Chapter 5 - WHAT EMILY KNEW
Emily woke just after sunrise.
I made pancakes because they were her favorite.
She barely touched them.
The blue folder remained locked away in another room.
I did not mention it immediately.
I wanted her to eat.
I wanted her to understand that she was safe.
Eventually, she looked at me.
“You found it.”
I froze.
“The folder?”
She nodded.
“Mom gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Thursday.”
The day before Sarah disappeared.
“What did she tell you?”
“To put it somewhere Jason would never find.”
“So you brought it here?”
Emily nodded.
“How?”
“At school.”
I waited.
“She put it in my backpack before I left Thursday morning.”
“And when did you bring it into my house?”
“When you picked me up after soccer.”
That had been almost two weeks earlier.
I remembered dropping her off at Sarah’s house afterward.
Emily had apparently hidden the folder during the thirty minutes she spent at my place changing clothes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Mom said not to.”
“Why?”
“She said if Jason knew you had it, he might come here.”
I reached across the table.
“You don’t have to protect me.”
Emily stared at her plate.
“I was protecting Mom.”
Those words broke something inside me.
No ten-year-old should have carried that responsibility.
“What happened Friday?”
Emily remained silent for a long time.
Then she started talking.
Sarah had confronted Jason after dinner.
Emily had been upstairs.
She heard shouting.
Sarah accused Jason of stealing money.
Jason demanded the folder.
Sarah told him the evidence was already somewhere safe.
Jason became furious.
Emily heard furniture move downstairs.
Then everything became quiet.
A few minutes later Sarah entered Emily’s bedroom.
“She hugged me.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
“What did she say?”
“She said, ‘Whatever happens, remember I love you.’”
I swallowed.
“Then?”
“Jason came upstairs.”
Emily looked toward the window.
“He told Mom to come downstairs.”
“What happened to you?”
“He locked my bedroom door from the outside.”
I gripped the edge of the table.
Emily continued.
Hours later, Jason returned.
He brought her into the backyard.
He demanded to know where the folder was.
Emily refused.
That was when he locked her inside the enclosure.
I kept my voice steady.
“Did you see your mother again?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Saturday morning.”
My heart jumped.
“She was alive?”
Emily nodded quickly.
“She was in the back seat of a white van.”
“Was Jason driving?”
“No.”
“The other man?”
“Yes.”
“What did your mom do?”
“She looked at me through the window.”
Emily started crying.
“She tried to open the door.”
I moved around the table and hugged her.
“She was yelling something.”
“What?”
“I couldn’t hear.”
“Try to remember.”
Emily squeezed her eyes shut.
Then she whispered.
“River.”
I leaned back.
“What?”
“I think she said river.”
That gave us something.
I called Alvarez immediately.
Thirty minutes later, he called back.
May you like
Jason had recently searched directions on one recovered laptop.
The destination was an abandoned industrial area beside the Blackstone River.
