Chapter 1 - The Call That Ended Too Soon
Forty-three minutes earlier, Grace had been sitting in a meeting at the community health center where she worked as an administrator.
Her phone had been silenced, but the screen lit up three times inside her handbag.
Chloe.
Grace normally answered whenever her daughter called after school. Chloe was responsible and rarely contacted her mother during work unless something was important.
Grace excused herself and stepped into the hallway.
When she called back, Chloe answered after the first ring.
“Mom?” Her voice was faint.
“Chloe, what’s wrong?”
“I came home, and Uncle Daniel was in the kitchen.”
Daniel was not Chloe’s biological uncle. He had been Grace’s closest friend since college and had become part of the family long before Chloe was born. He helped repair things around the house, attended school events and always brought Chloe a new book on her birthday.
“He was looking for something,” Chloe continued.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. There was someone at the garage door.”
Grace’s heartbeat quickened.
“Is Daniel with you now?”
A loud crash came through the phone.
Chloe gasped.
“Mom, I tried to call you.”
The connection ended.
Grace called back immediately, but no one answered.
She ran into the meeting room, grabbed her car keys and told her supervisor to contact emergency services. Then she drove home faster than she had ever driven before.
As she turned onto her street, she saw an ambulance and two police cars parked outside her house.
Her front door was open.
May you like
A paramedic hurried through it carrying a medical bag.
Grace did not remember parking. She only remembered running.
