Thomas seemed to realize how the word had sounded the moment it left his mouth.
He forced a laugh and rubbed one hand across the back of his neck.
“I mean, don’t bother with that door. It’s just storage. Furnace equipment, old furniture, boxes. Nothing you need to see.”
Mary did not answer.
The basement lock bothered her. The polished metal looked almost untouched, completely unlike the worn knob and chipped frame around it.
Daniel noticed it too.
More importantly, he noticed Thomas watching them notice it.
Mary crouched near the stuffed rabbit.
Its fur had once been white. Dust had turned it gray around the ears and paws, but one side looked cleaner, as if somebody had handled it recently.
“Emily,” Mary said, “you said this isn’t yours?”
The child shook her head.
Thomas answered for her.
“Probably something she found at school.”
Emily looked at him.
Mary saw the fear return instantly.
“Thomas,” Daniel said, “I’d like you to let her answer.”
A muscle moved in Thomas’s jaw.
“She’s my daughter.”
“And right now we’re checking on her welfare.”
“I’ve already explained the bruises.”
“You explained them,” Daniel said. “Emily hasn’t.”
The room became quiet.
Emily slowly descended another stair.
Mary remained crouched so she would not tower over her.
“Can you come sit with me?”
Emily looked at her father.
Thomas gave a small nod.
The gesture should have seemed reassuring.
Instead Mary noticed that Emily waited for it before moving.
She came down and sat on the edge of an armchair, keeping the stuffed rabbit in sight.
Mary asked about school first.
Emily answered in short sentences.
Third grade.
She liked drawing.
Her favorite subject was science.
She disliked gym because everyone shouted.
Thomas relaxed slightly as the questions became ordinary.
Then Mary asked, “Who lives here with you?”
Emily’s fingers twisted together.
“Daddy.”
“Anyone else?”
Silence.
Thomas interrupted.
“No.”
Mary continued looking at Emily.
“What about your mom?”
Thomas’s expression hardened.
“She left us.”
Emily stared at the carpet.
“When?”
Mary asked.
“Three years ago,” Thomas said.
Again, he had answered.
Daniel stepped closer to him.
“Sir, would you mind giving Officer Davis some space while she speaks with Emily?”
“I do mind.”
Daniel’s tone stayed even.
“We can talk over here.”
Thomas looked at Emily.
She immediately lowered her head.
That single reaction told Mary more than another dozen questions might have.
Daniel guided Thomas toward the opposite side of the living room without touching him.
Mary waited until they were several yards away.
“Emily?”
The girl looked up.
“Did you call 911 tonight?”
Her face drained of color.
Across the room Thomas turned sharply.
“What?”
Daniel stepped in front of him.
Mary immediately regretted asking the question within his hearing, but Emily surprised her.
She nodded.
Thomas stared at his daughter.
“You called the police?”
Emily shrank into the chair.
Mary moved closer.
“It’s okay.”
“No, it isn’t,” Thomas snapped. “She stole a phone and made up some ridiculous story?”
Daniel raised one hand.
“Lower your voice.”
Thomas laughed once.
“You come into my home in the middle of the night because an eight-year-old had a nightmare, and I’m supposed to be calm?”
Mary watched Emily.
The child was staring at Thomas’s hands.
Not his face.
His hands.
Mary lowered her voice.
“Emily, why did you call?”
The girl’s fingers moved toward her bruised arm.
“Because it hurt.”
“What hurt you?”
Emily whispered something Mary could not hear.
“What did you say?”
“The snake.”
Thomas suddenly spoke.
“She has nightmares about snakes.”
Mary looked toward him.
“Does she?”
“Yes.”
Emily shook her head.
Barely.
But Mary saw it.
“So there isn’t a real snake?” Mary asked.
Emily’s eyes filled with tears.
Thomas stepped toward them.
Daniel blocked him.
“That’s enough questioning.”
“No,” Daniel said. “It isn’t.”
Thomas’s voice sharpened.
“You have no right to interrogate my child.”
“We’re not interrogating her.”
“You’re frightening her.”
Emily made a small sound.
Mary turned back.
The girl was looking toward the basement door again.
“What’s downstairs?”
Mary asked.
Thomas answered from across the room.
“Storage.”
Emily’s breathing changed.
Mary noticed the stuffed rabbit again.
“Whose toy is that?”
Emily stared at it.
Thomas said, “I told you—”
Daniel cut him off.
“Let her answer.”
For several seconds Emily said nothing.
Then she whispered, “Sophie’s.”
Mary leaned closer.
“Who is Sophie?”
Emily’s eyes stayed on the rabbit.
“My friend.”
“Does Sophie go to your school?”
A tiny shake of the head.
“Does she live nearby?”
Another shake.
“Where did you meet her?”
Emily looked at the basement.
Thomas moved so abruptly Daniel had to put out an arm.
“This is absurd.”
Emily flinched.
