Chapter 1 - THE WARNING IN THE WATER
“Daddy… Mommy tried to stop him.”
Emily’s whisper was so quiet that for a moment I thought I had imagined it.
I held her tighter and stared at the dark windows of the house.
“What did Mommy try to stop, sweetheart?”
Emily shook her head.
Her fingers tightened around the back of my shirt.
“Jason.”
That single name changed everything.
I stopped asking questions.
Whatever had happened inside that house, Emily needed distance from it before she could explain anything.
I carried her toward the low section of fence Mrs. Harris had shown me.
Behind us, the pool water shifted gently in the afternoon breeze.
Three large black bags were visible beneath the cloudy surface.
I forced myself not to look at them.
Emily had begged me not to.
Right now, her trust mattered more than my curiosity.
Mrs. Harris was waiting on the other side of the fence.
The moment she saw Emily in my arms, both hands flew to her mouth.
“Oh, my God.”
“Call the police.”
She pulled out her phone immediately.
I climbed carefully over the fence while keeping Emily against my chest.
Her body felt frighteningly light.
Mrs. Harris opened her back door and led us into the kitchen.
I placed Emily on a chair and brought her a glass of water.
She drank slowly.
I crouched beside her.
“Where is your mother?”
Emily stared at the floor.
“I don’t know.”
“When did you last see her?”
“Friday night.”
It was Sunday afternoon.
My stomach tightened.
“What happened Friday?”
Emily looked toward the window as though Jason might suddenly appear outside.
“Mommy was yelling at him.”
“About what?”
“I don’t know.”
She swallowed.
“Then Mommy told me to go upstairs and lock my door.”
I said nothing.
Emily continued.
“I heard things downstairs.”
Her voice became smaller.
“Then Jason came upstairs.”
Mrs. Harris turned away, visibly shaken.
“He told me Mommy had gone away.”
Emily’s eyes filled with tears.
“But I knew he was lying.”
“How?”
Emily looked directly at me.
“Because Mommy’s car was still there.”
A police siren sounded somewhere down the street.
For the first time since finding her, I felt something close to relief.
Then Emily said something else.
“He kept asking me where Mommy hid the blue folder.”
“What blue folder?”
“I don’t know.”
She shook her head.
“He said she gave it to me.”
Outside, two police vehicles stopped in front of the property.
Doors opened.
Officers moved toward the chained gate.
Emily suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“Daddy.”
“I’m here.”
“He said if I told anyone about the folder, Mommy would never come home.”
I felt anger rise inside me, but I kept my voice calm.
“Listen to me.”
Emily looked at me.
“You did nothing wrong.”
She nodded uncertainly.
I stood as the first officer entered Mrs. Harris’s kitchen.
I pointed toward the neighboring property.
“My daughter was locked inside an enclosure in that backyard.”
The officer’s expression changed immediately.
“And her mother is missing.”
Within minutes, the quiet suburban street transformed into an active police scene.
And through Mrs. Harris’s kitchen window, I watched three officers approach the murky swimming pool.
One of them stared down into the water.
May you like
Then he called for the others.
Whatever Jason had thrown into that pool was about to come back out.
