Chapter 8 - Bunny Ears
Emma stopped crying.
Her mother’s raised fingers were shaking, but the shape was clear.
Two bunny ears.
The secret signal.
Emma remembered Grandpa Thomas kneeling beside her in his living room.
Go to the phone.
Press the big button.
Tell me where you are.
Stay away from anyone who tries to stop you.
Emma turned toward the wall-mounted telephone.
David noticed too late.
She ran.
“Emma, stop.”
Her bare feet struck the wooden floor as she reached the telephone. She pulled the receiver from its cradle and pressed the large center button.
Nothing happened.
The line was silent.
David exhaled.
“I told you. It’s disconnected.”
Emma held the receiver against her ear.
Sarah stared at the telephone.
Then she heard a faint click.
A ringing sound followed.
David’s expression changed.
Margaret looked at him.
“You said you disconnected it.”
“I did.”
Thomas had repaired the phone himself the year before. Unknown to David, he had added a backup cellular connection inside the wall unit because the mansion frequently lost service during storms.
The phone rang once.
Twice.
Thomas answered.
“Hello?”
Emma began crying again.
“Grandpa?”
Thomas immediately heard the fear in her voice.
“Emma, where are you?”
“In the kitchen.”
“Where is Mommy?”
“On the floor.”
Sarah stretched out one hand.
“Emma, use the signal.”
David started toward the child.
Sarah forced herself upright against the island.
“Stay away from her.”
David stopped and looked at Sarah.
She could not stand, but her raised hand created a line he did not cross.
Emma clutched the receiver.
“Grandpa, Mommy looks like she’s going to die!”
Thomas’s voice remained calm.
“Listen to me, sweetheart. Is Daddy there?”
Emma looked at David.
“Yes.”
“Is Grandma Margaret there?”
“Yes.”
“Stay close to the phone. Help is already coming.”
Thomas had been waiting all evening.
When Sarah failed to call by ten, he contacted Elena. Together, they notified the police and provided copies of the financial evidence.
Officers had already been sent to the mansion to conduct a welfare check.
Emma’s call transformed concern into an emergency.
Thomas spoke to Elena from another phone while keeping Emma on the line.
“She activated the signal,” he said.
Elena was already driving toward the mansion.
“I’m contacting the responding officers. Tell Emma to stay visible and away from the doors.”
In the kitchen, David reached for the telephone cord.
Emma pulled the receiver to her chest.
“No!”
Margaret stepped between them.
“David, enough.”
He stared at his mother.
“Move.”
“The police may already be outside.”
“Then we tell them Sarah fell.”
“And the child?”
“She is confused.”
Margaret looked at Emma’s face.
The little girl was terrified, but she was not confused.
Sarah remained on the floor, one hand gripping the island.
“You told me nobody would believe her,” she said. “Let’s find out.”
David walked to the nearest window.
The private road beyond the garden appeared empty.
He turned back with a smile.
“No one is here.”
Then blue light flashed across his face.
A second flash swept through the kitchen.
Emma looked toward the glass doors.
“Grandpa, the lights are here.”
Thomas released a breath.
“Stay on the phone, sweetheart.”
A police vehicle stopped outside the rear gate. Another arrived near the front entrance.
David reached for his jacket.
Margaret stared at him.
“Where are you going?”
“To speak to them.”
“You mean lie to them.”
David turned.
“You were part of this.”
Margaret held the folder against her chest.
“Not this.”
Sarah almost laughed at the difference Margaret was trying to create.
The forged signatures had been acceptable.
The stolen money had been acceptable.
The threats had been acceptable.
But now that police lights covered the kitchen walls, Margaret wanted to decide where her responsibility ended.
Sarah looked at her.
“You do not get to choose which part belongs to you.”
The rear door handle moved.
May you like
David froze.
The door opened.