Mary reached gently toward her but stopped before touching.
“You’re safe.”
The girl looked unconvinced.
“Where did you meet Sophie?”
Emily whispered, “Here.”
Mary felt the hair rise along her arms.
“Did Sophie live here?”
Emily nodded.
Thomas laughed.
“She’s imaginary.”
Emily’s head snapped up.
“No.”
Her voice was louder than anything she had said all night.
Thomas stared at her.
Emily’s courage disappeared almost immediately.
She pulled her knees against herself.
Mary softened her voice.
“When did Sophie live here?”
“Before Mommy went away.”
Daniel and Mary exchanged a glance.
Thomas saw it.
“You’re turning a child’s fantasy into something criminal.”
Daniel asked, “What’s your wife’s name?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Rebecca.”
“Where is Rebecca now?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said she left.”
“She did.”
“Did she take belongings?”
“Yes.”
“Vehicle?”
Thomas paused.
“She had someone pick her up.”
“Did you report her missing?”
“Why would I? She abandoned her family.”
Emily suddenly spoke.
“Mommy didn’t leave.”
Thomas turned toward her.
“Emily.”
He said only her name.
The child recoiled as if struck.
Mary rose.
“Thomas, I need you to stop addressing her.”
His face changed.
The friendly suburban father vanished for an instant.
“You don’t come into my house and tell me how to speak to my daughter.”
Daniel’s hand moved nearer his radio.
“Take a seat.”
Thomas did not.
Emily covered her ears.
“No, no, no.”
Mary knelt beside her again.
“What is it?”
“He gets bad when people don’t listen.”
Thomas’s expression tightened.
Daniel radioed for a supervisor and additional unit.
Thomas heard him.
“You’re calling backup?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“For everybody’s safety.”
Thomas gave a disbelieving laugh.
“You people have lost your minds.”
Emily began rocking slightly.
Mary changed direction.
“Emily, is there anyone downstairs now?”
The rocking stopped.
Thomas stared at her.
Emily whispered, “I don’t know.”
“Has somebody been downstairs before?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Sophie.”
Thomas threw his hands up.
“Imaginary.”
Emily began crying.
“She was real.”
Mary kept her voice low.
“What happened to her?”
“I don’t know.”
“When did you last see her?”
Emily pressed both palms against her eyes.
Thomas started forward.
Daniel blocked him again.
“Stay there.”
Mary waited.
Finally Emily lowered her hands.
“She stopped coming upstairs.”
The words settled over the room.
Mary looked at the basement door.
The new lock.
The dusty rabbit.
The child with bruises.
The missing mother.
The friend Thomas insisted had never existed.
“Emily,” Mary said, “did your mother ever go downstairs?”
The girl nodded.
Thomas shouted, “Enough.”
Daniel ordered him back.
Emily began shaking.
“Daddy said she sleeps there.”
Nobody spoke.
Mary felt her pulse beating against her throat.
“What do you mean, she sleeps there?”
Emily pointed toward the locked door.
“Downstairs.”
Thomas stepped backward.
It was a small movement, almost nothing.
Daniel noticed anyway.
Thomas was no longer arguing.
He was calculating.
Outside, tires rolled onto the street.
Backup.
Sergeant Linda Brooks entered moments later with two additional officers. Daniel met her near the doorway and quietly explained what they had.
An injured child.
A strange emergency call.
A missing mother.
Another child named Sophie.
A basement with an unusually heavy lock.
Brooks listened without interrupting.
Then she looked at Thomas.
“We’re going to secure the residence while Child Protective Services responds.”
“You need a warrant.”
“For a general search, yes.”
Thomas smiled as though he had won.
Brooks continued.
“But we can protect a child and preserve a scene while we determine whether immediate danger exists.”
Thomas’s smile disappeared.
Emily suddenly tugged Mary’s sleeve.
“There’s a man.”
Mary looked down.
“What man?”
Emily pointed toward the basement.
“The man Daddy brings.”
Thomas went pale.
Daniel saw it.
“What man?”
Emily shook her head.
“I don’t know his name.”
“What does he do?”
“He goes downstairs.”
“How often?”
“When Daddy says I have to stay in my room.”
Thomas took another step backward.
Then another.
Daniel realized where he was going.
Not toward the front door.
Toward the hallway.
Toward the basement.
“Thomas.”
He stopped.
“Stay where you are.”
Thomas’s breathing quickened.
“I’m getting water.”
“The kitchen is the other direction.”
For the first time that night, Thomas had no immediate answer.
Daniel moved closer.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Thomas looked past him.
At the basement door.
Then he ran.
Click here to continue reading: PART 3: Thomas Runs Toward the One Door Police Told Him to Avoid, and Emily Reveals Why Her Mother Never Truly Left
A Frightened Child Calls 911 With Three Strange Words That Make an Experienced Dispatcher Refuse to Hang Up
Part 2 of 20
