Chapter 2 - Officer Sarah Mitchell
Officer Sarah Mitchell was completing a report inside her patrol car when the emergency call appeared on her screen.
Possible child in danger.
The address was seven minutes away.
Sarah had been a police officer for eleven years. She had responded to accidents, robberies, missing-person reports, and disputes that began over nothing and ended with lives permanently changed.
But calls involving children never became easier.
The dispatcher remained connected to Lily.
The child spoke in whispers. A man could be heard outside the bedroom, demanding that she unlock the door.
Then another voice appeared in the background.
A woman telling the man not to stop.
Sarah activated her lights.
Her partner, Officer James Holloway, pulled away from the curb before she finished fastening her seat belt.
“Second unit is behind us,” James said.
Sarah listened to the live call through the patrol radio.
The dispatcher asked the girl whether there was another way out.
Lily said the bedroom window opened onto the porch roof, but she was afraid of the rain.
Sarah pressed the radio button.
“Tell her to stay inside unless the door opens. We are less than four minutes away.”
The dispatcher relayed the message.
A loud impact sounded over the call.
Then another.
Sarah’s hands tightened.
“Go faster.”
James accelerated carefully through the storm.
At the Carter house, Lily backed away from the bedroom door.
Grant struck it again.
“Open this door!”
Evelyn stood behind him.
“She called someone,” Evelyn said.
Grant stopped.
“What?”
“I heard her speaking.”
Grant grabbed the doorknob.
“Lily, who are you talking to?”
The phone nearly slipped from Lily’s hand.
The dispatcher told her to remain quiet.
Grant pushed against the door.
The weak lock began pulling away from the wooden frame.
Lily looked toward the window.
Lightning flashed across the sky.
She crossed the room, lifted the glass, and cold rain rushed inside.
Below her was the porch roof. Beyond it was the front lawn and the road.
The lock cracked.
Lily climbed through the window.
Her bare feet slipped on the wet surface, but she caught the edge of the frame and lowered herself carefully. Behind her, the bedroom door opened.
Grant entered the room.
“Lily!”
She crawled across the porch roof.
Grant reached the window, but Evelyn grabbed his arm.
“Not where the neighbors can see you.”
Lily reached the edge and lowered herself until her feet touched the railing below. She dropped onto the porch, stumbled, then ran into the rain.
At that exact moment, blue and red lights turned onto the street.
Two patrol cars stopped in front of the house.
Sarah opened her door before the vehicle had fully settled.
Lily ran toward her.
Sarah knelt and wrapped both arms around the child.
“You’re safe now,” she said. “He can’t hurt you.”
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For a moment, Lily remained completely still.
Then she buried her face against Sarah’s shoulder and began to cry.
