Chapter 7 - The Phone Under the Cereal Box)
Emily did not sleep.
At two in the morning she heard voices downstairs.
Rick.
Laura.
She opened her bedroom door.
Noah was standing in the hallway.
He had heard them too.
Rick's voice rose.
"You talked to Richard after everything I did for you?"
Laura answered quietly.
"You isolated me."
"I protected you."
"You lied to me."
"You were barely functional."
"You used that."
A chair scraped.
Emily took Noah's hand.
Rick said, "Where is it?"
Laura did not answer.
"The box, Laura."
Silence.
Emily's heart raced.
Rick knew.
He continued.
"I know Rebecca hid something."
Laura's voice changed.
"You know Rebecca?"
Rick laughed.
The sound was terrifyingly calm.
"Of course I know Rebecca."
Emily looked at Noah.
His eyes widened.
Downstairs, Laura whispered, "You told me she was dead."
"I told you what you needed to hear."
Emily almost moved toward the stairs.
Noah held her hand tighter.
Rick continued.
"Rebecca came to me because she needed money. James had fired her. Richard had cut her off. She wanted twenty thousand dollars."
"For what?"
"Does it matter?"
"Where is she?"
"Probably wherever people like Rebecca go when they burn every bridge."
"Is she alive?"
Rick did not answer.
Laura's voice broke.
"Is my sister alive?"
Rick said, "Give me the box."
Then came a crash.
Emily nearly ran downstairs.
Noah whispered, "Don't."
Emily looked at him.
He was shaking.
Something inside her changed.
For years she had told herself she stayed quiet because she was protecting Noah.
But Noah had been learning silence from all of them.
She took out her phone.
No signal.
Rick had switched off the router.
The family cell plan often lost service because he controlled the account.
Emily remembered the prepaid phone.
Under the cereal box.
She quietly moved downstairs through the back staircase.
The kitchen was empty.
Laura and Rick were in the living room.
Emily took the phone.
She went into the pantry.
Richard answered.
"Laura?"
"It's Emily."
"What's happening?"
"Rick knows about the box."
Silence.
"Does he have it?"
"No."
"Where is your mother?"
"With him."
"Is Noah safe?"
"With me."
Richard exhaled.
"I'm coming sooner."
"Come now."
"I need one more document signed."
"I don't care about documents."
"You should."
"Why?"
"Because if I enter that house and Dawson claims I am an estranged relative trespassing, I can be removed. If I arrive with an emergency protection order and temporary control of the children's trust, Dawson loses leverage."
Emily closed her eyes.
"How long?"
"Tomorrow."
"He could hurt Noah tonight."
Richard's voice tightened.
"If you believe either of you is in immediate danger, leave the house."
"Mom won't."
"Then take Noah."
"I won't leave her."
"Emily."
"No."
Richard went silent.
Then he said, "You sound like your father."
"I barely remember him."
"He would be proud of you."
Emily swallowed.
"Did Rick kill him?"
Richard did not answer quickly.
"I don't know."
"Do you think he did?"
"I think Rick Dawson paid a mechanic to falsify a safety inspection on your father's car."
"That's not what I asked."
"No."
Richard's voice hardened.
"I think he created the conditions that made James's death possible. Whether he intended the exact outcome is something evidence must prove."
Emily looked through the pantry crack.
Rick was pacing.
Laura sat on the sofa.
"What happens if we find proof?"
"Then the truth goes where it should have gone eight years ago."
"Why did Rebecca hide the box?"
"I don't know."
"You knew she was alive."
"Yes."
"Where is she?"
Another silence.
"Richard."
"I have not seen her in seven years."
"But you know something."
"Rebecca contacted me last month."
Emily's breath stopped.
"What did she say?"
"That she wanted to come home."
"And?"
"Then she disappeared again."
Emily looked at the green door hidden behind the pantry wall.
"Did she mention Rick?"
"Yes."
"What did she say?"
Richard answered quietly.
"She said Rick had discovered Noah remembered the green room."
A floorboard creaked behind Emily.
She turned.
Rick was standing in the pantry doorway.
He looked at the prepaid phone in her hand.
May you like
Then he smiled.
"Who are you talking to?"
