PART 3 — There Was Another Child
PART 3 — There Was Another Child
The ambulance doors closed.
Red lights flashed across the driveway as Lily was rushed toward St. Anthony Hospital.
I climbed inside beside her, unable to stop replaying the last sentence she'd whispered.
"...That's Emma's."
I held her hand.
"Sweetheart..."
"Who's Emma?"
Lily stared at the ceiling of the ambulance.
"My friend."
"Where did you meet her?"
"In the freezer."
Every sound inside the ambulance seemed to disappear.
The paramedic looked up from his monitor.
"What do you mean?"
Lily answered with heartbreaking simplicity.
"Grandma said we both needed to learn."
A chill spread through me that had nothing to do with October.
"There was another little girl?"
She nodded.
"She cried a lot."
"How old was she?"
Lily shrugged.
"Maybe five."
"What happened to her?"
"I don't know."
"When I asked where she went..."
"...Grandma said she finally learned to behave."
The paramedics exchanged worried glances.
One quietly reached for his radio.
"We need law enforcement at the hospital."
"Possible additional child victim."
By the time we reached the emergency department, Officer Rachel Morrison was already waiting.
She asked the nurses for a private room before speaking to Lily again.
This time, a child advocacy specialist joined them.
No uniforms.
No pressure.
Just quiet voices and stuffed animals.
I waited outside the room, staring through the small window in the door.
Every few minutes, Lily wiped away tears.
Every few minutes, someone handed her another tissue.
An hour later, Officer Morrison stepped into the hallway.
"Mr. Carter..."
"Can we talk?"
I immediately stood.
"What did she say?"
Rachel opened her notebook carefully.
"She consistently describes another little girl named Emma."
"She says Emma visited the house several times."
"My daughter has never mentioned another child."
Rachel nodded.
"That's what concerns us."
She hesitated before continuing.
"Lily also says Emma disappeared."
My pulse quickened.
"Disappeared?"
"According to Lily..."
Rachel glanced down at her notes.
"...Emma stopped coming over after one day when Evelyn became very angry."
"What happened?"
Rachel looked directly into my eyes.
"Lily said your former mother-in-law blamed Emma for trying to climb out of the freezer."
I felt physically sick.
Less than an hour later, detectives obtained an emergency search warrant.
The house was immediately sealed off.
Crime scene investigators photographed every room.
Especially the garage.
Especially the chest freezer.
Officer Morrison called me just before midnight.
"We found something."
My heart sank.
"What?"
"There are scratches."
"Inside the freezer lid."
I closed my eyes.
"No..."
"They're old."
"Multiple layers."
"As if someone had repeatedly tried to claw their way out."
I couldn't breathe.
Rachel continued softly.
"We also found strands of children's hair beneath the freezer basket."
"More than one color."
Lily was blonde.
The second sample...
Dark brown.
Not hers.
Around two in the morning, Detective Samuel Ortiz entered Lily's hospital room carrying a thin manila folder.
"We've been checking missing child reports."
He opened the file.
A photograph slid across the table.
A little girl with dark braids.
Bright green eyes.
Gap-toothed smile.
Lily immediately pointed.
"That's Emma."
Every adult in the room froze.
Detective Ortiz looked at me.
"Her full name was Emma Collins."
I stared at the photograph.
"When did she disappear?"
He answered quietly.
"Eleven months ago."
The room fell silent.
"Her mother reported her missing after a weekend visit with relatives."
"They never found enough evidence to file charges."
My stomach twisted.
"Relatives?"
Ortiz nodded.
"Evelyn Foster."
My ex-mother-in-law.
The detective continued.
"Emma was Evelyn's great-niece."
"Lily's second cousin."
The blood drained from my face.
Lily hadn't met a stranger.
She had met family.
A little girl who had vanished.
Just before dawn, another call came over Detective Ortiz's radio.
He listened for several seconds before looking up.
His expression had completely changed.
"What is it?" I asked.
"The forensic team moved the freezer."
"And?"
"They found something hidden underneath."
He swallowed hard.
"A small pink backpack."
Officer Morrison frowned.
"Emma's?"
"We don't know yet."
Ortiz slowly opened a photograph that had just been texted from the crime scene.
Inside the backpack...
There was a child's sweater...
A broken bracelet...
May you like
And a handwritten drawing.
Across the top, written in shaky crayon letters, were five words that made everyone in the hospital room go completely still:
