Chapter 9: The Question Only Lily Could Answer
Richard hit the tablet. “No, no, play!”
Rosa said, “Sir, don’t break it.”
Detective Mason took the tablet. “Our tech team may recover the file, but not in one hour.”
Richard paced. “Grace said it was a question only Lily knows.”
Monica whispered, “Ask her favorite memory.”
Richard glared. “You don’t get to speak about Lily.”
“I know I don’t deserve it. But Grace loved puzzles. She used emotional locks, not simple passwords.”
Rosa nodded. “Miss Grace always asked Lily one bedtime question.”
Richard turned. “What question?”
Rosa closed her eyes, trying to remember. “She would ask, ‘Where do brave girls hide their light?’”
Richard frowned. “What was Lily’s answer?”
“I don’t know. Miss Grace whispered with her.”
Richard grabbed his coat. “Then I ask Lily myself.”
Detective Mason stopped him. “We follow the tracker.”
Richard said, “Fine. But I go in first.”
At the old glass factory, Andrew’s van sat under a broken roof.
Richard walked in carrying the blue box.
“Andrew!”
Lily’s cry echoed from above. “Daddy!”
Andrew stood on a metal platform with Lily beside him. His hand rested on her shoulder.
“Put the box down.”
Richard obeyed. “Let her come to me.”
“After she opens the account.”
Lily cried, “I don’t know how!”
Andrew bent close to her. “Yes, you do.”
Richard shouted, “Don’t scare her.”
Andrew smiled. “Fear helps memory.”
Richard looked at Lily. “Baby, listen to me. Mommy left you a question.”
Lily sobbed. “I forgot.”
“No, you didn’t. Where do brave girls hide their light?”
Lily’s eyes widened.
Andrew leaned in. “Answer.”
Lily looked at Richard.
“In the place monsters never look,” she whispered.
The blue box beeped.
A hidden compartment opened.
Andrew laughed. “Good girl.”
Inside was a black drive and a folded letter.
Andrew grabbed the drive.
Richard said, “That’s not what you think.”
Andrew plugged it into his laptop.
A video of Grace appeared.
She said, “Andrew, if you reached this file, the police are already listening.”
Andrew’s smile vanished.
Red and blue lights flashed through the broken windows.
Then Lily screamed.
May you like
A second man stepped from the shadows and grabbed her.
Carter had escaped.
