Chapter 4 - Hands Where I Can See Them
“Drop it!”
The officer’s command cracked across the driveway.
Grant froze.
For a strange second, nobody moved.
Ellie stood ten feet away, chest heaving.
Grant looked down at the rope like he had forgotten he was holding it.
Then he let it fall.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Grant lifted his hands.
“This is a misunderstanding.”
Ellie shouted, “No, it isn’t!”
The officer looked at her, then back at Grant.
“Stay where you are.”
A second officer moved past him toward the backyard.
Kyle appeared first, holding his side from the fall into the workbench.
“Emily’s in the shed,” he said. “She needs help.”
The second officer ran.
Linda stepped into the yard.
“This is ridiculous. He was trying to calm his wife down.”
Kyle turned on her.
“Stop talking.”
She stared at him.
He had never spoken to her that way.
“Stop helping him,” Kyle said.
Inside the shed, Officer Dana Ruiz found Emily near the support beam.
“Ma’am, my name is Officer Ruiz. You’re safe right now.”
Emily nodded once.
The knot at her wrists had been tied loosely enough to leave room, but it had still trapped her there.
Ruiz removed it carefully.
“Is your daughter outside?”
“Yes.”
“She’s safe.”
Emily closed her eyes.
That was the first moment she almost cried.
Not for herself.
For the fact that Ellie had been brave because no adult had been brave soon enough.
Outside, Grant was placed in handcuffs.
He kept repeating the same sentence.
“She’s twisting everything.”
Sarah’s car screeched to a stop at the curb.
She jumped out before fully closing the driver’s door.
“Ellie!”
Ellie ran into her arms.
Sarah held her so tightly the girl’s phone pressed between them.
“You did the right thing,” Sarah whispered.
Ellie shook her head.
“I waited too long.”
“You’re ten.”
“But I knew.”
Sarah pulled back and looked at her.
“Knew what?”
Ellie glanced toward the house.
Grant was being walked to the cruiser.
Linda was arguing with another officer.
Emily was still in the shed.
Then Ellie said something Sarah had not expected.
“There are more videos.”
Sarah’s face went still.
“How many?”
May you like
Ellie looked at the cracked screen.
“Thirty-seven.”
