Skip to content 
So he knew exactly who they were. I also knew that if I showed fear, he would read it as an answer.
‘No,’ I said. ‘I haven’t seen anyone.’
His eyes moved past my shoulder, searching the room behind me. ‘If you do, contact me first. Do not call anyone else. The girls can be difficult, and they invent things.’
‘I’ll keep that in mind.’
He did not leave at once. For several long seconds, we stood on opposite sides of the chained door. Then he produced a narrow smile and walked back across my lawn.
I locked the door again and returned to the kitchen. Lily and Lucy were still beneath the table, holding each other.
‘You didn’t tell,’ Lily whispered.
I knelt beside them. ‘No. But now I need the truth. Who is that man?’
‘Grant,’ Lucy said.
‘Is Grant your father? Your uncle?’
They shook their heads.
‘Then where is your mommy?’
Lily’s face collapsed with grief. Lucy leaned close to her and answered for them both.
‘He locked Mommy downstairs.’
A Promise Beneath the Kitchen Table
The room seemed to tilt around me. I held the edge of a chair and asked Lucy to repeat what she had said, hoping I had misunderstood.
‘Grant put Mommy down there,’ she murmured. ‘She can’t open the door.’
Lily added, ‘Mommy told us to be very quiet.’
I wanted to call the police that instant, but Lily was watching my phone with raw terror. If I moved too quickly, the girls might run or begin shouting, and Grant was only one yard away. I needed them to understand that the lie he had planted in their minds was not true.
I sat on the floor so we were at the same height. ‘Listen carefully. You are not bad girls. Asking for help does not make you bad, and the police will not punish you for being frightened. Grant told you that because he did not want anyone to hear the truth.’
Lily studied me for a long time. ‘They won’t take us away?’
‘They will help you get back to your mother.’
She glanced at Lucy. The twins exchanged a tiny nod.
I stepped into the pantry, leaving the door open enough to keep them in sight, and called emergency services. Speaking barely above a whisper, I explained that two toddlers from the neighboring house were in my kitchen and that they believed their mother had been confined downstairs. The dispatcher instructed me to lock every entrance, keep the children away from windows, and avoid any confrontation.
I had just ended the call when another blow rattled the front door.