Chapter 1 - The Child Beside the Fountain
Six hours earlier, Amelia had been standing in the pediatric wing of St. Catherine’s Hospital when her phone began vibrating inside her coat pocket.
She had just finished a twelve-hour nursing shift.
Her feet hurt.
Her hair had escaped from its bun.
All she wanted was to pick up Lily from Brenda’s house, drive home, and fall asleep beside her daughter while an old animated movie played in the background.
The first call came from Brenda.
Amelia answered immediately.
“Mom?”
There was a pause.
Then Brenda spoke in a breathless, trembling voice.
“Lily is missing.”
For one terrible second, Amelia could not understand the words.
The hospital corridor seemed to tilt.
“What?”
“She wandered away at Westbridge Mall. I only looked away for a moment. Security is searching everywhere.”
Amelia pressed her free hand against the wall.
“What do you mean she wandered away?”
“I don’t know! She was beside me, and then she wasn’t.”
“How long has she been missing?”
Another pause.
“Maybe twenty minutes.”
Amelia’s heart stopped.
“You waited twenty minutes before calling me?”
“I thought I would find her!”
Amelia was already running.
She did not remember reaching the employee parking garage.
She did not remember throwing her bag onto the passenger seat.
She remembered only Brenda’s voice repeating through the car speakers.
“She has her ladybug toy. She’s wearing the yellow sweater. She knows your phone number, doesn’t she?”
“She is three years old!”
Amelia drove through two red lights.
She called the police, but the mall security office had already reported the incident. An officer instructed Amelia to meet them at the west entrance.
Rain hammered the windshield.
Every horrifying possibility entered her mind.
Lily walking into the parking structure.
Lily following a stranger.
Lily crying where no one could hear her.
Amelia gripped the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles went white.
When she reached Westbridge Mall, police cars were parked near the main entrance.
She abandoned her car in a loading zone and ran inside.
The mall was preparing to close.
Metal gates were descending over storefronts. Employees stood in nervous groups. Security officers moved between corridors while speaking into radios.
Amelia spotted Brenda near the information desk.
Her mother wore a cream wool coat and carried several shopping bags.
Three shopping bags.
Amelia noticed them immediately, although she could not yet understand why they mattered.
“Where is she?” Amelia demanded.
Brenda reached for her.
“Oh, thank God you’re here.”
Amelia stepped back.
“Where is my daughter?”
“They’re still searching.”
A security officer approached.
“Ms. Hart?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Officer Miles. We located your daughter approximately four minutes ago.”
Amelia’s knees nearly collapsed.
“Where?”
“She’s safe. She’s in the security office with one of our female officers.”
Amelia ran before he finished speaking.
Lily was sitting on a chair much too large for her, wrapped in a silver emergency blanket.
Her face was red from crying.
The stuffed ladybug was pressed against her chest.
When she saw Amelia, she slid from the chair.
“Mommy!”
Amelia fell to her knees and caught her.
Lily wrapped both arms around her neck.
“I looked for you,” she sobbed.
“I’m here. I’m right here.”
Amelia kissed her cheeks, forehead, and hair.
“Are you hurt?”
Lily shook her head.
“Did anyone touch you?”
Another shake.
Officer Miles entered with Brenda.
Brenda leaned down.
“Oh, Lily, you frightened Grandma so much.”
Lily immediately buried her face against Amelia.
Amelia felt her daughter stiffen.
That was the first warning.
The second came when Officer Miles asked Brenda to confirm the timeline.
Brenda claimed she had been examining a display at a toy store when Lily wandered away.
But Lily whispered something against Amelia’s shoulder.
“Grandma told me to wait by the water.”
Amelia’s eyes lifted.
“What did you say?”
Lily pointed vaguely toward the center of the mall.
“Grandma said wait with Buggy. She said she had important shopping.”
Brenda laughed too quickly.
“She misunderstood.”
Officer Miles did not laugh.
He looked at the three bags in Brenda’s hands.
“What time did you notice the child was missing?”
“I already told you. Around twenty minutes before I called.”
The officer opened a small notebook.
“Ms. Vale, your granddaughter was found beside the central fountain at seven seventeen. A janitor reported seeing her alone before six.”
Brenda blinked.
“That’s impossible.”
“We are reviewing the footage now.”
Amelia tightened her hold around Lily.
Something cold began spreading through her chest.
It was not fear anymore.
It was the beginning of understanding.
Brenda had not looked away for a moment.
May you like
She had left Lily alone intentionally.
And the shopping bags hanging from her wrists proved she had done something else while Amelia’s child waited beside the fountain.
