Chapter 3 - THE BAGS
The black bags did not contain bodies.
That was the first relief.
The second did not come.
Police drained part of the pool and recovered six contractor bags.
Inside:
shredded paper,
two broken laptops,
a desktop hard drive,
several cell phones,
a burned? no. water-damaged filing box,
and pieces of what appeared to be a home security recorder.
Evidence.
Someone had tried to destroy records.
Detective Mara Lewis took the case.
She had worked child-abuse investigations before transferring to major fraud.
Now both worlds overlapped.
Emily was taken to the hospital.
Dehydrated.
Exhausted.
Bruising from confinement? Keep non-graphic. Mild pressure marks.
No major physical injury.
Emotionally terrified.
Rebecca and Grant were separated and questioned.
Their first story:
Emily had locked herself in the dog cage during a tantrum.
Padlock?
“She found it.”
Blue tarp?
“Storm protection.”
No food?
“She refused.”
Pool bags?
“Old electronics we were discarding.”
Lewis listened.
Then asked:
“Why underwater?”
No answer.
Michael sat beside Emily’s hospital bed.
She would not let go of his sleeve.
He asked nothing for hours.
Then finally:
“Did they hurt you?”
Emily whispered:
“Not like that.”
“What does that mean?”
“They wanted me to say things.”
“What things?”
She looked toward the door.
Michael shut it.
Then she said:
“That you hit me.”
Michael stopped breathing.
“What?”
“They made videos.”
His stomach turned.
“Of you saying that?”
Emily nodded.
“They said if I didn’t, I couldn’t go home.”
Michael closed his eyes.
Then:
“Why?”
Emily whispered:
“So Aunt Rebecca could keep me.”
There it was.
Guardianship.
Again.
But why now?
Rebecca had lost that fight two years earlier.
Something had changed.
Then Emily said:
“They said the judge would believe me if I cried.”
Michael looked at her.
“Did you?”
Her face crumpled.
“Yes.”
He pulled her close.
“Okay.”
“I lied.”
“I know.”
“They made me.”
“I know.”
Then:
“They said Mom wanted me with them.”
Michael’s eyes opened.
Lauren.
Dead two years.
How could they claim that?
May you like
Then Emily whispered:
“They had letters from her.”
