Chapter 8 - RACHEL WAS FOUND BEFORE NOAH WOKE UP
Police found Rachel in a vacant rental property Victor’s company used for corporate retreats.
Alive.
Drugged.
Locked in an upstairs bedroom.
No dramatic torture.
No elaborate dungeon.
Just unlawful confinement.
A sedative.
A locked door.
A phone taken away.
Victor’s plan had been simple and desperate.
Keep Rachel silent long enough to locate the remaining documents.
He believed Noah knew where she stored them.
That was why the house became important.
Investigators found communications with a handyman Victor paid to “retrieve a box” from Rachel’s home.
The handyman admitted entering through the utility room.
He claimed he knocked over a fuel container accidentally and left after smoke started.
He denied intentionally setting the fire.
Evidence could not conclusively prove deliberate arson.
But he admitted disabling Noah’s wheelchair earlier because Victor told him the boy “could not be allowed to leave the upstairs room before the search was finished.”
That was enough to make Emily physically sick.
Noah had not been random collateral.
He had been deliberately trapped.
Rachel woke in the hospital and asked one question.
“Noah?”
Emily answered:
“Alive.”
Rachel started crying.
Then looked at Emily.
Twelve years disappeared.
“I told him you would come.”
Emily stared.
May you like
Rachel smiled through tears.
“You always came when I called.”
