Chapter 2: Before He Decides You Saw Too Much
I couldn't move.
Seven sleeping bags.
Six backpacks.
One extra nametag.
Someone had been in that house last night who was never supposed to be there.
I dialed 911 right there on the driveway.
Brenda lunged forward and grabbed my arm.
"Don't you dare," she hissed.
"You have no idea what you're interfering with."
"Then explain it to me," I said, pulling free.
"Explain the name switch.
Explain the seventh sleeping bag.
Explain why my niece is wearing shoes that aren't hers."
Brenda's face went from rage to something else entirely.
Something colder.
"Those girls were perfectly safe," she said quietly.
"He just wanted to see them."
My stomach turned to ice.
"Who is he?"
She didn't answer.
She looked past me toward the street instead, and that's when I noticed the dark sedan parked two houses down.
Engine running.
Windows tinted.
It hadn't been there when I arrived.
I pulled Lily tight against me and looked back at Brenda.
Her jaw was set, but her hands were shaking.
"You should leave," she said.
"Right now.
Before he decides you saw too much."
Lily pressed her face into my side and whispered one more thing.
"He took pictures of us, Auntie.
Before the names.
And after."
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What Lily said next — and what the police found inside that house — will leave you speechless.
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