The call came shortly after six.
Investigator Ramirez asked whether Emma was with me.
“Yes.”
“Can you speak privately?”
I stepped into my bedroom and closed the door.
“What happened?”
“We’ve spoken with Sadie.”
My knees weakened enough that I sat on the edge of the bed.
“Is she safe?”
“At this moment, yes.”
At this moment.
I hated those three words.
“Where is she?”
“I can’t disclose that.”
“Is she with Kurt?”
“No.”
The breath I had been holding escaped.
“What about her mother?”
“I can’t discuss that yet.”
I pressed the phone against my ear.
“Did you open everything in the box?”
“Yes.”
“What was in it?”
“Some items are evidence, so I can’t give you a complete inventory.”
“Was Sadie being hurt?”
Ramirez paused.
“We have sufficient concerns that she will not be returning to the residence tonight.”
I closed my eyes.
“Did Kurt hurt her?”
“I’m not going to characterize allegations while we’re still investigating.”
That was careful language.
The carefulness told me enough.
“What do you need from us?”
“I need to ask about something Emma may know.”
My eyes opened.
“What?”
“Has Sadie ever mentioned another child named Lily?”
I searched my memory.
“No.”
“Ask Emma.”
“Who is Lily?”
“I need you to ask your daughter first without giving her additional information.”
I opened the bedroom door.
Emma sat on the stairs.
She had obviously been listening.
I motioned her toward me.
“Come here.”
She entered.
“Who’s on the phone?”
“Investigator Ramirez.”
Her eyes widened.
I covered the receiver.
“Emma, do you know someone named Lily?”
Every trace of color left her face.
That was the answer.
“Emma?”
She nodded.
“Who is she?”
“I’m not supposed to say.”
“Why?”
“Sadie made me promise.”
Ramirez’s voice came faintly through the phone.
“Put me on speaker.”
I did.
“Emma,” she said, “my name is Elena Ramirez. I’m helping Sadie.”
Emma stared at the phone.
“Is she okay?”
“She is somewhere safe right now.”
“Is Kurt there?”
“No.”
Emma sat beside me.
Ramirez continued. “Your mom says Sadie mentioned Lily to you.”
Emma nodded before remembering Ramirez could not see her.
“Yes.”
“Who is Lily?”
“Sadie’s sister.”
I looked sharply at Emma.
I had never heard that Sadie had a sister.
Ramirez remained calm.
“How old is Lily?”
“Little.”
“Can you tell me a number?”
“Five, I think.”
“Does Lily live with Sadie?”
“Sometimes.”
The word sometimes changed Ramirez’s tone.
“What does that mean?”
Emma twisted her fingers.
“She stays with her dad too.”
“Do you know Lily’s last name?”
Emma shook her head.
“No.”
“Do you know her father’s name?”
“No.”
“Did Sadie tell you where Lily is now?”
Emma looked at me.
“I don’t know.”
“Think carefully.”
“She said Lily was coming back.”
“When?”
Emma’s forehead wrinkled.
“After her dad’s work trip.”
Ramirez was silent.
“How long ago did she tell you that?”
“At the sleepover.”
I felt something terrible gathering.
“Emma,” Ramirez said, “what exactly did Sadie say about Lily?”
Emma’s eyes began filling.
“She said she had to do it before Lily came home.”
“Do what?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
The backpack.
Sadie asking whether I was brave.
The hidden box.
This had been planned.
Ramirez asked, “Did she say when Lily was coming home?”
“Tuesday.”
It was Monday.
There was movement at Ramirez’s end.
A chair scraping.
A muffled voice.
Then Ramirez returned.
“Emma, you’ve helped us a lot.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“No.”
“Is Sadie?”
“No.”
“Did I break my promise?”
Ramirez took a moment before answering.
“You helped us understand something important.”
Emma began crying silently.
I put my arm around her.
Ramirez asked to speak with me privately again.
I stepped into the hall.
“We need to locate Lily.”
“You didn’t know about her?”
“We knew Sadie’s mother had another child. We did not know the timing you just gave us.”
