Chapter 6 - HAWTHORNE HOUSE
Hawthorne House was not a house.
It was a private psychiatric facility for children hidden behind the walls of a former monastery in northern Maine.
Its website described a sanctuary for minors with severe behavioral disorders.
The photographs showed clean rooms, smiling nurses, and wooded trails.
The federal files showed almost no regulatory inspections.
Its director, Dr. Miriam Voss, had worked at St. Catherine’s on the night of the fire.
She was the doctor who signed my daughter’s death certificate.
She was also Grant’s godmother.
Federal agents prepared a raid, but someone warned the facility.
By the time they arrived, the children were gone.
Beds remained warm.
Food sat unfinished.
Medical records had been burned in a furnace.
Dr. Voss had disappeared.
Agents found one employee hiding inside a supply closet.
Her name was Paige Holloway.
She was nineteen and had worked in the laundry room for three months.
Paige said twelve children lived at Hawthorne House.
Most had arrived as babies.
They were taught that their parents were dangerous.
They rarely left the grounds.
One girl called herself Sophie.
She was six years old, had dark hair, and wore a red ribbon around her wrist every day.
“Where did they take her?” I asked.
Paige shook her head.
“Dr. Voss mentioned the winter site.”
Helen knew what that meant.
Richard Mercer had owned a hunting lodge near Mount Katahdin.
Officially, the property had been sold years ago.
In reality, a shell corporation connected to Grant still paid its taxes.
A snowstorm closed the nearest roads.
Federal agents planned to wait until morning.
I refused.
Every hour mattered.
Detective Ortiz joined me, Elias, and a tactical rescue team traveling by tracked vehicles through the storm.
The lodge appeared shortly before midnight.
No lights showed through the windows.
Thermal imaging detected several people inside.
Agents surrounded the building.
A loudspeaker ordered everyone to surrender.
A gunshot came from an upstairs window.
The team breached the front entrance.
I remained in the command vehicle, listening to radio transmissions.
“First floor clear.”
“Two adults detained.”
“Children located in basement.”
“Possible explosive device.”
Then the radio went silent.
An explosion shook the ground.
Flames erupted from one side of the lodge.
I ran before anyone could stop me.
Smoke poured through the entrance.
Agents carried children into the snow.
One.
Two.
Five.
Nine.
None was Rose.
Dr. Voss was found unconscious near the basement stairs.
Grant was not there.
A hidden passage led from the basement into the forest.
Detective Ortiz and two agents followed tracks through the snow.
I followed them.
After half a mile, we found a snowmobile abandoned near a frozen lake.
A small red ribbon was tied to the handle.
Beyond it, footprints crossed the ice.
One adult.
One child.
The storm erased them quickly.
We moved carefully onto the lake.
Halfway across, a voice called from the darkness.
“Mommy?”
I stopped breathing.
A little girl stood near the opposite shore.
She wore a white coat.
Her dark hair whipped across her face.
A man held her shoulder.
Grant.
He pressed a handgun against her side.
“Nora,” he shouted.
“You should have stayed home.”
Rose looked at me with terror.
She had my eyes.
There was no doubt.
“Let her go.”
“She has no idea who you are.”
“I am her mother.”
“No. You are the woman whose life ruined mine.”
Grant pulled Rose backward.
The ice cracked beneath them.
Detective Ortiz raised her weapon.
Grant dragged Rose toward a waiting truck.
I stepped forward.
“Grant, the files are public. The network is finished.”
“You think this is about money?”
“What else could it be?”
His laughter crossed the frozen lake.
“My father chose you.”
“For what?”
“To carry the next generation.”
I froze.
Grant smiled.
“You still do not know what happened during Lily’s birth.”
The ice beneath Rose fractured.
She screamed.
Grant lost his grip.
Rose fell through the surface.
I ran.
The ice cracked beneath my feet, but I did not stop.
I dropped to my stomach and reached into the black water.
Her fingers found mine.
Behind her, Grant disappeared into the storm.
I pulled Rose onto the ice.
She coughed violently while I wrapped my coat around her.
She stared at my face.
Then her hand touched the locket around my neck.
Inside it was my photograph of Evelyn.
Rose whispered one word.
“Bird.”
May you like
Before losing consciousness, she said something else.
“Your sister is alive.”
