Chapter 3
Way in the back, near an area cordoned off by yellow caution tape, was a rusted, windowless white delivery van idling in the shadows. Its engine purred with a low, menacing hum. My blood turned to ice water.
And then I saw the flash of yellow.
Tucked behind a massive, grime-stained concrete pillar, mere yards from the idling van, was my daughter.
She wasn’t running. She wasn’t playing. She was pressed so flat against the cold concrete she looked as though she were trying to merge with it. Her tiny knees were pulled to her chest, her yellow cardigan stained with soot. Her eyes, wide and glassy with unspeakable terror, were locked onto the white van.
“Lily!” I sobbed, collapsing onto my knees and sliding across the rough concrete to reach her.
She flinched violently, raising her hands to protect her face. Then, recognizing my scent, she crashed into me so hard I fell backward. Her tiny body was vibrating like a struck tuning fork. She was ice cold.
“Mommy,” she whimpered, her voice a broken, raspy thread. “The man… the man in the truck asked if I wanted to see a puppy. He opened the door. I didn’t move, Mommy. I didn’t move like Grandma said.”
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David fell to his knees beside us, wrapping his massive arms around both of us, burying his face in Lily’s hair, weeping openly. “Oh, God, baby, I’ve got you. Daddy’s got you.”
I pulled back, framing Lily’s tear-streaked, terrified face in my hands. “What do you mean, sweetie? What did Grandma say?”
