas always said the strongest way to control someone was to learn what they protected.”
“What does he believe you protect?” I asked.
“You.”
The Army increased security at the installation. I temporarily moved into a protected residence while Abigail remained under police guard.
For two days, there was no sign of Nicholas.
Then my assistant at Fort Liberty received a package addressed to me.
Inside was a phone.
It rang as the bomb squad examined it.
Nicholas’s voice came through the speaker.
“Colonel Gardner.”
“You wanted my attention. You have it.”
“You turned my wife against me.”
“Abigail made her own decision.”
“She never made decisions until you interfered.”
“You mean she never made decisions you allowed her to keep.”
His voice sharpened.
“You think that uniform makes you powerful.”
“No. It reminds me that power has limits.”
“My mother forgot that too.”
The unexpected bitterness in his voice told me something.
“You’re not doing this for Patricia.”
“She built our lives around fear. Now she’s bargaining with prosecutors and blaming me.”
Patricia had indeed changed her plea two days earlier. She offered evidence against Nicholas and Gregory in exchange for avoiding a life sentence.
Nicholas felt abandoned by the woman who had protected him from consequences.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“A chance to leave.”
“You had one before you hurt Abigail.”
“I want safe passage and access to family funds.”
“I cannot give you either.”
“Then your daughter loses someone she loves.”
A muffled voice sounded in the background.
Female.
Frightened.
Nicholas disconnected.
Within minutes, Detective Brooks confirmed that Caroline was missing during a transfer between secure locations. Her escort vehicle had been struck at an intersection. The driver survived, but two masked men took Caroline.
Nicholas had not planned the collision alone. Patricia’s network was damaged, not gone.
The phone contained hidden location data. It pointed to an abandoned marina on Lake Norman.
Police suspected a trap.
Abigail insisted on helping.
“He wants us to rush there angry. That’s what Patricia always wanted.”
“So what do you suggest?” Detective Brooks asked.
“We make him believe we’re arguing.”
Abigail recorded a message accusing me of refusing to protect Caroline. She said she had taken the memory card and was coming alone.
Nicholas responded with an address.
Police placed a tracker on Abigail and fitted her with a concealed microphone. I opposed her entering the marina, but she met my eyes.
“Mom, you taught soldiers to act despite fear.”
“I never wanted that lesson used like this.”
“I’m not trying to be fearless. I’m trying to end it.”
The tactical team surrounded the marina. Abigail entered the main building alone, carrying a decoy memory card.
Nicholas waited beside Caroline, who was bound to a chair but visibly conscious. He held a gun.
“You came,” he said.
“Let her go.”
“When I’m safe.”
“You’ll never feel safe, Nicholas. You don’t know how. That’s why you control everyone around you.”
“Give me the card.”
Abigail placed it on a table.
Nicholas reached for it but stopped.
“Where’s your mother?”
“She refused to come.”
He smiled.
“You finally understand. She cares more about her career.”
Abigail let the silence sit between them.
Then she said, “She’s exactly where I need her to be.”
Nicholas understood too late.
Caroline dropped sideways, taking the chair with her. Abigail overturned the table and moved behind a concrete pillar as Nicholas raised the gun.
Officers entered from three directions.
Nicholas fired once. The bullet struck the ceiling.
Police disarmed him before he could fire again.
I reached Abigail after the building was secured. She was uninjured. Caroline had a cut on her forehead, but she was alive.
Nicholas lay handcuffed on the floor.
As officers lifted him, he looked at Abigail.
“Abby, tell them this isn’t what you want.”
She stepped close enough for him to hear clearly.
“My name is Abigail. And this is exactly what I want.”
He was returned to custody under new charges of escape, kidnapping, making threats, bribery, and attempted murder.
Outside the marina, dawn spread across the lake.
Abigail leaned against me.
“Is it over?”
“The running is.”
“But not the rest.”
“No.”
The trials still waited. Healing still waited. There would be testimony, attacks, and memories neither of us wanted to revisit.
But Nicholas could no longer reach her.
For the first time since the hospital, Abigail looked toward the future without checking who stood behind her.
Then Detective Brooks approached with a document.
Patricia had signed a cooperation agreement.
May you like
In exchange for a reduced sentence, she intended to testify that Nicholas acted alone in Abigail’s assault—and that I had secretly offered her military protection if she blamed him.
Even from a jail cell, Patricia was preparing one final lie.
