Chapter 1 - ELSIE WON'T WAKE UP
The telephone should not have worked.
That was the first thought Rowan Mercer had when he heard Micah’s voice.
The old cream rotary phone belonged to Delaney’s grandmother. It sat in a neglected living room beneath cracked blue walls and a damaged ceiling in a house nobody was supposed to be using anymore.
Yet at 10:16 on a Thursday morning, Rowan’s cell phone rang from that landline.
He answered.
“Hello?”
A child broke apart on the other end.
“DAD! ELSIE WON’T WAKE UP!”
Rowan stood so fast his chair hit the wall.
“MICAH?!”
His six-year-old son sobbed.
“We haven’t eaten!”
“Where are you?”
“Mom’s blue house.”
Rowan knew immediately.
The Delaney family property outside Cedar Ridge.
A house Delaney had told him was empty pending sale.
“Listen to me. Is Elsie breathing?”
Micah dropped beside his four-year-old sister.
Elsie lay among scattered toys with her teddy bear near one hand.
“I think.”
“Put your hand near her nose.”
Micah did.
“She’s breathing.”
“Good. Stay with her. I’m coming.”
Rowan drove twelve minutes in seven.
The front door was locked.
He did not knock twice.
He hit it once with his shoulder.
Again.
The damaged frame broke.
He ran inside.
“ELSIE!”
Micah reached for him.
“DAD!”
Rowan dropped to his knees, scooped Elsie into his arms, touched her face, then pulled Micah against his side.
“How long has she been like this?!”
“Since yesterday!”
Rowan looked around.
Broken glass near a window.
Empty food wrappers.
No refrigerator light.
Cold room.
No adult.
“You were here alone?!”
Micah slowly nodded.
Something in Rowan went cold.
He held Elsie tighter.
“WHERE IS YOUR MOTHER?!”
Micah froze.
Then whispered:
“Mom said Aunt Tessa was coming back.”
Rowan stared.
“Tessa?”
Micah nodded.
May you like
“She took Mom’s red folder.”
That was the first thing Rowan heard that made the neglect sound like more than abandonment.
