Page 104 of Guess Again

Cherryview, Wisconsin Saturday, August 9, 2025

DESPITE HIS PHYSICAL CONDITION, ETHAN FINISHED HIS SHIFT AT the hospital.

He had volunteered to cover an open slot, hoping to take his thoughts off the fact that they had not found Francis’s body.

The DCI had paused the search for the weekend, believing that in time Francis would float to the surface of Lake Morikawa as his body worked through the stages of decomposition.

Eventually, intestinal gases would raise him from the bottom.

Neither Ethan nor Maddie would get a decent night’s sleep until they saw the man’s dead and bloated body.

They were still gathering information and trying to understand the events that had unfolded during the last week.

The only person who might have shed light on the mystery was Blake Cordis.

Ethan had paid the man a visit the day before.

Although Blake had never heard of Francis Bernard, he had come clean about his relationship with Lindsay Larkin—sleeping with her when he was her high school volleyball coach and then unceremoniously breaking things off when he fell in love with Callie.

Blake and Lindsay had slept together again just recently. Blake told Ethan about Lindsay’s bizarre behavior on Monday night, her knowledge of the prepaid Samsung phone Blake had used to communicate with Callie, and Lindsay’s cryptic promise that Blake would soon be in prison. After he left Blake Cordis’s house, Ethan started to assemble the puzzle.

A jilted Lindsay Larkin, heartbroken by Blake when she was a teenager, had discovered that he was in a relationship with Callie.

Lindsay had stolen the prepaid cell phone and used it to lure Callie to North Point Pier.

There, out of jealously, Lindsay killed her best friend.

According to Blake, Lindsay had tried over the years to revive their love affair, but Blake had never been interested.

Having learned of Blake’s relationship with Portia Vail, Lindsay abducted the girl in an attempt to frame Blake for the crime. And somehow, Lindsay had entered into an agreement with Francis Bernard, luring Ethan to evidence Lindsay had planted that would point to Blake Cordis as both Callie’s killer and Portia’s abductor. But Dr. Larkin had not planned on Francis escaping from prison and hunting her down. There was still much to learn, and Ethan was unsure if he’d ever know the full story.

He pulled up to his house and stopped the Jeep at the mailbox.

Inside was a single envelope, which he retrieved before pulling up the driveway and into his garage.

He dropped his keys into the bowl on the foyer table, placed the sandwiches he’d picked up for dinner on the kitchen counter, and grabbed a beer from the fridge.

Maddie was resting on the couch.

The bullet that cruised through her abdomen had miraculously missed all vital organs and vessels.

The biggest hurdle would be recovering from the bullet exploding through her abdominal muscle, which made it difficult to sit up, walk, or do anything that engaged her core.

She was slated for physical therapy on Monday and was off work for two weeks.

Ethan leaned over the back of the couch and kissed her forehead.

The stress of the last week had caused a relapse of her Bell’s, and the left side of her face drooped and refused to respond when she attempted to smile.

She placed her hand self-consciously over her cheek.

“It’ll come back.

Probably a couple of weeks.”

She nodded.

“I grabbed sandwiches from the Old Fashioned.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Okay.

But you need to eat something eventually.”

Maddie nodded again and lay back down.

In his scrubs, Ethan sat at the kitchen table and popped the top on the Spotted Cow.

He opened the sandwich and took a bite as he pulled the lone piece of mail in front of him.

It was addressed to Special Agent Ethan Hall.

Although he did not quite understand why, his insides fluttered with anxiety like a thousand butterflies were attempting to escape his ribcage.

He noted the postmark—Hachita, New Mexico.

It was dated on Thursday.

He squinted his eyes and then opened his phone to do a search, discovering that Hachita was located in southern New Mexico close to the U.S.-Mexico border.

He put his phone to the side and lifted the envelope.

He stuck his thumb under the edge and tore it open, removing the single page within and turning the envelope upside down so that the other item fell from inside—a silver key that rattled onto the kitchen table.

His eyes focused on the neat cursive as he began to read.

Dear Ethan,

I hope you’re well.

Thank you for your visits over the years.

You have no idea how much they meant to me.

I understand they were something entirely different for you.

You used our time together to exorcise your demons and promise that I’d never see the light of day outside the confines of a prison. By now you know how incorrect you were.

I promised you the location of the girl’s body, so here it is:

45.2930° N, 88.6839° W

I will miss our visits, Ethan.

For me, they were a way to see a glimmer of your father.

He was more to me than just the man I was convicted of killing.

So much more.

Every time I saw you on the visitation schedule, my insides filled with excitement. When I looked at you, I saw Hank.

If you want to understand why your father excited me so much, use this key to find out.

Lakeside Storage. Unit 223.

—Francis