The Barn
Chapter 03 - The Barn
The old animal barn smelled of hay dust, rust, and summer heat.
Lily ran toward the back tack room, where someone was pounding weakly against the door.
“Mom!” she screamed.
A metal bar had been wedged through the latch from the outside.
Boone pulled it free.
The door swung open, and a woman collapsed into the light.
Rachel Lawson had dark hair stuck to her face, a bruise across one cheek, and red marks around both wrists where plastic ties had cut her skin. She reached for Lily before she even tried to stand.
“My baby.”
Lily threw herself into her mother’s arms.
The whole barn went quiet.
Preston stepped into the doorway.
“Rachel, this performance is not helping your case.”
Rachel looked up at him with pure hatred.
“You locked me in there.”
Preston’s smile never moved.
“She has episodes.”
Rachel held up her wrists.
“Do episodes use zip ties?”
Someone in the crowd gasped.
Then police sirens sounded outside.
Preston relaxed.
That was the first thing Mason noticed.
A deputy came in, tall and square-jawed, with a hand already resting near his belt.
Deputy Carl Brigg.
He looked at Preston before he looked at the child.
That tiny glance told Mason enough.
“Ma’am,” Brigg said to Rachel, “release the child.”
Rachel pulled Lily closer.
“No.”
Preston lifted the folder. “There is an order.”
Dolly stepped forward. “There is also a locked room, a note from a child, and a white van that doesn’t want to be searched.”
Deputy Brigg turned toward her.
“Mrs. Mercer, stay out of this.”
Dolly smiled.
“I retired from dispatch, Carl. Not from recognizing dirty calls.”
Boone appeared at the barn door.
“Mason,” he said, breathing hard. “You need to see inside that van.”
Preston’s face changed.
Just for a second.
But Mason saw it.
Fear.
He left the barn with Boone, and what he found in the van made the whole rally feel smaller.
A pink backpack.
Burner phones.
Zip ties.
A bottle of sedatives.
Fake travel papers.
And a folder labeled MIA TRANSFER.
May you like
The ferry ticket inside was for that night.
Destination: Canada.