“Is Kurt around Lily?”
“That is one of the things we’re determining.”
“What did you find in Sadie’s box?”
“I can’t discuss all of it.”
“Was there something about Lily?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
The word landed like a weight.
“What?”
“A note.”
I waited.
Ramirez chose her words carefully.
“Sadie expressed concern that what was happening to her might eventually happen to Lily.”
I sat down on the hallway floor.
For several seconds I could not speak.
“What was happening to Sadie?”
“I can’t give you investigative details.”
“The shoes?”
“Yes.”
I covered my mouth.
Ramirez continued.
“Sadie has injuries.”
My eyes closed.
“Her feet?”
“Among other areas.”
The sentence was quiet and devastating.
I thought about the child sitting against my wall all night.
I had been within arm’s reach.
She had been hurting.
And I had been talking about guinea pigs and marshmallows.
“Why the shoes?”
Ramirez did not answer directly.
“She believed keeping them covered would prevent people from asking questions.”
“Because Kurt told her to.”
“That is consistent with what she has disclosed.”
The legal caution in Ramirez’s phrasing could not soften what it meant.
“And the photographs?”
“Sadie had been documenting injuries.”
“By herself?”
“With help, apparently.”
“Whose?”
“We’re still establishing that.”
I remembered the label.
FOR GRANDMA ONLY.
“Her grandmother?”
“Possibly.”
“Why didn’t she just give the box to her?”
“Sadie believed communications with her grandmother were being monitored.”
I leaned against the wall.
“She left it with me because she thought I would call the number.”
“That appears possible.”
“Why me?”
Ramirez was quiet.
“Your daughter may have answered that already.”
Emma had told Sadie I was brave about people.
The description would have made me laugh any other day.
Now it felt unbearable.
“Ramirez.”
“Yes?”
“Find Lily.”
“We’re working on it.”
“Before Kurt does.”
“We understand.”
The call ended.
I returned to Emma.
She had curled into the corner of the sofa.
“Is Sadie coming back to school?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can I call her?”
“Not tonight.”
Emma looked down.
“I should’ve told you before.”
“Told me what?”
“About Kurt.”
My pulse quickened.
“What do you know?”
“Not much.”
“Tell me anyway.”
She took a long breath.
“Sadie never wants rides home when he picks her up.”
I waited.
“She waits in the bathroom sometimes until he leaves.”
“At school?”
Emma nodded.
“Does a teacher know?”
“I don’t know.”
“What else?”
“He threw away her sandals.”
“Why?”
“She wore them to school.”
My stomach turned.
“When?”
“Near the end of last year.”
“Did you see this?”
“No. She told me.”
“Did she say why he threw them away?”
Emma shook her head.
“She just said Kurt got really mad.”
There it was again.
The feet.
Always the feet.
The shoes were not the secret.
They were the cover.
At seven fifteen, Ramirez called again.
They had found Lily.
She was with her biological father in another county and had not yet returned to Sadie’s home.
I nearly collapsed with relief.
“Does Kurt know where Sadie is?”
“No.”
“Does he know you found the box?”
“Not from us.”
“What happens tomorrow?”
“That depends on several things.”
“Are you arresting him?”
“I can’t discuss enforcement decisions before they occur.”
I understood.
“Can I see Sadie?”
“Not tonight.”
“Tell her Emma is worried about her.”
“I can pass that along if appropriate.”
“And tell her Waffles—”
I stopped.
“What about Waffles?”
“Sadie was afraid somebody would take him away.”
Ramirez was silent for a moment.
“We know.”
“Is he still at the house?”
“As far as I know.”
“Can somebody get him?”
“That’s more complicated than it sounds.”
“He’s a guinea pig.”
“He’s property located inside a residence connected to an active investigation.”
I rubbed my forehead.
“She thought asking for help would cost her the one thing she loved.”
“I understand.”
“No, I mean that might be why she waited.”
“I know what you mean.”
After we hung up, Emma and I ate dinner without tasting it.
