Chapter 6 - The Elevator)
Emily hit the elevator button so hard her finger hurt.
"Open."
The doors did not move.
"Open!"
She ran for the stairwell.
Their apartment was on the seventh floor.
By the time Emily reached the lobby, one shoe was untied and her lungs burned.
Mr. Alvarez stood behind the desk looking confused.
"Mrs. Carter?"
"My mother. My aunt. Where did they go?"
"They just left."
"With Ava?"
He nodded.
Emily sprinted outside.
The sidewalk was crowded.
Yellow taxis.
Delivery bicycles.
Pedestrians.
A city bus pulling away.
Then she saw Beatrice turning the corner with the stroller.
Emily ran.
"AVA!"
Margaret looked back.
Their eyes met.
Margaret grabbed the stroller handle.
Beatrice shouted something.
Emily reached them before they made it to the next block.
She grabbed the stroller.
"What are you doing?"
Margaret kept hold of the opposite side.
"We're taking her for a walk."
"You entered my apartment."
"The door was open."
"You took my daughter."
"She's my granddaughter."
"Let go."
Ava began crying.
People slowed around them.
Beatrice whispered, "Margaret, let go."
Margaret did not.
Emily pulled the stroller toward herself.
"Let go of my daughter."
Margaret's face changed.
The affectionate grandmother disappeared.
"You are destroying her life."
Emily stared.
"What?"
"Look at you. Look at how unstable you are."
"You took her out of my apartment."
"You were hysterical before you even reached the street."
"Because you took my child."
Margaret leaned closer.
"You see? You always have an explanation."
Emily suddenly understood.
People were watching.
Margaret wanted her to scream.
Wanted her to shove.
Wanted witnesses.
Emily released one hand from the stroller and took out her phone.
She began recording.
Margaret's expression flickered.
Emily said calmly, "Tell the camera why you entered my apartment and removed Ava without permission."
Margaret let go.
"You're ridiculous."
"Say it."
"I don't consent to being recorded."
"You are on a public sidewalk."
Beatrice turned away.
Emily lifted Ava from the stroller.
The toddler clung to her.
Margaret pointed at Emily.
"This is exactly why the court needs to intervene."
Emily stepped back.
"You planned this."
"Planned what?"
"You wanted me to lose control."
Margaret smiled without warmth.
"You don't need help with that."
Then she walked away.
Beatrice hesitated.
For one second, Emily thought her aunt might say something.
Instead she followed Margaret.
Rachel arrived running from the opposite direction.
She had called Emily after returning to the apartment and finding the door open.
"What happened?"
Emily handed her the phone.
Rachel watched the recording.
"She wanted this."
"I know."
"How did they get in?"
Emily stared back toward the building.
The locks had been changed.
Only Emily had keys.
Rachel had one.
Building management had an emergency master.
Mr. Alvarez checked security footage.
At 2:11 p.m., Beatrice entered the building carrying a large handbag.
Margaret followed several minutes later.
At 2:19, a maintenance employee named Travis unlocked Emily's apartment.
He told management Margaret had said Emily requested help because she was locked out.
Margaret had shown identification with the same last name as Emily's mother.
Travis believed her.
Emily closed her eyes.
One lie.
One helpful employee.
One unlocked door.
That evening, she added an interior security latch.
Rachel ordered two small cameras.
Martin filed an emergency motion documenting the attempted removal.
For the first time, the court issued a temporary order prohibiting Margaret or Beatrice from removing Ava from Emily's care without written permission.
Emily thought that would stop them.
It did not.
It only changed their method.
Three days later, Emily received a call from the childcare center.
Cynthia sounded tense.
"Emily, is Ava with you?"
"Yes."
"Good."
"Why?"
"A transportation service called."
Emily went cold.
"What service?"
"A private car company. They said they were confirming a pickup for Ava Carter."
Rachel, sitting across the room, saw Emily's face.
Emily put the call on speaker.
Cynthia continued.
"They had our address, Ava's date of birth, and Margaret's phone number."
"When was the pickup?"
"Friday."
Emily looked at the calendar.
Friday was two days away.
"What time?"
"Five forty."
Emily remembered Laura's warning.
A motel near Croton.
Forty-two miles north.
She asked Cynthia for the company name.
Then called them.
The dispatcher confirmed a prepaid reservation.
Pickup location:
Emily's apartment building.
Passenger:
One adult, one toddler.
Destination:
River Glen Motor Lodge.
Croton area.
The adult passenger name had been removed from the copy Emily received.
But the payment card belonged to Beatrice Hale.
The reservation had been made eleven days earlier.
The same day Laura had called.
Martin contacted the court immediately.
Rachel said, "Now we have them."
But the judge would not be available until the next morning.
That night Emily barely slept.
At 3:06 a.m., one of the new apartment cameras sent an alert.
Movement detected.
Emily sat up.
The feed showed the living room.
Empty.
Then the picture flickered.
The camera went black.
Rachel came out of the guest room.
"What happened?"
"Camera disconnected."
They checked the front door.
Locked.
Windows locked.
Ava asleep.
Nothing had moved.
Then Rachel looked at the second camera.
Its power cable had been cut.
Not unplugged.
Cut.
Emily stared at the severed wire.
"Someone was inside."
They searched the apartment.
Nothing obvious was missing.
Then Emily opened the blue document folder.
Ava's birth certificate was gone.
So was her Social Security card.
On the dining table sat one object that had not been there before.
The spare key Margaret had supposedly returned weeks earlier.
Beside it lay a note.
You cannot protect a child by turning her against her family.
Rachel stared at it.
Emily picked up her phone.
May you like
This time she did not call Margaret.
She called the police.
