Chapter 3 - THE APARTMENT
A child-welfare emergency worker named Rachel Kim arrived with a police officer.
No sirens.
No spectacle.
Lily panicked anyway.
Daniel stayed only because she asked him to.
Rachel explained:
“We are not here to punish you.”
Lily stared.
“Are you taking my brothers?”
“We’re making sure all three of you are safe tonight.”
Different sentence.
Important.
Then Lily finally gave the address.
A small apartment in Brookline.
Not homeless.
Not a luxury home.
A second-floor unit above a closed pharmacy.
The heat worked.
The refrigerator did not contain much.
Half a gallon of milk.
Mustard.
Two eggs.
A bag of rice.
One apple.
The formula container on the counter was empty.
There were diapers.
Enough for maybe two days.
Lily had been stretching them.
Rachel found a handwritten list:
FORMULA
DIAPERS
MOM SOAP
BUS
Beside it:
$24.
Lily had counted the money before leaving.
Then the apartment revealed something else.
No adult coat.
No men’s shoes.
No recent dishes except Lily’s cereal bowl.
The twins slept in proper bassinets.
Lily had kept them clean.
Fed as long as formula lasted.
Changed them.
She had done an impossible job imperfectly and carefully.
Then a phone buzzed on the kitchen table.
Not Lily’s.
An old prepaid phone.
Message:
DAD.
Lily froze.
Rachel asked:
“Do you want me to read it?”
Lily nodded.
The message said:
Stop calling. I said I need a few days.
Then:
Don’t tell your mom. She needs to recover.
Rachel’s expression hardened.
Daniel asked:
“How long has he been gone?”
Lily whispered:
“Three nights.”
Three.
Then Rachel asked:
“Who does your mother think is with you?”
Lily started shaking.
“Aunt Jenna.”
“Is Aunt Jenna here?”
“No.”
“Did your dad tell your mom that?”
Lily nodded.
Then:
“He said if Mom knew he left, she’d come home sick and it would be my fault if she got worse.”
Daniel looked away.
The betrayal was larger now.
The father had not only left.
He had made Lily responsible for protecting the mother from the truth.
Then the hospital called back.
May you like
Emily Carter was awake.
And she believed her sister had been caring for all three children since Monday.