At eight thirty, the doorbell rang.
My whole body tightened.
Emma looked at me.
“Stay here.”
I approached the front window before opening the door.
A woman stood beneath the porch light.
She looked to be in her sixties, with silver hair pulled into a loose knot and both hands clasped tightly around a handbag.
I opened the door but kept the chain fastened.
“Yes?”
“Mrs. Carter?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Ruth Bell.”
The name meant nothing to me.
Then she said, “I’m Sadie’s grandmother.”
I removed the chain immediately.
Ruth entered.
Her face looked exhausted.
“Is Sadie okay?” I asked.
“She’s safe.”
“You’ve seen her?”
Ruth nodded.
Her eyes filled.
“About twenty minutes ago.”
Emma appeared from the den.
“Grandma Ruth?”
Ruth covered her mouth.
Emma ran to her.
The woman bent and hugged her.
“Sadie talks about you all the time.”
“Is she coming back?”
Ruth closed her eyes.
“Not tonight, sweetheart.”
Emma nodded.
Then she asked the question neither adult expected.
“Did she tell you where the other key is?”
Ruth went still.
I stared at Emma.
“What other key?”
Emma looked from me to Ruth.
“The key Sadie gave me.”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“When did she give you a key?”
“At school.”
“Where is it?”
“In my room.”
Ruth’s face had become almost gray.
“What does it open?”
Emma shrugged.
“She said Grandma Ruth would know.”
Ruth whispered something I could not hear.
“What?” I asked.
She looked at me.
“There was another box.”
My skin prickled.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
Ruth shook her head.
“Sadie told me months ago that if anything happened, there were two places. I thought she was talking about hiding money.”
“Two places for what?”
Her eyes moved toward Emma.
I understood.
“Emma, go get the key.”
Emma ran upstairs.
The instant she was gone, Ruth lowered her voice.
“I knew Kurt frightened her.”
“Knew how?”
“She stopped wanting to go home.”
“Did you report it?”
“I tried.”
The answer came with visible shame.
“What happened?”
“My daughter defended him. Kurt said I was trying to break up their family. After that they stopped letting Sadie stay with me.”
“You had her number hidden in Sadie’s backpack.”
Ruth nodded.
“I put it there last winter.”
“So Sadie would always have it.”
“Yes.”
“Did Kurt know?”
“No.”
Emma returned holding a tiny brass key.
Ruth stared at it.
“No.”
“What?”
“That isn’t for a cashbox.”
She took it.
“How do you know?”
“Because I gave Sadie this key.”
“When?”
“Last Christmas.”
“To what?”
Ruth looked toward the window as if afraid somebody might be standing outside.
Then she answered.
“My old house.”
I frowned.
“You don’t live there?”
“Not anymore.”
“Why would Sadie need a key?”
“She used to hide there when things got bad.”
A sick silence settled over the room.
Ruth closed her fingers around the brass.
“There’s a crawlspace beneath the back porch.”
“What is in it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said there were two places.”
“That’s what she told me.”
The phone rang.
All three of us jumped.
I answered.
It was Ramirez.
Her voice was sharper than before.
“Laura, is Ruth Bell at your house?”
I looked at Ruth.
“Yes.”
“Do not leave.”
“What happened?”
“Is Emma there?”
“Yes.”
“Keep both of them inside.”
My throat tightened.
“Why?”
“We attempted to locate Kurt for an interview.”
“And?”
“He’s gone.”
Ruth closed her eyes as though she had expected those words.
Ramirez continued.
“His truck was found empty.”
“Where?”
“Less than two miles from Ruth Bell’s former residence.”
I looked at the little brass key in Ruth’s hand.
And suddenly we knew exactly where the investigation had to go next.
Click here to continue reading: PART 5: The Empty Truck Near Ruth’s Old House Suggested Kurt Was Hunting for Something Sadie Had Hidden Before Anyone Else Could Reach It
The Only Girl Who Would Not Leave Her Shoes Beside the Door Was Watching Me for a Reason
Part 4 of 28
